Shocking that poor families should be allowed to watch TV, isn't it? Perhaps their children should be down the pit, or up the chimney, or maybe not born at all?🙄
Whether there is a libel action against Lee Anderson or not, the real question is whether someone who wasn't born poor should be the poster face for poverty porn. I see nothing wrong with Foodbanks offering classes to help parents budget and learn to cook in different ways to survive the appalling cost of living hike. And I don't care whether Mr Anderson worked above or below ground, I've supported the miners from childhood and I see nothing wrong in what he has said. I do, however, recoil from Monroe describing David Cameron as "misty-eyed" when she referred to the death of his child, whilst she herself has posted photos of her small boy, describing him as wearing too small clothes and looking hungry.
Real food for poor people isn't necessarily lentils, vegan meals and soft cheeses. Which of these meals do you think was our weekly food as children, usually the same meal on the same day?
Sugar Butties.
Fried Tomatoes (in lard) and sausage.
Cheese mixed with milk melted under the grill with sausage.
Pink Meat and Mash.
Jam Butties.
Hotpot.
Middle Neck & Barley.
Roast beef dinner.
Egg and chips.
White bread to bulk out every meal with Stork Margarine, onions and cheap paste.
When times were especially hard, we didn't ask mum what was for tea, as we would be told "food", and she would be embarrassed.
Families sharing meat when one family were paid ahead of their relatives. That's what we had to eat , except the sugar butties...my mum refused to descend to that...jam butties were a weekend treat and we weren't allowed to have the free school meals we were entitled to, because they were reserved for poor families.(I know) The first time I saw a yogurt was at secondary school. I still remember the reaction of other pupils when I returned a library book that had our rent card inside it .
Shit food for poor people? Yes.* But she was a superb baker, got food on tick when things were desperate , grew vegetables, had chickens, as had her own mother, who was a widow. It's called being proud, working class and totally devoted to her children. She owned nothing, gave away anything she could, and laughed at the days to come.
If someone had offered classes to the mothers in our street, I don't know whether they would have attended, or been offended. But they would have had a healthy distrust of anyone who has become famous by writing about their own child's hunger.
Those mothers went hungry, my mum went hungry, and I've done the same....it's not a badge of honour, it's putting your children first, every single time.