Discontent #9 food, energy, transport, cost of living, society etc

[Yel]

I'm finding it hard not to have loads of credit. Energy company keeps raising the DD and I call them up and they say it's already the lowest it'll let them allow it to be. I've got so much in credit they should stop charging for a few months, but they refuse to.

Agreed, it’s irresponsible journalism imo. The same with how Jack Monroe reports austerity deaths with absolutely no context and just gory triggering details

It makes me think what's the point of the BBC if even them will give platforms like jack monroe to say outright lies that rice has gone up 344%. They have the time to make graphics to scare people, but not to fact check that what she's saying is total bullshit and (at the time) basic rice had not risen a single penny.

Bbc news should not be repeating easily debunked lies by a fantasist who makes up stuff to go viral on social media.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I'm finding it hard not to have loads of credit. Energy company keeps raising the DD and I call them up and they say it's already the lowest it'll let them allow it to be. I've got so much in credit they should stop charging for a few months, but they refuse to.


It makes me think what's the point of the BBC if even them will give platforms like jack monroe to say outright lies that rice has gone up 344%. They have the time to make graphics to scare people, but not to fact check that what she's saying is total bullshit and (at the time) basic rice had not risen a single penny.

Bbc news should not be repeating easily debunked lies by a fantasist who makes up stuff to go viral on social media.

Agreed completely. Also it scares people into making decisions that they wouldn’t have otherwise which imo is the worst, eg people may choose to stockpile beans and pasta to avoid eating not fit for human consumption dog food instead of… overpaying the mortgage or turning the heating on which would actually benefit them hugely? It’s sick and twisted the media can mislead ppl into making non optimal decisions with a story that either isn’t true at all or is an anecdotal thing that missed out the fact the service user also had MH issues or additional needs or whatever. Same as these deaths from starvation - yes and no, there’s just no nuance to things anymore? Yes 100% the tories are vile and have made the benefits system SO hard for claimants to navigate + yes benefits are woefully inadequate, but they’re not committing genocide as some monetised Twitter profiles would have you believe to whip up engagement to then flog themselves to big biz with.

Yes it’s bad atm but we need perspective and if something doesn’t feel realistic then it probably isn’t, Jack or not Jack - she just happens to have 400+ threads unravelling her story but if anyone paid any attention to the first big blog they’d have clocked she was a total fantasist as she mentions flogging a £3k watch her parents had bought her so I don’t think it’s unfair to jump on suspect stories with a hmmm? :/ really? :/

And what’s happened with your DD is exactly why I’m keeping 2 months of peak(-ish) in credit and giving monthly readings. I don’t want energy company beef or them holding a couple of grand ransom

 

[I_Like_Tractors]

It's mainly to shock, im sure a 40p tin of beans and sausages (my guilty pleasure after work!) Is alot more filling and palatable then a tin of dog food for twice the price. Iv heard stories for years that people have to resort to eating pet food due to poverty but I think alot is just for shock value and urban legend of sorts. I know I couldn't stomach pet food, when my dog was on wet food I hated it even touching my hand when dishing it up!

Yep when I had a cat I always held my breath dishing it up. I'd rather eat almost anything else (or nothing)

 

[Yel]

You could buy two budget pot noodles for the same price as the cheapest dog food. Then it would be a 1p of hot water for a tasty meal. Vs spending a fortune putting the heating on full blast for a few hours, and the dog food would still be cold.

 

[sleeptime]

I've noticed food shopping is going up more again. The Christmas activities are busy, I did go past a usually busy restaurant today and thought it was closed as it was empty, it was open but there were no customers . It would have been heaving in previous (non-covid lockdown) years on a Saturday in December.

Going back to the childcare chat, it is extortionate. I stayed at home with the kids for a while as the costs were more than my wages (previously had a better paid job that paid for it). I did find getting back to work was tough, and my pay is awful now, so there is a cost to taking time out with missed pensions/lower pay etc. Luckily DH earns more than me, so we are very lucky to be comfortable. But it shouldn't be like this, you shouldn't have to have a better paid job to be comfortable, everyone should be able to have decent housing, enough for food/energy/bills and treats. Agree with @Yel that high priced housing is the cause of many of the problems. It started with Right to Buy as it reduced the amount of social housing and pushed people into private rentals rather than much lower priced social housing. It helped to turn housing into an investment rather than somewhere to live, with the crazy prices as a result.

 

[Caffeine Fiend]

Im another one £700 in credit because they will not let me lower my direct debit from £260 per month and also getting the £66 credited.

We are being much more frugal due to the rise in cost when previously we'd have chucked whatever on whenever we wanted. So its building up and up. Fair enough we havent hit long periods of cold weather yet but we are in Scotland so have had my heating on every day for maybe the last 3-4 weeks.

 

[sleeptime]

I'm £200 in credit, I don't think it will last long.

 

[Elle Woods]

I don't have hive but can do the upstairs and downstairs separately, I've got 2 honeywell thermostats. Wish I could turn just my girls room on upstairs though as it's freezing

Sorry to jump in on this- I’ve got 1 Honeywell thermostat now, if I bought a second could I have one upstairs and one down to control them separately? Or is it not that simple? I didn’t realise you could have more than one

this is the one I have for reference

 

[Falkor]

£1,200 in credit here and they put our DD up by £10-ish last quarter to £329, but we're about to go into peak usage for our ancient electric heating systwm so I doubt they'll release any of it until March at the earliest

 

[Burrito88]

The people who don’t believe the dog food story have obviously never been so skint they can’t afford to buy a pot noodle. As another poster stated, the person maybe have only had dog food in the house

 

[Jc456]

Sorry to jump in on this- I’ve got 1 Honeywell thermostat now, if I bought a second could I have one upstairs and one down to control them separately? Or is it not that simple? I didn’t realise you could have more than one

this is the one I have for reference

View attachment 1780224

I'm not quite sure how it's done, mines a new build so was like it when I moved in but I have these ones

I'm just over £800 in credit, my dd is £85 so it's quite a few months worth. No idea if I should or how to get some of it back and if it would bump up my dd

 

[Yel]

The people who don’t believe the dog food story have obviously never been so skint they can’t afford to buy a pot noodle.

I think plenty of us have been that skint, but still recognise it's one of many suspect stories that are quite likely to not be all as it seems.

Of course it's not impossible that one person only had dog food and had no other choice. But the stories presenting it, along with heating food on radiators or with candles as a growing trend seem highly unlikely as it makes no sense. Does appear to be painting a misleading picture.

 

[Blond3g1rl]

Sorry to jump in on this- I’ve got 1 Honeywell thermostat now, if I bought a second could I have one upstairs and one down to control them separately? Or is it not that simple? I didn’t realise you could have more than one

this is the one I have for reference

View attachment 1780224

No you can’t. Your heating has to be on two different ‘circuits’ (don’t know the correct word) if you wish to control upstairs and downstairs separately. You could fit hive valves onto all your radiators, this is what we are in the process of doing. You can then control them separately

 

[Caitlin44]

For those looking for reviews on hive. I got a local company (Glasgow) out to replace my boiler and they offered an ATAG that came with its own hive equivalent and 15 year guarantee. No issues at all and what a difference to the house and bills

 

[Jc456]

No you can’t. Your heating has to be on two different ‘circuits’ (don’t know the correct word) if you wish to control upstairs and downstairs separately. You could fit hive valves onto all your radiators, this is what we are in the process of doing. You can then control them separately

I just looked it up and you can add in a zone valve, not sure if that would be pricey to have done. Hive sounds good being able to control the rooms individually, I'd be able to heat my girls room

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I think plenty of us have been that skint, but still recognise it's one of many suspect stories that are quite likely to not be all as it seems.

Of course it's not impossible that one person only had dog food and had no other choice. But the stories presenting it, along with heating food on radiators or with candles as a growing trend seem highly unlikely. Does appear to be painting a misleading picture.

Right? I grew up poor + struggled through uni alone and it’s never the tit you actually do like steal food via self check outs, steal teabags and loo roll from work, or group together with mates to manage a dinner out of your combined loose change, it’s always the most ridiculous unbelievable tit you’ve never heard of anyone doing ever?

Also most UC claimants are working, and imagine a lot of them are on appalling precarious x hour contracts which feels at odds with risking having explosive and probably agonising diarrhoea that’d keep them off work…?

 

[Lalla]

To be honest if I was so skint I had no money to buy myself anything to eat I would have got rid of my dog before I got to the point where I was eating it's food.

Re the comment on right to buy above, I completely agree. The money it raised should have been used to build more social housing rather that councils pissing it up the wall on all manner of vanity projects.

My dad always said that the other thing that pushed up house prices was couples being able to get a mortgage on two salaries...years ago it was only the main earner whose earnings were taken into account, limited to 3x earnings and that keeps a real lid on it.

I bought a (3 bed) house in 1997 for £75k, I had a £15k deposit. When I had my eldest a year later, my childcare costs were £300 a month. I was earning £21k a year and I wasn't living in luxury but I could manage ok, even managed to save a bit.

My eldest is saving for a deposit, but even a 1 bed flat round here is £250k. He earns £25k. I really feel for him and his friends, I have no idea how any of them will ever afford their own homes.

 

[Yel]

Right? I grew up poor + struggled through uni alone and it’s never the tit you actually do like steal food via self check outs, steal teabags and loo roll from work, or group together with mates to manage a dinner out of your combined loose change, it’s always the most ridiculous unbelievable tit you’ve never heard of anyone doing ever?

Exactly, when you have lived experince these poverty stories so often seem like cosplay as they totally over egg it with silly things that someone who's actually been in that situation can see the glaring errors.

Like most of jack Monroe's poverty cosplay she really has to overdo it and add such silly details that show it's all made up.

 

[Romy]

The people who don’t believe the dog food story have obviously never been so skint they can’t afford to buy a pot noodle. As another poster stated, the person maybe have only had dog food in the house

No, it's because it doesn't sound realistic at all. I can tell you, not even the homeless people eat pet food.

 

[265]

I'm finding it hard not to have loads of credit. Energy company keeps raising the DD and I call them up and they say it's already the lowest it'll let them allow it to be. I've got so much in credit they should stop charging for a few months, but they refuse to.

Interesting and a little disturbing.

I'm £200 in credit, I don't think it will last long.

It will with us with luck, that £66 will help plus the winter fuel allowance.