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!!

Agree truffle, She was on tv this week saying the same thing. Steam was escaping from my ears...

Yep. and hopalong

Also if you do have a reasonable disposable income, obtained through legitimate means then after you have paid your taxes & any bills it's your choice how you spend your cash.

Whether you choose to donate to charity via a food bank or to purchase that designer handbag you've had your eye on is no one's business but your own. Those who are financially comfortable should resent being told how to spend their own money as a matter of principle!

I loathe the constant hectoring patronisation of our leadership class towards the "rest of us". Once we hit 18 we are adults and I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to be treated as such.

I have done voluntary work with people facing eviction from council properties for non-payment of rent. The reason they were struggling to pay their rent was because the council had a massive backlog of housing benefit claims and were taking months to process them. This was the same council that was then seeking to evict the people. Some of those people had to choose between scraping together the money for the rent that should have been covered by HB or eating. You might have enough rainy day money to cover a couple of weeks rent but not a couple of months.

How were they feckless or undeserving when it was the council's incompetance that was driving them to a food bank.

blochead ever thought of going into politics? Great post and so true. Too many with no idea on this thread.

I'm ble

Oops I'm blessed and haven't (yet) needed benefits but still know the truth, from friends/tv etc.. I'm astounded at the ignorance of some people.

bochead not blochead sorry. Gets coat.

DaffyDuck I will agree she was mean to Jack Monroe BUT that's Politics. Edwina is well averse to Politico world and like any good twat Politician. Make it personal straight away and you will distract your opponent from speaking the facts/truth. Jack should have turned around with a response such as "Yes that's right Edwina my Grandfather was indeed a Russian Oligarch with oodles of wealth at his disposal" and THEN carried on with the Facts she had at hand re Foodbanks etc. Instead it turned into a bit too much 'Big Brother' for my liking. FWIW I work at a Foodbank. Someone needs to point out that swanning in and out of a foodbank for a photo op with a few putdowns that make Katie Hopkins look positively timid is not being well averse and well researched on a given subject. Coming from someone (Edwina) who would scrounge free meals from Papers 'because they were paying' and putting sandwiches etc in a bag to take home to your family can not then go and berate others about 'taking stuff for free'.

JetsetLi please do point people in 'Under Occupied' houses into the direction of smaller properties. They'd love to hear from you. Little tip. People who are subject to the Bedroom Tax/Subsidy Charge whatever one wishes to call it. Fall into arrears quite quickly. Social Housing Tenants can't move with arrears unless under extreme circumstances so they are then stuck in the same old cycle. Disabled people also can't move but are still subject. Many houses had many adaptations made to them I.e wet rooms instead of baths. Ramps to get in and out of the house. Where does the Govt suggest these such people move on to?

Personally I'd find going to a Foodbank really degrading so do most of our Clients PP :( Thankfully we aren't as judgemental as the likes of Edwina and her Ilk. Three sources of referral - GP/School Welfare Officer or a Social Worker/DWP - I.e Jobcentre Staff. Can any of you on here who disagree with the use of Foodbanks honestly say that people would go to the above with a spring in their step because as Edwina puts it, after all it IS 'free' food. I can't begin to even imagine having to go to my DCs School welfare Officer and ask her to refer me because I can't afford to feed my kids. Thankfully I've never had to. Sadly many have. We also have many clients referred to us who are IN work before anyone trots out the benefits and dependancy line.

Mistress, Molly, Hopalong and Bochead

Thank you for putting some great posts up

WRF to Mrs. Currie and the salmonella scandal. I know someone who was on a course for B&B owners in Fr. There she was told that the salmonella is on the outside of the eggs on the shells which can be removed just by washing them!!!! This fact was not mentioned this at the time. So all those poor farmers went out of business because of the mendacity and hypocrisy (also ignorance) of Mrs effing Currie

Cheeky cow! She's not above handouts herself though - when I met her in RL she was on a freebie 3 week Caribbean cruise (my honeymoon) where she just had to give a couple of talks to earn her keep. Didn't use her rainy day savings for that, did she? Her husband was with her too (also on the cadge).

JSA is a drop in the ocean compared to Tax Credits, the bill for which has increased hugely due to employers freely allowed to pay crap wages. Housing Benefit is another culprit. Private landlords are allowed to charge what they like, lots of workers have to claim HB to help with rent payments as their wages simply aren't enough to meet the bills.

I've heard some speak as if they consider themselves 'better' than other benefits claimants, particularly after the back-to-back benefits claimant programmes shown recently. Thinking of JSA in particular; if this government suddenly shelved WFTC - & lets face it, with this government anything's a possibility, isn't it? - after all if you're claiming WFTC then you're a benefit claimant, the system is propping up your wage - would they seamlessly move to surviving solely on a meagre wage, no further top-ups in sight? Cheerfully cutting corners and becoming the master of budgeting on a shoestring, effortlessly and immediately?

Of course they wouldnt. Their standard of living would be seriously and deeply affected. It would be a crisis.

You see - this government does not love some sections of the working class, and hate others. Its much of a muchness to them, all the working classes are being shafted in the same way. There's a tyre company a few minutes away from me, (I live in London) looking for a full-time admin officer. The wage is £15,000. They want someone experienced, familiar with customer facing roles and problem solving, competent on Word, Excel and 'office systems'. Yet they're paying school leaver money.

There is something inherently corrupt and flawed about a society that offers JSA claimants up as scapegoats, to blind the public to the fact that the biggest dent in the system is made by workers who can't manage on what they earn and so, are claiming 'top-up' benefits. As ever big business and government win again, whilst in the model of chaos Cameron has created (as all most corrupt leaders do) a good number of people get on with missing the reality of the situation completely.

Most aren't as far away from poverty as they'd like to think.

I bet those 'talks' were sooo interesting doodlyfiddly were they about how to eff the Prime Minister ?? Some people should keep their mouths shut forever.I'm talking to you EC.

In order to be considered part of the social elite in the US, individuals make a big hoo ha about their personal philanthropy. It earns them social status, and a certain cachet that is unobtainable in any other way. Ways of doing this vary from gifting University scholarships, to providing land for community gardens. It's so important to be SEEN to give back something to the community in some way if you are successful.

Over here our social elite seem to take pride in their ability to be the ultimate "gimme dat" character at any social gathering, proudly proclaiming that they have only turned up at social events for the free eats.

I'd like to know why this is. It's not about class, as a walk around any town or city in the land will mean you pass some building once gifted by a wealthy, privileged Victorian to his/her community for use as a school, hospital or some other project directly intended to benefit those without the privileges and wealth of the benefactor.

What exactly is it about the mentality of our elite that means they have to resort to sneering to bolster their own status? Vince Cable did it yesterday too, with his comments about teachers being unable to understand the world of work - it's not just a Tory thing. The last Labour governments attitude to parents who send their kids to state schools stank with the advent of an overbearing nanny state.

Have none of these people ever heard what happened to Marie Antoinette, or seen the countless examples of civil unrest across the globe in recent years?

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ppeatfruit - I didn't go to one myself (far better things to do!), but friends went and there was one Major issue that was off the agenda!!! It was the elephant in the room every time she was around.

Be thankful most of you never had to endure her in Government. I think it was one of her ideas that the elderly should knit themselves scarves to keep warm when many were freezing to death.

Tanith - I did, she did (and they should ask their grandchildren to buy them woolly hats for Christmas IIRC ) and that's one of the reasons why I despise the woman.

Shes a Tory, what do you expect.

She talks typical right wing bollocks to demonise the poor.

bochead, that's a really interesting point.

Could the Victorian philanthropy difference be because the factory owners etc had more contact with their workforce, and more insight into their lives, than the modern 1%?

bochead can I like your post? Very very thoughtful.

Misspixietrix - I don't think that sarcastic post was necessary, I already said up thread how upsetting I found that documentary in fact this afternoon I went to Sainsburys and put some items in the foodbank collection. I just felt that that lady has made a silly choice to stay in that house for sentimental reasons rather than eat! I'm glad I participated in this thread as I now have a better understanding of how terrible times are for some people but I am stepping away from it now

She is a vile bitch.

MistressDeeCee great post.

What people don't seem to get is that it is mostly your circumstances which dictate how you behave, not your character. Make someone suddenly very poor for an indefinite period of time and it's very likely that they won't make the choices that the affluent middle class commentator like EC will think that they themselves would make. What's been said above about the grinding nature of poverty affects us all when we are poor.

I expect EC thinks she would be able to pull herself up by her bootstraps - yes, we'd all like to think that - but would we? And don't a lot of those rags to riches stories involve an element of luck - being in the right place at the right time? Edwina Currie is a nasty smug piece of work who should be thankful for what she has, and stop preaching to those less fortunate than herself.