This Morning - Tone Deaf on Heating

[BeurialJimberley]

This Morning had a segment on heating and Ben and Cat were having a jolly old time giggling and laughing about the fact that they had ‘caved’ and turned their heating on.

Ben and Cat are extremely well-off, multi-millionaires in fact. Turning on the heating for them has no consequences. I’d have turned mine on if I was rich. But, like most people in the country I am not and so I will be cold a lot of this winter.

It really got my back up that were laughing about something that for most of us is a serious issues.

I don't think they are being tone deaf, insensitive or whatever words you could use. I'd say it was just a conversation between two presenters. You could add the same argument to someone saying they were putting their thermals on and seeing them as well off compared to someone who isn't wearing multiple layers of clothing.

Please look into anything else that you might be entitled to that will help spread the cost for you this winter. Alternatively some towns (our local church) offer warm spaces at different times of the week for people to use.

Didn't see it but it does sound tone deaf. Watched Helen Skelton giggling about people who want to avoid paying £2.99 to return products they bought online the other week, which irked me.

Sadly some presenters get paid far too much for very little talent, & delude themselves into thinking they're above the rest of the general public.

It’s not tone deaf. It’s a normal conversation topic this time of year that plenty will relate to, it’s not a millionaire thing. Should they also avoid looking nice as you can’t afford their clothes?

It’s been a topic of conversation at my workplace (usual British small talk I suppose) and afaik no one is a multi millionaire.

I put mine on last night and wouldn’t say I’m rich.

I don't watch the programme OP but I agree with you.
Turning the heating on is a major and serious decision for many many people.
And there has been enough debate about the subject of the cost and difficulties for it to be inexcusable for even highly paid tv presenters not to be aware of this.
The gap between the lives of the " haves" and " have nots" in our society is stark and shocking.

It’s not tone deaf - I’ve already had this conversation myself with colleagues this week who have said they caved in. Many people have put the heating on a bit already and joke that they’ve caved in.
Do you think someone rating their lunch in view of other people is tone deaf because someone might not have lunch that day or might have a cheaper lunch?
Maybe your post is tone deaf because some people can’t afford a TV. Where does it end?

Tone deaf, perhaps, but I highly doubt either of those two are multi millionaires OP!

But the main point of the segment was discussing ways in which to save money on heating and they also mentioned money you may be entitled to such as warm home discount etc - so I think you're missing the point in slagging them off.

So no one should ever mention anything other people can’t afford?

Perhaps it was very tone deaf of OP to start this thread, not everyone can afford a TV or device to watch it on after all. She also says she’s not turned her heating on yet, well some people are homeless and don’t have any heating to turn on ever.

The real problem is that a basic necessity is unaffordable for some.

Sadly some presenters get paid far too much for very little talent, & delude themselves into thinking they're above the rest of the general public.

^^exactly this

It not as though you can’t turn it off again if you put the heating on. Here in Scotland our heating is on a thermostat so often comes on on a morning and evening. Radiators are down in unused rooms not that our house is very big. With a combi boiler having the heating on for an hour now and then isn’t a big decision. Turning electric underfloor heating on in the only room that has it is a bigger decision as that is much more expensive and takes hours to warm up.

Of course people should talk about it. It's the laughing and joking about it that is the problem. If they had talked about it in a factual way that is totally different.

It’s daytime TV, it’s aimed at a broad base. You could equally say that the cooking segments they show are tone deaf because some people who use food banks can only dream of cooking a nice meal, or the style and beauty segment is tone deaf because some people can’t afford new clothes and products. There would be nothing to present on fluff TV shows if every topic had to be solemn rather than light and populist.

You're' overreacting. Should they not have had John Torrode making Shepherd's pie because some people can't afford meat? Or done the beauty segment because people can't afford face masks? The whole thing is light-hearted nonsense. It's not supposed to be all doom and gloom.

I've turned mine on and I'm not rich so no I don't think it was tone deaf. If you're going down this road where would you draw the line?

It’s lighthearted day time telly

Your first mistake was watching day time TV- what do you expect? its pig swill.

Your second mistake is taking this too personally. By your rationale, noone on TV should ever joke about having a pregnancy craving because it will upset viewers trying to get pregnant.

Noone should mention mothers day or fathers day on tv because its insensitive to those of us who have lost ours.

Noone should mention holidays because some cant afford it

Noone should mention buying a car because some cant afford it

Noone should mention beauty products because some people might be ugly

Noone should mention hairstyles because, what about bald people?

I mean, come on now.

I was under the impression morning programmes like this one were supposed to be news orientated and informative. I don't watch daytime tv unless it's tennis.
I'm a radio person myself and listen to that on a morning though to be honest the presenters on the Today programme make me reach for the off switch quite often.

Why comment on it so confidently if you don’t even no the programme? That’s a bit odd. This sort of chat and having a laugh is totally normal for this morning, they discuss current topics but it’s not a news show

Pretty much all the responses here are from people who didn't see the segment. As a clearly common and unintelligent person who (shock, horror) doesn't listen to Radio 4, I did and literally the whole point was to give ideas on saving money on heating. The "giggling" bit lasted all of 10 seconds.

So what? not all of us are triggered that easily by such silly, minor things.

Doesnt make us in the wrong either

The majority of us actually said OP is BU which is what you’ve said too…

perfect response

How weird. I put mine on last week and will now have it on every single day. All day. I’m not a multi millionaire though 😹

You can apply that logic to almost everything and if you did they wouldn't be able to show things like A Place in the Sun, Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Dog Behaving Badly (because we can't all afford a badly behaved dog). Not everything on TV is achievable to you, but that doesn't mean that people can't talk about it. Heck, a lot of people can't afford to be at home and watch daytime TV. Some people have to work 3 jobs and the only time they have at home is when they are asleep.