To be really Fucked Off with Edwina Currie

[TheTruffleHunter]

She's on BBC news 24 right now saying she doesn't agree with Food Banks - having just visited one and met the people collecting what will (hopefully) keep them going for the next week or two!

She thinks that won't encourage them to 'save for a rainy day'

I'm so cross I don't know what to do with myself!!

[JeanSeberg]

She's so far removed from the real world and has privileged, smug bitch written all over her.

[MistressDeeCee]

I was watching it with my jaw dropping. I had to switch off halfway through., The woman is unbearable. I like the way the food bank guy kept calmly saying ' I dont agree' when she was spouting her condescending nonsense. It was shortly after that I switched off. It was a sad programme all round. But I do think a lot of people believe there aren't really any poor people here, they must be up to some kind of scam etc...the tone of this country has changed so much. These programmes pretend to be about problem-solving but really theyre just to encourage people to scorn those poorer than them, and take the piss out of poor people by having a well-heeled person publicly belittling and mocking their plight and probably being paid to do it, too. Disgusting.

[Blueuggboots]

I have met her in RL a few times.
entitled

[DaffyDuck35]

If you saw her on the big benefits row thing with that hideous Katie Hopkins and the fabulous Jack Monroe you would also want to hit her, she was so mean to Jack I wanted to weep! X

[bochead]

Ordinary workers don't the same opportunity to fleece their employers (the tax payers) with expenses claim in order put a little away for a rainy day.

Boinking the married boss (aka her affair with John Major while pretending to be friends with his wife) destroys a woman's career in most fields. This also compromises ones ability to put a little aside for a rainy day.

Having derived her income for a good number of years from the public purse while not helping to improve the lot of her employers - the British public she needs to stfu. The working poor at least don't leave wrecked industries in their wake like she did, with the great Salmonella scandal. It's a shame she can't be forced to repay her parliamentary salary and pension back to the tax payer for that cock up alone. By rights the farmers whose livelihoods she wrecked should have been able to claim compensation from her PERSONAL bank account.

[TheTruffleHunter]

Good point - she basically derives some kind of living from being a rent-a gob these days...guess that puts food on her family's table. Sad really

[TamerB]

She hasn't a clue! Sadly she doesn't appear to let it get in the way of a loud opinion.

[missymarmite]

What? She really said that? Bitch!

I agree on one point though. There shouldn't be food banks; there shouldn't be a need for them. People should be able to earn enough to survive, and benefits should be sufficient to feed oneself. Disgusting.

[EmpressOfJurisfiction]

Have a look at the Jack Monroe webchat if you haven't already. There's quite a bit about Edwina .

[bochead]

Given rising bills for everything from utilities to housing and utilities, coupled with zero hours contracts and poor pay all it takes to need a food bank is a delay in HB or CTC payments for many working families.

Many of those using food banks are the decent working poor - people who have proper jobs where they have to EARN their money, and find the whole experience a real affront on their personal honour.

She's a professional leech who has the audacity to sneer at working families driven to penury. Personally I'd rather endure the humiliation of a food bank visit than perform sexual favours for a promotion or embarrass myself as a rent-a-gob, as she has done. There's a name for women like her, and it's not nice. Who is SHE to look down upon anyone?

[Felyne]

Yanbu. Save what, exactly, for a rainy day? All the benefits they no longer get?

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

About as out of touch as Boris Johnson's sister who boasted that her friends were jealous she got to meet poor people.

[ihatethecold]

Well put bochead

[diaimchlo]

Trufflehunter YADNBU. This poor excuse for a Woman really makes me mad.

I am on ESA myself and have not had the horror of having to face any of the unjust sanctions that are applied.

I read an article the other day that people that have used the Food banks were returning foods that had to be oven cooked etc as they could not afford the fuel. This really upset me and I went to the local supermarket and bought some basics brand items such as, noodles, mash,Angel delights etc..... all things that can be prepared with water from a kettle or milk.

Whilst in there I saw a family doing their shopping, their DD (approx 8) went to the self with noodles on and asked her Mum how many? Mum said 3. Her DD then commented that they had gone down in price to 21p and asked if she should get an extra one just in case they ran out of food again. Her Mum said no we can't afford it this week. This was a child aware of food poverty trying to put a strategy in place. TBH I filled up. So saving for a rainy day is not viable.

When I went to the Food Bank to drop off the donation I was made to feel like I was an angel.... I am not, I am a human being with a heart not a swinging brick like this horrendous excuse for a Government.

Edwina Currie and all her cohorts need to be made to go through the benefits system including the sanctions for at least 3 months then come back and review their bigoted opinions on Food Banks.

Sorry for the long winded post but this is a subject very close to my heart.

[Twit]

This kind of thing really depresses me. Most of us are a paycheque or two away from the food bank. Most if us are decent, hardworking people who do their best to 'get it right'.
They expect us to do the right thing and we do it because we are decent hard working people trying to do what's right by others in anyway we can, be it paying our taxes, donating food or volunteering in some capacity.
Then these 'people' come along and get paid to piss all over us.
They know nothing and do less.

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Good grief. Was she aiming for a re enactment of Les Miserables?
What a shocking thing to say. She really shouldn't be allowed out without a muzzle target painted on the back of her head

[whatsonyourplate]

Surely if you need to use a food bank you are already having your rainy day/ monsoon season. And even if you have saved a little, there is only so long it lasts for.

[Hungermonkey]

I like Edwina, Cannot bear Jack I'm so achingly cool I use a boy's name Monroe, though.

Food banks however - yes, of course we should support them.

[NewtRipley]

She's not very bright. Strange for some who went to Oxford University, but being a Tory from and early age will do that to a person.

[BringBackBod]

I can't stand her. She has absolutely no idea how difficult it can be for some people.
Did anyone see how she pounced on the supernoodles on Panorama. She went in there with a closed mind and it stayed closed.

[vickibee]

she also criticised the types of foods being offered saying it was processed junk food. If you are hungry I don't think you would mind too much...

[Hungermonkey]

Gosh yes, all Tories are horribly thick. That's why so many of them end up in really well paid jobs.

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Well. That kind of comment is either supreme ignorance (stupidity)
Or pure evil.
Which could it be and why would someone like a person who holds that view?

[ShadowFall]

YANBU.

It doesn't take much imagination to see that some people on a very low income won't be able to save for a rainy day because of the rising cost of living. And even if you have been saving, if you fall on hard times, those savings won't last forever.

And I wasn't convinced either by her argument that food banks shouldn't be around because in the past people used to have buying food as a first priority, and people just need to put food back at the top of the priority list.

I'm lucky enough to not have to make this choice, but if I was really badly short of money, I'd be prioritising paying the mortgage - and thus keeping a roof over my families head - over everyone in the family having 3 square meals a day. Surely being made homeless because you've spent all the mortgage / rent money on food would only make a bad situation worse?

[GarthsUncle]

She is a massive nincompoop.