Save the Children staff administering the grants reported that families were struggling to afford fruit and vegetables, or warm winter coats for children. One recent recipient had moved into social housing but had been unable to furnish the home, leaving the downstairs uncarpeted.
This is the evidence used to prove that the British poor are woefully abused. That one floor of the house cannot be carpeted.
Pretty rich, eh?
We have to read a lot further to get this: ’She added that family finances had already been stretched thin by the Covid pandemic…’
Really? Shutting down the UK for the sniffles wasn’t a good idea after all? Who knew…?
Let them eat lino.
Aldi, Lidl and Tesco appear to be in a price war, all of them having a ’19p’ promotion on Potatoes, Swede, Parsnips, Carrots, Brussels (wouldn’t buy them if they were giving me 19p to take them away…). There is plenty of cheap food available but probably not processed crap like pizza, which seems to be a staple in every poor persons cupboard.
Food was vastly more expensive in real terms in the 1970’s and, I would suggest, benefits were lower.
‘… were struggling to afford fruit and vegetables…’
Nonsense. Tinned fruit and veg is cheap enough and just as nutritious, and cost less to prepare – open tin, serve hot or cold – and have long shelf life. Buy more meat – plenty of cheap cuts – as meat is more nutritious – packed with protein which is very important for children – than fruit and veg which is mostly, carbohydrates and water. But of course… the planet.
Warm Winter coats – plenty of charity shops; it’s precisely this market clientele they serve.
Food was vastly more expensive in real terms in the 1970’s
Indeed, as was clothing. Regarding the ‘warm winter coats’ mentioned in the article, I had a quick look on the Primark website and they are retailing kids puffa jackets for £8. That’s 50 minutes of minimum wage labour, a ratio that would astonish a 70’s parent.
Addolff “ Food was vastly more expensive in real terms in the 1970’s and, I would suggest, benefits were lower.”
That is true.
And as a child of the 50s food certainly was a much larger proportion of income, there was little choice, few had fridges or freezers so tinned veg and fruit provided variety to what was available… seasonal, organic, local, often poor quality… available and cheaper.
Apple, orange/tangerine, a few nuts, chocolate money (ugh) were Christmas stocking treats.
Welfare – virtually unavailable and the ‘dole’ was deliberately miserly to cover only bare essentials and act as an incentive to get a job.
Go to a BandM store and buy a roomsize bit of lino for £40 or better still got CarpetRight buy some offcuts and sellotape them together.
Go to Iceland and buy frozen veg and meat. It is more nutritious often than fresh.
A tin of soup costs 45p, share that between two kids. Half a dozen rolls for 80p from Tesco. Perfect lunch.
And so on…
Save The Children: Our Chief Executive Officer is paid a full-time equivalent annual salary of £143,000.
Not a bad gig, I assume she also picks up a lot of expenses and freebies (dinners and conferences and whatnot) as part of the job.
You don’t even need to buy CarpetRight’s offcuts. They will happily give you obsolete sample books for free.
BiW @ 12.09. Steptoe and Son, circa 1972. Divided we stand.
Harold wants to do the place up, the old man doesn’t want to spend any money, so Albert says to stitch the carpet samples together and “bung all the bits up” from the wallpaper samples.
A: “Ere, I like that hairy paper”….. H: It’s not hairy paper, it’s flock. A trifle ostentatious…where were you thinking of putting it? A: In the Karsi…..”
I’m so glad we now have quality BBC comedy like My Hero, or Miranda……
There’s a TV advert running at the moment: “concerned about smells getting on all your soft surfaces when you flush the toilet?…”
WTH???? What are you doing with CARPET in the bloody bathroom???? And close the damn lid when you flush!!!!!
A while ago, I saw a post by some thin Hollywood madwoman ( either Demi Moore or Courtney Cox ). Not only did she have carpet ( shag pile ) in the khazi, but a sofa as well !
Somewhere to repose after a particularly difficult dump, I suppose.
Otto: Entertaining visitors? It’s just a continuation of regal behaviour centuries ago (and more recently?).
Richard M aspires to be the Groom of the Stool, he has told me. The donkey pricked up his ears
And likely the only reason there is no carpet is the previous scroat that occupied the property pulled it up and flogged it.
She should be grateful hw didn’t flog the bog and radiators.
most of the “posh” houses around here don’t have carpets at all!