Tory MP blames food bank use on people not knowing how to cook or budge

GrannyGravy13

OMG, I am pottering in my bedroom with Jeremy Vine Channel 5 on the TV.

Audrey from Buckinghamshire has just rang in, I am wondering why I am shocked that folks have no idea what life on the breadline is like in 2022. This viewer has put all the blame on the poor, flipping unbelievable (that is not the f word which I wanted to use but I am trying to be polite)

That's what's so sad. There are plenty of people who will think Anderson is some kind of hero for speaking out about "how things are" (or how they'd like to think things are).

GrannyGravy13

OMG, I am pottering in my bedroom with Jeremy Vine Channel 5 on the TV.

Audrey from Buckinghamshire has just rang in, I am wondering why I am shocked that folks have no idea what life on the breadline is like in 2022. This viewer has put all the blame on the poor, flipping unbelievable (that is not the f word which I wanted to use but I am trying to be polite)

I am watching it as we speak, absolutely astonishing …?‍♀️

Ooh Mr Anderson, so we're playing "who had it toughest" are we?? I trump you - I was a single parent with four children, and it hasn't made me an opiniated, ill informed bigot.?

This is the wonderful Jack Monroe (a local’ish Essex girl)

Her tweet sums it up…

I cannot however good my local Conservative Constituency MP is vote Conservative again unless something is done pretty damn quick to help those who are struggling the most.

I am disappointed, mad and totally disillusioned…

Sky high rents are IMO a major reason for so many people struggling, and for some reason I haven’t yet fathomed*, they’ve rocketed lately.

In a small area dh and I watch, we were recently startled to see an advertised rent of £1800 pcm, when the local norm had been more like £1500-1500, depending on condition. This for a 2 bed maisonette in what was never a ‘sought after’ area of London, but has become more so because it’s cheaper than others.

But the other day he sent me a link to one of the exact same flats, admittedly very nicely done - for £2200 pcm!
To say we were ? is putting it mildly.

*apart from sheer greed, of course.

www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/tory-mp-who-said-food-bank-users-cant-budget-claimed-220k-in-expenses-in-one-year-322230/

Not worth a listen at all, in my opinion.

Whitewavemark2

Think on this.

People keep referring to the 'fact' (except, I don't think it'a actually true now) that we're the 5th wealthiest country in the world.

Which may be true, but the actual 'fact' is that the wealth is extremely unevenly distributed. We make no effort to even try to redistribute the wealth, but revere the wealthy, defend their 'right' to hang on to as much of their 'wealth' as they possibly can, and demonise the poor for being poor.

This will only change when a large proportion of the electorate believes that all workers should get a fair share of the wealth they are creating and that we have a duty to look after those who are either seeking work, or are incapable of working and vote for parties that will act positively to enable redistribution. Not enough voters have those beliefs at the moment. I sometimes wonder if there ever will be enough to bring about change.

growstuff

Riverwalk

I've come to hate 'cheap & nutritious' and 'cooked from scratch' so easy to spout yet so hard to achieve, DAY IN DAY OUT.

It sets my teeth on edge too. "Cooking from scratch" isn't always the healthier or cheaper option - it depends what the ingredients are. However, I guess it makes people feel virtuous.

I think the main benefit of cooking fresh is that you can control what's in it. My DH has health problems, so I can control things like sugar and salt more than with processed food.

I guess it's about a balance, but it's not about cost.

We could live much cheaper on budget brand processed food or something like MacDonalds.

I do think, however, it would be helpful if schools bought back cookery classes - it's always nice to be able to cook.

My grandsons seem to know more about nutrician than a lot of people giving advice.
They both learn (ed) about it in their sports and nutrician lessons.

GrannyGravy13

I cannot however good my local Conservative Constituency MP is vote Conservative again unless something is done pretty damn quick to help those who are struggling the most.

I am disappointed, mad and totally disillusioned…

I hope you don't think I'm being patronising GG13 but that is a very principled decision.

... The Ashfield MP said people use food banks because they ‘cannot budget’. Lee Anderson (UK Parliament/PA) (PA Media) A Conservative MP has defended his comments on food banks after saying people use them because they “cannot cook properly” and “cannot budget”.

One really gets tired of these sweeping generalisations made by MPs and others in the Tory party under whose watch we've had decades of stagnating wages, an increase in zero-hour contracts, austerity, huge cut-backs in state spending, exorbitant travel costs, expensive and limited rental accommodation, massive hikes in energy prices, etc, etc.

... all of which has had absolutely no effect what so ever on people's ability to cook and budget, of course... if you're poor, it's your own fault.

It doesn't matter how well you understand nutrition, how brilliantly you budget, how often you manage without heating your home, nor walk instead of using public transport, how cleverly you make-do-and-mend... no one can live on tuppence and a bit o' pudding for a wage for months / years on end without becoming impoverished.

He's just another in the long line of Tories (who defected from Labour BTW) who won't admit that poverty is real because it's an inconvenient truth...

volver

GrannyGravy13

I cannot however good my local Conservative Constituency MP is vote Conservative again unless something is done pretty damn quick to help those who are struggling the most.

I am disappointed, mad and totally disillusioned…

I hope you don't think I'm being patronising GG13 but that is a very principled decision.

It has been a gradual process volver

I am just amazed that this government has not been told by its minions (advisors) how they are appearing to the populace.

I have been holding out for the moment when they woke up, smelt the coffee and acted in such a way that I could support them yet again. Unfortunately I cannot see that happening with the current cohort.

He and others of his ilk will be guilty of turning the poor into "generation after generation of people who can't cook" - because they will no longer have the means, the spirit, the wherewithal and the strength to keep slogging away relentlessly.

www.tivysideadvertiser.co.uk/news/national/20133310.minister-distances-government-tory-mp-lee-andersons-food-bank-comments/

Witzend That's why I wish foodbanks weren't viewed as the only indicator of poverty. It's often because everything else (rents, fuel prices) are so expensive that people hardly have anything left for food. Food isn't the core problem.

I don't agree that teaching cooking in schools would solve anything. It's anecdotal, but I never had any cookery lessons in school, but I can produce healthy and cheap meals. Crucially, I can read!

I've just watched a video of Lee Anderson in a "Ready Steady Cook" type programme. He claimed to have produced 170 meals for £50. Looking at what was produced, I find it difficult to believe the meals would have fed 170 and there was a huge reliance on pasta and potatoes. The cost of fuel to cook wasn't factored in. Frankly, I found it very patronising because there are millions of families who produce food just like that.

GrannyGravy13

volver

GrannyGravy13

I cannot however good my local Conservative Constituency MP is vote Conservative again unless something is done pretty damn quick to help those who are struggling the most.

I am disappointed, mad and totally disillusioned…

I hope you don't think I'm being patronising GG13 but that is a very principled decision.

It has been a gradual process volver

I am just amazed that this government has not been told by its minions (advisors) how they are appearing to the populace.

I have been holding out for the moment when they woke up, smelt the coffee and acted in such a way that I could support them yet again. Unfortunately I cannot see that happening with the current cohort.

I might argue like fury with you from time to time, GG13, but I have recognised for a long time that you are honourable and principled.

Welcome to the Dark Side

Cheers MaizieD

MissAdventure

Were they ever?
Lots here from all walks of life have said they made cakes, and set out tea trays.

In my first year of cookery classes at grammar school we made a beef casserole. unfortunately during my journey home by train, bus and walking, the casserole dish leaked and the resulting mess was given to our dog. I seem to remember that my mum had bought quite expensive beef.

PS We also learned to make bread and rolls and other yeast bakes. Very few cakes were made.

I wouldn't imagine that was based around budgeting?

That all sounds very 1950s!

First thing I made was vegetable soup. I put it in a glass jar as we had no Tupperware and the bottom fell out of the jar. Soup and glass everywhere. We didn't make cakes. There are a few posters on here who have no understanding of poverty and who pontificate about how they managed in a different time.

There are now breads that can be made using just 2 or 3 ingredients, some without yeast.
That would be more beneficial for people to know.

MissAdventure

I wouldn't imagine that was based around budgeting?

If I were teaching somebody about budgeting, I'd teach them how to make "bottom of the fridge left overs" soup, frittata and veg curry. My children did a couple of years of "food" at school, but I don't ever remember them learning anything like that.

I was utterly useless in my domestic science class.

For my O Level we had to make a chicken dish. I made a chicken salad. My ginger cake had no ginger in it and I presented my orange juice with steam coming off it. I'd made it far too late. I got an E. Apparently my theory was excellent.

As for this absurd man, he is obviously clueless. Is this the one that said you can make a meal for 30p?

The Jeremy Vine panel did think he might have made an error. I just can't see how anyone would think 30 pence a day was enough. Maybe he meant pounds. Which would have just as nonsensical.