Lee Anderson, Ashfield MP insists Jack Monroe has made a fortune on the backs of the poor.

[newnamethanks]

AIBU to hope for a libel trial as entertaining as Vardy v Rooney and an outcome that rivals the Katy Hopkins debacle?

My anger about poverty and inequality is why I’m so bothered by her. I can - and am - pissed off by multiple things. She does nothing but line her own pockets by making loads of noise about poverty, because who could argue with that as a cause? But she actually doesn’t DO anything to help it. She’s too busy “having a chaos”.

We need adults with clarity and direction to fight the inequality, women and men like Marcus Rashford and Naomi Lea (both of whom aren’t perfect, because no one is), not social media addicts who bang a popular drum to keep themselves in designer gear and expensive furniture and holidays. We all like nice stuff, but we don’t buy it then say we’re on the poverty line, and set up a PayPal account for more. And just because she hates the Tories, like I do, doesn’t mean I can turn a blind eye to the exploitation she’s guilty of too.

I can campaign against the Tories in my constituency - how do I stop JM having a platform to take money with untruths from those who might only direct any funds and effort towards her, rather than at a useful local political level?

@Rantypanties can you point to a time she has asked the poor for money? Don’t say her book because if you can’t afford a book you don’t buy it. But you could borrow it for free from a library if you need help making your money go further with low cost meals.

Its just a bit sad that people on the right need to find villains to deflect from the deep deep harm done to working people in this country since 2010. The conservative haven’t even brought down debt, they have increased taxes, inflation is back to 50s post War levels and we are headed for recession.

Voters should stop expecting the same actions to have different outcomes.

And don’t forget the Tories even ditched the triple lock so they don’t even care about pensioners anymore!

This is a thread on mn about Jack Monroe (see header). That’s why a lot of the responses are about Jack Munroe. its not about inequality or anything else. If you want a thread to focus on that, why don’t you start one.

If Jack Monroe has done some of the things stated on this thread, it’s absolutely right that people are angry. I hope she sues Lee Anderson so we can find out the truth.

I don't get why she's so marvellous because her recipes are 'given away free on the internet'. EVERYONE'S recipes are free on the internet - you just have to Google 'pasta beans recipe' (just an example) and you'll get hundreds. Yes, there will be adverts which earn the author an income. Jack's site has been broken for a very long time, and she doesn't update it now. She's been asking for money to fix it since last year. Before that it was absolutely crammed with adverts and requests for tips.

Yes! The Tories are shits, and are wrecking the country - but she can simultaneously not be all she seems. We don’t have to pick a side in all arguments. Both sides can be “bad”, to use a simplistic term.

If you look at her Twitter replies, there are plenty of people saying, “I haven’t got my latest benefits through yet, but I really believe in you so I’ve put some money into your patreon”. Honestly, it’s grim stuff. Saying “Poverty is bad and the Tories have made it worse” isn’t a green light for her to tell porkie-pies about how she really lived/lives.

why do you think Lee Anderson is “of dubious provenance”? Because he was a coal miner? Because he “bagged himself” a seat in parliament?

A coal miner at a pit with no name ? There can't have been many pits left open during the time he was working at one, so it can only have been one of a few ?

. Hmm I clearly took this person at far more face value than I should have- sounds too much like a Tommy Robinson/Farage situation for comfort- except not right wing, quite the reverse . I don't disagree with some of her sentiments though.
.
Stand by Lee Anderson being an arse though. I'm from that area originally, I was married to a miner and we were definitely not poor. Not rich, but certainly not poor. He's a misogynistic loudmouth who got lucky!

People dislike Jack Monroe for the same reason people dislike Jamie Oliver

Not at all. The worst I've heard about Oliver is that he's annoying and preachy.

Reasons people dislike Jack Monroe:

• She took a lot of money for a book on Kickstarter but then didn't deliver for a very long time after it had been released commercially.

• She was vegan for about a year while promoting her book on veganism.

• Some people doubt the veracity of some of her many disabilities and feel some of them are only claimed because they are in the news or someone else has it.

• It's felt by some that she implies experiencing many years of destitute unemployment whereas, in fact, it was a few months after quitting her fire service job.

• It's felt by some that she implies she was a poor single mum whereas the Dad has always had some custody and paid maintenance.

• It's felt be some that she implies she had no resources when unemployed but in fact her wealthy parents routinely helped.

(None of the above is me saying she wasn't poor. Her explanation is that she didn't tell them the extent of her struggles)

• She has been abusive to a number of other people (e.g. Jamie Oliver for taking a job that 'should have been hers'). Some people feel she incites fans to abuse these people on twitter.

• She talks very openly about how upsetting she finds it to be criticised online. Some people feel that's hypocritical giver other behaviour.

• Some people feel that she has no cooking skills or training and that her recipes are cribbed from others. I would point out to those people that her tinned peach curry is like no recipe I've ever seen.

@WarnerSisters

Yes! The Tories are shits, and are wrecking the country - but she can simultaneously not be all she seems. We don’t have to pick a side in all arguments. Both sides can be “bad”, to use a simplistic term.

Exactly. It's not an 'either or', FFS.

It's a small company. I strongly suspect that little if any of her income goes through it, and it may well be that she has paid all her tax on personal earnings.

Please can we not link to tattle? it might get the thread pulled.

Tilltheend99

I appreciate that in your desperation to randomly slag off Conservatives, reading the thread was far too much of a challenge for you but apart from the outdated bollocks spouting from your mouth that all Tory MPs are from privileged backgrounds in this particular case it’s Monroe who is the privileged one and the Tory who is the working class one so perhaps put aside your ignorant and unfounded prejudices and educate yourself?

These are all the Nottinghamshire Pits that shut during the time Lee Anderson was supposed to be working down one;
Moor Green
Pye Hill
Babbington
Whitwell
Newstead
Linby
Mansfield
Blidworth
Sutton
Warsop
Shireoaks
Steetley
Gedling
Cotgrave
Sherwood
Silverhill
Rufford
Manton
Ollerton
Bilsthorpe

I suppose he might of worked in one or more of them before they closed down ? There are certainly a lot of names to go at !

She does nothing but line her own pockets by making loads of noise about poverty, because who could argue with that as a cause? But she actually doesn’t DO anything to help it.

That's not true, she's had fundraisers for food banks. The money donated was spent on buying copies of her book for the food banks- could be more charitable than that?

That money would have been better spent buying food. Instead Jack got other people to buy her book, got the royalties, the glory, and a boost up the bestsellers chart. How
Many people using foodbanks are that desperate for a cookbook really?

@Tilltheend99 Loads of people commenting on this thread who have issues with Jack's behaviour are anything but 'on the right' (personally I'm left of the Labour Party), but it's illogical to think that even those who are on the right can't be correct about a single specific topic. Do you think that Boris being pro Ukraine means leftists have to take Russia's side? No, because it's utterly ridiculous.

The same applies with all issues. I disagree vehemently with the Tory Party on 95% of issues, but they're not automatically wrong.

(Sorry, donqui, I am of course agreeing with you).

They are both as bad as each other. But Monroe, she, they, is so obviously not from the poor background she claims. Perhaps she has done done good. I think she is so patronising in the way that only those middle class people with a safety net can be. She really doesn't understand poverty. She really doesn't understand the day to day relentless life of being poor. She can't.

There have been three compulsory strike-off notices delivered in the four years the company has been in existence. Two were discontinued after the required document (accounts or confirmation statement) was filed. The third and most recent one is showing as suspended rather than discontinued, which very strongly suggests to me that HMRC has requested Companies House holds off striking off while they investigate.

Jack themselves said that they got 'five figures' for the Leftover Larder collaboration with Hellmann's in 2020 and their patreon is over 700 subscribers at a minimum amount of £3.50 a month - about 500 of those were added after Nigella Lawson promoted it and I would guess her followers are generally slightly better off than average and some may have signed up to one of the higher tiers.

Oh, and she lives a couple of streets away from a friend of mine and it is categorically not a cheap area.

Done done good- made a difference. Sorry.

She raised money for a food bank, but the food bank spent the money on buying her book. From her?

So she raised money to increase the sales of her book and put money in her own pocket?

The money donated was spent on buying copies of her book

HER book

Did the food banks say they wanted it? That it was useful? That their users wanted it? More than, say, using that donated money to get, say, food?

And as a PP has pointed out, she gets royalties on those book sales. She didn’t use her author discount to buy books and donate them herself. She asked for handouts from the public to gain royalties for herself and inflate her sales figures.

Charitable indeed!

The legal representation is pro bono. What he said is clearly defamatory (I have a qualification in media law) so Jack has every right to sue. If you can't tell the difference between the Tories' attitude to the poor and Jacks then you are beyond help