Free school meal parcels containing barely any food

[bgmnts]

How much money have the cunts in charge of portioning the meals been given? I imagine its a ludicrously undeserved amount.

[idunnosomename]

... Because.... the reason I'm glad NOW... *cheeky little nod*

How did he think that was going to get him out of it? What cunt.

[Wonderful Butternut]

https://twitter.com/Haggis_UK/status/1349280342117593088?s=19

What a shit stain of a human being.

I know I'm at least 3 years late to the party on this, but when we're at the level where Piers Morgan comes across as reasonable, things are well and truly fuckways.

This all comes from one place and one place only: A belief that the poor are somehow flawed as people and deserve to be punished. There's no effort to help here, it's simply government welfare for the private sector, like nearly every attempt to farm government services out for 'efficiency' is.

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Hahah yeah that nod was amazing "yeah how'd you like that?"

[Fambo Number Mive]

"I'm going to use my own words to describe my own feelings"

[Better Midlands]

Hahah yeah that nod was amazing "yeah how'd you like that?"

[shiftwork2]

This is brilliant.  Can't blame them for having a go can you?  I saw a wallet hanging out of the back pocket of a poor person earlier today and I thought 'That's going begging, it's rude not to' and just helped myself.  Got to look out for yourself these days.

[lipsink]

https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1349339154186973187?s=19

Bastani is fucking brilliant.

[notjosh]

Next time anyone has a go at me or you for 'intolerant left' crap, tries to reset a debate about 'standards of discourse', they're emptying tins of tuna into money bags, they're dividing up fucking ONIONS into quarters, onions that cost about 10p RRP. This is it.

How much does it cost to pay people to chop all these onions and carrots? Probably less than it would just to give everyone a whole fucking vegetable.

[Blue Jam]

Less people are buying pre-prepared sandwiches, why not get the factories who make them for supermarkets, newsagents and the like, to supply schools? You'd save factory jobs and get decent lunches to kids.

Where's Jamie Oliver when you need him, eh?

Seriously: he may have dreamt up some hare-brained schemes before but his heart's in the right place and he could do a Joe Wicks and make himself useful right now. He's been awfully quiet though. Is it because Covid has fucked his failing restaurants for good?

[idunnosomename]

How much does it cost to pay people to chop all these onions and carrots? Probably less than it would just to give everyone a whole fucking vegetable.

i see you have no idea how an economy works. and they wonder why the left will never see power!

[lipsink]

Rachel Riley's been awful quiet about this.

[gilbertharding]

Jack Monroe has taken a break from celebrating their single-handed victory on this, to have a pop at 'the hard left' who remember that she was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of a polititian getting into power who might, genuinely, have wanted to, and been able to change this on a fundamental level (instead of just sticking a plaster on it).

[Johnny Yesno]

I'd be very interested to know the sell-by dates on some of this food. There's another picture with a comment saying the bread was going off when they got it, and the bread is a sliced loaf (actually it looks like it's a few slices short) that has been removed from whatever branded bag it came in and put in a plain bag. Along with the tuna and various other things in bags that you'd expect to find in packets, I reckon they're re-packaging some of the items to hide the fact that they've paid fuck-all for a load of stuff that supermarkets were throwing out at the end of its shelf life.

I doubt they'd need to, really. They'll be serving this stuff out of wholesale/trade-sized containers. The off bread highlights why it's a bad idea to open the packaging and handle the contents before giving it to people. That usually only happens for food that's been prepared to be served immediately and consumed within a day or so.

It should certainly be reported to the Food Standards Agency.

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt in assuming that the money bags aren't a deliberate and explicit fuck you to poor people, but they certainly shouldn't be providing food stuffed into whatever non-food-safe bags they happened to have lying around. The fact that they can't even be bothered to spend a pittance of the £30 on a few hygienic food storage bags speaks volumes.

Even in sterile bags, that tuna won't last long out of its original container. Or the cheese. Definitely not ten days. I'm amazed this is legal, tbh, because there's no use by date on those items.

[JamesTC]

How much does it cost to pay people to chop all these onions and carrots? Probably less than it would just to give everyone a whole fucking vegetable.

I thought the same. Then you factor in the cost of packaging too. Then you factor in basic human decency. It all just doesn't add up.

[Blue Jam]

Scenario 1 - A small percentage of families misuse vouchers. A large percentage of families receive much needed support to stop children falling into poverty.

Scenario 2 - Private companies siphon money meant to fund stopping child poverty. All families receive inadequate support which keeps children in poverty.

See also:

Scenario 1: Force employers to pay staff a living wage so they can live comfortably, pay taxes and not put a strain on the NHS by developing stress-related illnesses.

Scenario 2: Force employers to pay a minimum wage that doesn't meet the cost of living, and subsidise them with public money. Shift the blame onto the employees and make it as difficult as possible to claim these subsidies while they're also paying less tax, getting stressed and getting ill.

I read a few comments on the Daily Mail's site today because I am a masochist and of course there are plenty blaming single mothers for having children they can't afford (all on their own of course- absent fathers are blameless, especially Our Glorious Leader). For those types:

Scenario 1: Increase funding for evidence-based sex education and sexual health services. Make contraception and abortion services affordable and accessible. Give the Child Support Agency the power to make absent parents pay more than a few quid a week for the children they should be 50% responsible for raising instead of letting the state pay.

Scenario 2: Tell girls to keep their legs together. Punish any who don't by forcing them to raise a child alone and in poverty. Don't ask absent parents to take responsibility, most of them are blameless dads and the beastly CSA should stop hounding the poor hapless sods. Children who never asked to be born may suffer but tough shit, there's always some collateral damage.

I fucking hate this cunting Scenario 2 country.

We Brits love a false economy don't we? Who cares about value for money when we can enjoy watching poor people suffer?

[JaDanketies]

To be honest, I'm not sure. I have a bad feeling enough people can ignore it with a "scroungers wanting something for nothing!" sneer and move on to quite happily vote Tory next time out.

This is being framed as £30 of taxpayer money going to a private company owned by a Tory's friend so they can send people a quarter of a carrot. So even the people who would normally think 'fuck the scroungers' can get on-board with the waste of their taxes.

[Blue Jam]

Living cress too, that's a nice idea. A little edible project and a gift that keeps on giving.

[checkoutgirl]

"I'm going to use my own words to describe my own feelings"

Has he got his own words? Is he fucking Shakespeare or something?

Why do politicians feel they can never express regret or admit a mistake? Is it because they are afeared that another politician from the opposition or their own party will capitalise on it? Or is it because more senior colleagues will have voted the same way and they might make them look bad? He's a cunt for voting to make children more hungry but the question dodging is more a product of the political system, isn't it? Or does anyone have a clip of a politician admitting they made a mistake?

[JamesTC]

We Brits love a false economy don't we? Who cares about value for money when we can enjoy watching poor people suffer?

The sad thing is that the false economy is sold so easily to people with the "scroungers" ethos and then the Tories can profit at every turn.

As you say, it all ends up increasing the burden on the NHS but if they can privatise it (more than it already is) then that burden is simply another money making opportunity for their mates. The pot of gold at the end of the Tory rainbow.

[flotemysost]

I remember the free meals of my childhood
The carrots they cut into eighths
I'll probably starve, the Tories will laugh
And bung a few bob to their mates

Even in sterile bags, that tuna won't last long out of its original container. Or the cheese. Definitely not ten days. I'm amazed this is legal, tbh, because there's no use by date on those items.

Yeah, aside from the utterly atrocious morality of it all, the amount of extra manual effort, unnecessary additional packaging, added risk of food contamination etc. that must have gone into this is really fucking depressing. I mean even if the tuna originally came in a big plastic tub (as is often the case with food manufacturers, catering companies and restaurants etc.) rather than individual tins, surely there's got to be a more efficient way of storing it.

[idunnosomename]

Rachel Riley's been awful quiet about this.

shows shes not just a useful idiot re corbyn. Shes a fully blown cynical tory.

[lipsink]

shows shes not just a useful idiot re corbyn. Shes a fully blown cynical tory.

It's obviously not important enough for her to make a T-shirt.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

We don't pay Child Benefit in vouchers

Wait a little while longer.

[Twit 2]

Think this fiasco has broken me. Up in the early hours staring into the dark cos of this. Bastani's video with a few K views. Hancock unable to answer if he's a human being or not, in a top cabinet position. Staring into the dark.

[monkfromhavana]

Think this fiasco has broken me. Up in the early hours staring into the dark cos of this. Bastani's video with a few K views. Hancock unable to answer if he's a human being or not, in a top cabinet position. Staring into the dark.

I know how you feel. This country (England) is rotten to it's core and I can't see anything ever getting better

Brexit
COVID
Corruption
Incompetence
A near total collapse of the mainstream media actually doing their job.
Climate change
English people
No political opposition
UNICEF delivering food parcels to us
Tory candidates stating that homeless people can save up for deposits on houses in London.

I truly believe that it's going to get a whole lot worse as well.

[Better Midlands]

Wait a little while longer.

I know how you feel. This country (England) is rotten to it's core and I can't see anything ever getting better

Brexit
COVID
Corruption
Incompetence
A near total collapse of the mainstream media actually doing their job.
Climate change
English people
No political opposition
UNICEF delivering food parcels to us
Tory candidates stating that homeless people can save up for deposits on houses in London.

I truly believe that it's going to get a whole lot worse as well.

Absolutely agree with both of these.

[JaDanketies]

Rachel Riley's been awful quiet about this.

I know it's not fair to insist that Rachel Riley speaks on every instance of antisemitism either, but I was startled that she doesn't appear to have commented on the people in t-shirts mocking Auschwitz trying to overthrow the US state.

[imitationleather]

If they'd been socialists she probably wouldn't have been too keen on them.

[holyzombiejesus]

Jack Monroe has taken a break from celebrating their single-handed victory on this, to have a pop at 'the hard left' who remember that she was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of a polititian getting into power who might, genuinely, have wanted to, and been able to change this on a fundamental level (instead of just sticking a plaster on it).

I think all that was a bit grim. It's since come out that the anti-Corbyn comment was made when she suffering from particularly bad mental health and she subsequently messaged him and apologised (which she really didn't need to do). I think she's a good person and people's anger or irritation would be better directed at someone who is a cunt.