To never want anyone to champion Jack Monroe again?

[SuperScrimper]

After what she has tweeted about David Cameron. here

Like him or loathe him to describe the way he talks about his deceased son as 'misty eyed' and used for political gain is disgusting.

The greatest loss any of us can imagine is the loss of a child. Shock horror, even politician have real feeling. It's just awful that she would say that about another parent.

I don't care what she can do with a bloody lentil. Something's are just too low.

If Jack Monroe wanted to raise/highlight a serious issue for debate she's gone about it entirely the wrong way, her overblown tweet means it is very very easy to dismiss her as some ranting leftie and for people to criticise her for her own use of her kid to promote her own interests. It's all very well to say the issues are not comparable, it doesn't really matter as you can see already from the backlash that people ARE comparing them.

If it was just a soundbite (twitterbite?) then she's an idiot.

It's worded in a rather inflammatory way but i agree with the tweet. If you saw DC's speech at the Tory party conference, which someone has linked to above, DC said something about 'how dare the opposition say any of my actions are harming the nhs when i've had the experiences i've had with my son. How dare they?' When he is doing precisely that, and it's absolutely justified that people have accused him of such things and tried to stop him. How dare he do what he's done to the NHS when one of his election promises was that he wouldn't touch the NHS. It's sneaky and underhand to try to shut down the debate using Ivan's death.

rooty Have you actually read the article because it really doesn't support your stance.

I did! what don't you agree with Dawn?

The tweet was: "Because he uses stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric to legitimise selling our NHS to his friends: #CameronMustGo"

So how should Jack have worded her opinion to highlight this issue so as not to offend?

I think she's bang on the money. DC does use Ivan's life and death to shut down debate on both the NHS and disability. He has done it more than once and he has told outright lies about NHS policy whilst invoking memories of his son.

I wouldn't have said it, but only because I haven't got the balls, but I do agree with her. The fallout reminds me of that 'Princesses saying Fuck' video. We are more shocked by little girls saying fuck than we are by the gender pay gap or rape culture. We are more shocked by Jack Monroe's comments than we are by David Cameron's actions (and comments). David Cameron's policies on the NHS have consequences that are far graver than making Sam Cam a bit sad so I can't get on board with the 'People are dying due to NHS cuts and Tory party donors are making millions from the privatisation of services and we can't say anything about that because we'll get a "How dare they say I'm fucking the NHS when I have lost a child speech", but Jack Monroe is sooooo mean and clearly the real villain' because I don't think she is. Nice distraction though

I'm with Jack. Love her for saying it.

LaurieFairyCake, though I agree with most of your comments regarding prescriptions, cancer treatment and dentistry, I think it is reasonable to expect parents 'to have many fewer children if they can't pay for them'.

Well I don't think she needed to use 'dead'; I believe we're all aware he's dead and I can't see that anyone would say something like 'I was so sorry to hear about your dead son' vs 'I was so sorry to hear about your son'. Why did she need to spell out that he's dead? I also think 'misty-eyed' was a mistake and implies the emotion is false.

To be clear I'm not making any comment on whether the underlying accusation in her tweet is fair or not, I'm saying that she's opened herself up to criticism (diverting attention away from the issue she wanted to raise) and prompted people to defend DC on gut instinct rather than consider whether he is behaving fairly or not.

LFC He wants to kill off poor people

Do you seriously believe that!? That's a ridiculous comment to make and makes you sound unhinged.

Just to clarify for people who don't know who Jack Monroe is and who may be basing their assessment of her tweet on her as being solely "a food blogger" - she's a campaigner on poverty issues, particularly food and hunger relief. She starting a food blog about affordable recipes when she lost her job due to being unable to find appropriate childcare as a single parent doing compulsory shift-based work. She came to wider attention in July 2012 after a writing a post called "Hunger Hurts when after a delay in her benefit being paid she had to sell most of her possessions to pay bills and was reliant on a food bank to feed her son.

"*I think David Cameron genuinely believes that his son's health problems gave him an understanding of what parents of ill and disabled children in this country face.

The man is either properly deluded, or so cynical it takes the breath away.*"

^^ This. That RootyPig says.

I think it is BOTH.

I think he does genuinely believe that his very sad experience of losing his son (and his sons difficulties during his life) gives him an understanding of others daily difficulties, when it doesn't. Yes he shares a similar emotional experience, but he was able to provide for his son in a way many of us lesser mortals cannot.

Also, I do think he shuts down debate by mentioning his own sad loss knowing that people's sense of decency will lead them to feel too embarrassed to push him on this. How consciously he does this, I don't know. None of us can know, really. But it DOES happen.

Sometimes I agree with her about this.

He must have been told, so many times, that having a life-limited child when you are wealthy and when you are poor (or average income) are extremist different experiences in terms of coping with the financial day to days.

But he won't acknowledge this and has overseen a government that has cut funds and facilities childrenwith disabilities rely on.

It's hard to keep believing that he doesn't realise after so many years.

I agree with her too.

I also agree with everyone who has said the following because you can disagree with someone's actions or choices without changing what you fundamentally believe about human beings:

His son's death was tragic and an incredibly painful loss for his family.
He loves his son very much.
He uses his son as a tool to shut down debate.
He should not use his son as a tool to shut down debate.

Jack Monroe just has a way of putting her message across badly. Her intentions are always well meaning but I can't see past her argumentative, wo-is-me (or wo-was-me cos she'll have done bloody well out of the media).

Yy to everyone who is saying that he cannot possibly know what it is like for poor people living in poverty with disabilities or not.

He and his family have known a child with disability but they have not known every disabled or sick child and they haven't known disability compounded with the following:

Not having enough money to decide whether to heat or eat.

Not having enough money to top up on vital medical supplies including such basics as incontinence pads.

Not having enough money or means to attend get around

Not having money to pay for services not offered or funded in the patient's postcode

Not having enough money or resources to take time off work or find a flexible enough job to enable caring responsibilities to be undertaken.

At the moment Cameron is making the equivalent comparison between someone crossing a desert in a chauffeur driven Land rover and someone crossing a desert on crutches on their own.

I'm glad Jack has said something. It needed saying.

I am pleased after her hardships she has done so well, esp for her son, and she is certainly a creative and resourceful survivor and fighter.

However I don't see how this makes her into a champion of the poor etc and someone with enough brains to intelligently comment, ie op why take her tweet so seriously? she wrote a brilliant cook book: thats It

I disagree Knitted, there aren't many people with her public profile who can talk about being absolutely stricken while taking care of a child.

Her perspective is invaluable.

She is spot on with that comment. I've thought it often. Also never understood why he has systematically attacked the disabled, and used ATOS (private company) to try and wrestle benefits from them, yet presumably was happy to accept DLA, despite being a millionaire, when his son was alive. And I say that as the parent of a disabled child for whom DLA was a lifeline.

Jack is absolutely right.

But its true. He does do this. He does stoop that low in an attempt to be all, oh you can trust me with the nhs, I'd never fuck it up because I owe them so much.

So he does use his sons death for political gain. Its disgraceful really.

Totally agree with her tweet.

Joffrey - I've never understood that, either...

She's completely correct.

She might have a bit of a point. But she's lost all my respect because she said that but now she's moaning because she's had a bit of flack over it. She said something which may well be hurtful and offensive to a lot of people. If she wants to say things like that she has to be prepared to take the backlash. You can't dish it out to other people then whinge when you get a bit back.

Also a millionaire who claimed everything he was entitled to whilst caring for his disabled son.

Pity he doesn't afford those in similar situations, (disabled & carers not the millionaires) the same entitlements.