Did anyone see the ITV News piece about of water bills on customers?

[inkjet]

https://twitter.com/PaulEmbery/status/1674332639921045505

Yes this is the feminism board. Paul Embery clipped it but I wonder if anyone saw it in full? He says the piece was about the impact of soaring water bills on an everyday mother. The voiceover calls the person a customer but the customer calls themself a mum. On the Twitter thread someone points out that the customer works for the TUC and is an economist who has been published in the Guardian. I think it’s fair to say the customer is neither a mother nor an ‘everyday’ one.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12246825/ITV-uses-transgender-activist-says-shes-struggling-mother-Thames-Water-crisis-coverage.html

The Daily Mail has now picked up on it.

Imagine a white person blacking themselves up and going on tv to talk about an issue that tv bosses have decided affects Black people more than white people (though it doesn’t really), and them saying “as a Black person, I’m affected because…”

@TeaKlaxon @Flickersy do you think that that would be ok, as long as the person’s family all go along with their belief that they are Black?

or would it be utterly outrageous?

All females....

This

I think a step mum using the term "mum" when the actual mum is still around would cause all manner of ruptions actually.

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌

That's one interpretation.

My feeling is that it's more likely that (not so) random man saying he's a mum and washing a breast pump is to try to normalise it ie nothing to see here folks. Gaslighting in plain sight.

I can't get over slipping so many untruths into one to one segment.

How could you possibly be expected to go along with the idea that this person is struggling to get 'what their kids need' any more than going along with the idea that they're' a mum like me'

All a bit Pulp for me.

I guess if you exist in a bubble where what you say about yourself becomes the absolute truth that no one is allowed to question, then why not pretend you're able to imagine what poverty is like too?

Owen Jones' misogyny and hatred of Rosie Duffield rearing its head...

Ignoring the fact that the original post by a man has far more comments, likes and retweets...

Ah come on. This awful bullshit nonsense. They’re taking us all for fools. How can this bloke be a mother? Ridiculous. It’s a bloke in a hideous skirt and questionable shoes.

A great excuse, thank you.

Incidentally, who IS the mother? I’m assuming there’s a child in that household rather than just Mrs Housewife pretending there is one because that’s how they identify these days.

I swear my brain is being frazzled by all this gaslighting…

The TUC has posted on Twitter.

Today a member of TUC staff, Mika Minio-Paluello, is being subjected to anti-trans abuse online, because she is a mother.

This is unacceptable.

Everyone should be safe and respected at work.

I haven't seen any abuse but lots of people are pissed off because Mika isn't a mother.

Great to see they think doing the washing up and shoving a couple of things in the washing machine is work and we should be safe and respected while doing that. Remind me how much support the TUC gives to SAHMs?

I presume the persons sperm created the child so that makes them the father, def not a mother.

So was Mika “at work” when they did that piece even though it was made to seem that they weren’t?

Its interesting that the TUC thinks everyone should be safe 'at work'. When he was cos-playing being a mum, the TUC considered this work, because he was doing this as a union employee to make a political point.

At least once a week I'll see a news item and think I wonder which union they're representing and within c.20 seconds I can find out, usually via their Twitter profile. If I can do that, the journalists definitely know that they are misrepresenting well paid union reps for whatever, usually poor, character they're supposed to be. They're usually a little bit too posh and 'on message".

I'm completely blown away with the close up camera angle of the breast pump!

I mean WTF???

Does this person have a baby? If not why are they washing a breast pump? And why on Earth was there such a huge close up of it?

So so so many questions!!

The whole thing is a bit weird. As someone pointed out to the TUC on Twitter, if this person illustrates "a struggling mum", that's not a great reflection on the TUC's salaries!
He's definitely not a mum and I very much doubt he's "struggling". Well, he might be - cost of living crisis is tough on everyone - but I don't think his struggle is as newsworthy as an actual mum on a low income or benefits.

Presumably the actual mother is breastfeeding, and this person is washing up.

A breast pump is a very specific piece of equipment. And it's not exactly photogenic. It certainly hasn't been included for artistic reasons. The person with the camera must have known or been told by someone what it was and the 'reason' to include it. The mind boggles at how that conversation went.

Very good point. Its not news, it's a propaganda piece. I wonder if it was scripted?

If Mika really is struggling with Mika's bills I hope Mika put in a claim to the TUC for overtime for filming this piece of propaganda.