to listen to Jamie Oliver on Radio 4 and want to throw things...........

catinabox · 2013-09-02T09:06:40+00:00

He's not really doing himself any favours is he?

hiddenhome · 02/09/2013 10:08

What did he say?

LumpySpace · 02/09/2013 10:11

What go on?

Crowler · 02/09/2013 10:12

More on Jamie Oliver. Boy, he really rankles the MN'ers doesn't he?

What indeed did he say?

Original poster

catinabox · 02/09/2013 10:18

Going on about people in poverty wearing designer clothes and having electronic gadgets.....

and he has JUST said something along the lines of ' it hasn't been easy for me the last few years, i know people think i'm rich'

He hasn't got a blimming clue about poverty..he shouldn't pretend he has...

OP posts:

Crowler · 02/09/2013 10:21

He ought to hire someone poor & downtrodden to deliver his message without impunity.

Crowler · 02/09/2013 10:21

With impunity.

toomanycourgettes · 02/09/2013 10:22

I'm listening and agreeing with 98% of what he is saying. We need to stop making excuses for some people's laziness and attitudes. And before anyone kicks off, yes, we need to make sure wealthy people and big corporations pay their share.

Nancy66 · 02/09/2013 10:25

I think he is absolutely right about the people who seem to have convinced themselves that it's cheaper to eat takeaways than it is to make something healthy at home.

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 02/09/2013 10:25

He doesn't help himself.

He is rich.

He may have all sorts of difficulties too, but money isn't one of them. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

Crowler · 02/09/2013 10:26

I'm listening and agreeing with 98% of what he is saying. We need to stop making excuses for some people's laziness and attitudes. And before anyone kicks off, yes, we need to make sure wealthy people and big corporations pay their share.

Yes. There's a lot of people down on corporate tax avoidance, bank bailouts, etc (I agree) without recognizing this Britain is in a mess not only for this reason but also for a host of cultural issues.

sparklingsea · 02/09/2013 10:26

I am listening to him now, he isn't just talking about people in poverty wearing designer cloths and having electronic gadgets, I think he is talking a lot of sense and sick of the bashing he gets.

Lottapianos · 02/09/2013 10:27

I can see both sides with all the anger he has caused over the last week or so. I understand that chips etc are a cheap, filling, warming way of getting food into your children. I understand that 'massive TVs' are actually quite standard now and hardly count as luxury goods anymore.

On the other hand.....

'We need to stop making excuses for some people's laziness and attitudes'

Completely agree with this.

Someone has to start telling the truth about the state of many children's diets in this country. I work with young children and I regularly see children who are either seriously overweight, or desperately unhealthy looking. Virtually every child I see in a buggy is eating crisps or high-fat snacks of some sort. This is a huge issue, seriously frightening, and some has to start telling some hard truths about it. I know JO can be very annoying and doesn't always do himself a lot of favours with how he phrases things, but I do admire him for sticking his head above the parapet on this issue.

WantedGSOH · 02/09/2013 10:29

I'm afraid I think there's huge chippiness about success on mumsnet which I don't understand.

I understabd that Jamie Oliver thinks:

Schools should feed children better & more healthily.
Schools should educate children about food.
It's possible to eat well with less money, and should be a priority.
It's possible to cook from fresh without it taking hours.
Some British teenagers have a sense of entitlement, & that they need to understand that success follows hard work.
If people want to spend lots of money on food that's up to them.

Those things seem pretty straightforward & good to me.

I'm about why people are so angry with Jamie. He has made money - so what? He's also enabled others to earn money, pay tax etc.

Original poster

catinabox · 02/09/2013 10:31

tommy i agree with what he says about work ethic etc.

But i really struggle with his attitude towards the choices people in poverty are making.

OP posts:

Original poster

catinabox · 02/09/2013 10:36

I'm not angry with Jamie Oliver making money. He has done some great stuff, i just think that starting on the...

'they are wearing designer clothes/having plasma screen t.v's' but don't know how to cook is a really ropey argument to wheel out. It is also ill informed.

Food poverty is much more complex than those simple choices and the organisations he associates with (big supermarkets) (well one anyway!) are part of the problem.

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LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 02/09/2013 10:42

wanted - I'm not chippy about him making money.

There are a fair few posters on MN I can think of who're clearly pretty rich too, but manage to make you feel inspired, and also make it clear they know that they are well off (pagwatch springs to mind). JO gets me down because he comes across as if he doesn't actually realize how much richer he is than most people. The webchat thread where it transpired that his idea of a meal 'budget' was an amount most people thought was generous was pretty telling.

If he were an ordinary bloke on the street, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, and I'm sure he thinks he's just stating his mind. But he has a platform, like it or not, so I think he should take more responsibility.

Yakky · 02/09/2013 10:56

I listened to him too and I'm sort of 50/50.
It's great telling people how cooking from scratch is cheaper and healthier, but if the DCs refuse to eat your healthy meals, then it just gets thrown away.
I am making a Shep Pie today from scratch. I know that my lot will pull faces, push it round the plate then leave the majority of it.
So I will end up wasting money when I could have made burger and chips and watched them scoff the lot.

limitedperiodonly · 02/09/2013 11:00

We need to stop making excuses for some people's laziness and attitudes

Don't fret pet. There's no shortage of people eager to condemn the idle and feckless.

WantedGSOH · 02/09/2013 11:09

Limited... Those people may feel that they are entitled to condemn the idle & feckless because it is only possible to be idle & feckless at somebody else's expense - unless you have pots of cash of course!

I understand that JO is making his point simply & of course I totally get that supermarkets are pretty cynical & ruthless about manipulating the markets to make as much money as possible, I'm married to a farmer so have a healthy dislike for certain supermarkets!

However I do think his points are sensible & I don't think the fact that he has himself been successful makes them less so.

encyclogirl · 02/09/2013 11:11

What happened to the webchat? Is it still here? I'd like to have a read of it.

I'm a bit torn on the this issue. Of course there is value in learning to cook from scratch for anyone struggling with a food budget, but why does it always have to come with a side order of Plasma screens and iphones?

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 02/09/2013 11:11

Are these the idle and feckless who work for minimum wage? Those are usually the idle and feckless people target, the ones who take all our benefits and spend them on crap like bringing up children and paying their rent.

WantedGSOH · 02/09/2013 11:18

Idle & feckless people are idle & feckless people...

People who work hard are people who work hard...

VenusRising · 02/09/2013 11:21

I agree with Jamie, but I also think that it's difficult to feed children fresh, healthy food when everyone's rushed for time.

We cook a lot of fish as it's so quick, and have never had a take away!
However, I chose to work pt so I can spend some time looking after meal plans, shopping and cooking healthily. That's my choice and my salary is half because of it. It works at the moment, but I miss the money!

This weekend I cooked three days dinners, and we'll have steamed vegetables with omelettes and then salmon on the other two nights, my DH does those, as I'm out at uni doing a professional development course.

It does take a bit of planning, and that is difficult if you're not sleeping well, and have a long commute, are a lone parent working ft, have kids with multiple food allergies / sensitivities etc.

limitedperiodonly · 02/09/2013 11:22

However I do think his points are sensible & I don't think the fact that he has himself been successful makes them less so.

I have no problem with Jamie Oliver's wealth. My problem is with his political and social views and the wearying regularity with which he trots them out for an eager audience whenever he has something to flog.

LRDMaguliYaPomochTebeSRaboti · 02/09/2013 11:24

wanted - sorry, my point was meant to be, an awful lot of people who are going to feel targeted by this sort of stuff aren't people who don't work at all, but people who do, and still struggle for money. It's always the way when you start deciding there are 'deserving poor' and 'underserving poor', IMO.