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?

She is very mentally unwell she says so herself. She is a good writer but some (a lot) of it is just manic ranting. She very much views herself as a working class hero. She sent her son to school hungry and she has admitted this she could have asked school and church etc for help but felt too ashamed. She has been an alcoholic again with a very young child. This is stuff she has admitted to. I find her self obsessed and wonder where the child she has fits into this and gets his needs met. She said some bloody awful thing about David Cameron’s dead son which was unforgivable. She is no saint.

She was let go from a Sainsbury's promo a few years ago because of this awful tweet about the death of David Cameron's son

Lol defamation lawyers don't work on a no win no fee basis. It's not like medical negligence or personal injury where someone might genuinely need money because a horrible thing has happened to them. Nobody ever needs to start defamation action.

Anderson was extolling a food bank that made it a condition of help that people attend cookery and budgeting classes. Bit tough on single parents who might struggle to find babysitters, or disabled people. And incredibly patronising to those who may well know a hell of a lot more about both than the teachers do.

It's true

Yes please

And I don't think she'll sue him because she'd have to open up about her financial situation if it went to court.

@Clymene agree with this. She’d be unwise to invite that kind of scrutiny.

Her lawyers worked pro bono for action against KH, not no-win, no-fee. They may be doing the same again.

Hmm, I didnt know this about him, just goes to show you shouldnt judge

But then what the hell is he doing with the tories??

Sorry I read it wrong .

Google Jack Monroe/Sainsburys

No, she didn't say "bloody awful things" about Cameron's son. She rightly criticised Cameron's actions with regard to the NHS and the fact that he was effectively exploiting his son's death to try to justify himself.

Crikey, I didnt realise that

I also didnt know she had an 'ok' background, I think I must have just believed the rhetoric

And the MP she is attacking is not from an ok background at all and therefore has more validity to what he has to say about food and budgets

This might not go well for her

Because one person has lived through hardship and is giving helpful advice and the other is privileged and judgemental with no concept of what it’s like to struggle only contempt for those that are

She's done more than say "use value stuff".

She's actually met with the supermarkets and asked them to be mindful of not making their customers with the lower budgets bear the highest price rises. She's gone through periods of poverty and has come up with recipes for low budgets.

Take this thread for instance

twitter.com/bootstrapcook/status/1483778776697909252?s=21&t=KS-XJ9-ifnhSRgLy_2obgg

She's rightly pointed out that while inflation might be 5%, food inflation for those on the lowest budgets is much higher.

Important point that she makes in the thread :-
if the price of "Dine in for £10 " had risen as fast as the price of the cheapest bag of rice in the last 10 years then it would be "Dine in for £34.40" and the luxury lasagne costing £7.50 would now be £25.80

The supermarkets are businesses who have to make money but it's clear which customers are bearing the brunt of their money making.

She actually triggered a change in how inflation in calculated by ONS.

Marcus Rashford and Tom Kerridge have also lived in food poverty in the past and came up with budget recipes including £10 Christmas dinner for Six which also covers Boxing Day.

There's lots of reasons why people have small food budgets and telling people who are probably on the cheapest ranges to buy the cheapest ranges doesn't help. This man is an MP so has the power to influence change but comes from a party where giving billions to their friends beats feeding the poor.

Not true. Google something like "defamation no win no fee" and you'll find a number of lawyers willing to take on cases on that basis. Whether you can find a solicitor to help on a no win no fee basis has absolutely nothing to do with whether you "genuinely need money" but with how good your chances of success are. Witness the fact that you won't find anyone willing to take an SEN negligence claim on a no win no fee basis.

Already been done, upthread.

I also think that many people are in dire straits because they either can't or won't budget, rely too much on luxuries and can't cook

you can’t budget money that won’t stretch to cover even the basics. Have you tried living on minimum wage for a prolonged period of time? Have you paid your rent, your insurances, your utilities, childcare, food, clothing, transport…on minimum wage? Sure, you’ll get a Universal Credit top up, but have you lived on it? If you’d done that, even for a few months, with no back up from a generous family, you wouldn’t dare to use the word ‘luxury’. Now be the single parent of a severely disabled child with an ex partner who pays no maintenance and see how you make ends meet. Or a single woman in her 50s who has cared for children and parents and who’s partner has walked out….

at least Jack Monroe walked the walk.

God she's awful, she won't even bother to try and sue because she knows she will lose.

This

Her cause is very noble but she is very unlikeable

People might like to read this:

cookingonabootstrap.com/2022/05/12/whats-the-difference-between-jack-monroe-suggesting-budget-recipes-and-a-tory-mp/