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.

Very worried about Cat she is lovely but is so thin.

Maybe they've been freezing for the last week and finally put it on when they couldn't stand it any more? They didn't say "Yeah, we never turn ours off!", it was the sort of throwaway conversation everyone has - just like I did with my next door neighbour yesterday - that you're reading far too much into.

I wouldnt say im well off and ive had mine on for ages. I dont get why people refuse to put their hearing on until a certain point during rhe year. If its cold, then its cold and it should go on.

Yes, the hearing should definitely be on.

(Sorry but it made me smile 😅)

It's not tone deaf because plenty of ordinary working people will also have turned their heating on. Contrary to popular belief most people in the UK are not living in poverty and and the majority can afford to heat their homes. It's would be weird for everyone to pretend otherwise.

We have had had the exact same conversation in our staffroom at the school in which I work today. Some were holding out, some had put the heating on! Some want to save money to spend on other things, some prioritise heating over other things. It's everyone's choice.

Just need to persuade the head teacher we need the heat on now because whilst the office staff are sitting with portable heaters on, the classroom staff are wearing their coats because it's so cold.

My curiosity was piqued OP, so I went to catchup and was able to scroll to the segment. C'mon now. There is so so much to be outraged about - including the C* that are responsible for this global energy crisis, but I didn't see them do anything wrong.

It is a lighthearted morning show on ITV. A couple of politicians on Question time however, and you would have had a point.

Tv would be really boring if they can’t ever mention anything that some people can’t afford.
no more bake off because some people can’t afford to include treats in their food budgets?

I'm sorry you're having a hard time, OP, but it's a normal topic of conversation. I'm not a millionaire, far from it, and it's not something I have to agonize over. It was quite a topic of conversation in my work today.

That's not what i was writing about at all.

I was agreeing with the point about about the presenters.

Don't mix your quote with mine.

We aren't writing about the same thing. Don't jump on my quote like that.

It’s a very normal conversation at this time of year. DH and me don’t need to worry about the cost but we do debate whether it’s inefficient and just time to put more clothes on. We also consider environmental impact.

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

I thought the OP was being unreasonable until this point; now I see there is considerable merit in her position.

Plenty of people aren’t struggling .. sympathy to those who are, but go to any shopping mall, or restaurant, and you’ll see lots of people spending lots of money.

Yes that's very true actually.

The sound of mopeds delivering takeaways in my street is pretty constant and I live in one of the poorest boroughs in London.

But this was a specific segment about how expensive heating is. It acknowledged that many people will be colder than they want this winter in the UK. And prefaced it with giggling about having their heating on and how they couldn’t hold off any longer.

It’s no different than talking about your nice dinner at the start of a segment on food banks.

9.1m pensioners (75% of those over 66) report their homes being colder than they would like.

Almost 9m households are living in heat poverty.

People with more money than you are allowed to talk about it and they are allowed to be happy they’re not skint you know. What’s everyone supposed to do? Pretend we’re all brassic? Are we allowed to wear new shoes? A coat? Live?

I watched it. You are really egging the pudding here. Do you often twist the truth?

There are 29m households in the UK .. so a majority of fine.

..TBH, kind of serves you right for watching crap TV

Are you presenting a segment on struggling with fuel bills?

Twist the truth? How?

No, I’m not because I’m not a television presenter. But, do you really think the two people presenting it should pretend that they too, are struggling? Despite the fact they’re not?

No, I am not. I am suggesting they don’t laugh about it. Was that not clear?

Perfectly clear! I’m suggesting that by being upset about people having a giggle about having their heating on is just being professionally offended over nothing.

You are being tone death op, I have no heating to put on and I find your post insensitive.

I have felt like that quite a few times when I have seen daytime tv. I remember Alison Hammond acting shocked over the price of an item in a fashion segment. She presents very much as a down-to-earth type but she is worth over 4 million pounds. ITV presenters live in a different world to their audience and I do think there should be acknowledgement of that when they are presenting some topics.