Jack Monroe #259 “I’m alright Jack” Monroe

[Veronicaaa]

Someone's replied to her horrible Jamie Oliver tweet.

 

[MancBee]

Joking aside, the donation to Trussell Trust and other foodbanks had better be transparent, because there is nothing worse that committing fraud against a charity. It is the lowest of the low. Every single penny had better be accounted for. I am sure that at least one person will report her to Action Fraud if there is no further mention of how much money was raised and where it is going. We know that she stated that there was 10k going to TT, so it will be interesting to see evidence of that.

 

[Jelly Bean]

It is infuriating but there are some Squigs waking up. It's nothing momentous but it's enough to give me hope.

I like to think about a typical Nigella fan signing up to Jack's patreon at Nigella's behest.
Said person takes a casual look at Jack's twitter today to see how their meagre pension money is aiding Jack's vital relief work for The Poors.
'Mm no mention of the radio programme I set my alarm to listen to. Odd'
Scrolls up
'Rubbery yet burnt chicken on raw courgette. It's midday but it is for their evening meal. A little unusual'
Scrolls up
'What's this? "Look at my massive jugs - Wobble wobble?" Oh I say'
Scrolls up
'I'll need my specs for this bit, what does it say? - "Help me son - pass the bog roll - it's a shit tsunami'" Oh dear lord'.

 

[Geetbo]

Imagine something that’s never been sent not arriving. Such mystery.

 

[Knit one Pearl one]

Ooh err.

 

[Veronicaaa]

She faved this this morning

Little word of advice Jack - if you're wanting a £££ BBC show then it's best to not have a lie in when you're meant to be on an early morning BBC radio programme. People do talk!

 

[Emmapism]

You never forget to add this bit. You've had your begging bowl out multiple times since you went viral you fucking leech. Article in the mirror and hundreds of Patreons not quite enough for you?

 

[lilamay]

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'When I was a single mum on benefits'...

 

[Marmalade Atkins]

Over on Instagram...

 

[SweetTransvestite]

This is incredible. I'd love a whole series of these. Mr Asda (Jesus) in the car park (desert) being tempted by Charlie Bigham (Satan) to ditch the Smart Price range. Then in the next one Mr Asda would appear before 5000 starving poors in the car park and start dishing out Smart Price fish finger sandwiches expertly prepared by a certain Smol pixie.

Early morning, we see a solitary Jack walking along Southend seafront (not a MOD restricted firing zone). The camera pans to a pair of broken, old boots and the long line of lonely footprints they leave. Jack, weary from 10 long years of selfless activism buckles under the enormous unrelenting pressure, the sacrifices made have finally taken their toll. An ugly but cheerfully coloured bag hits the sand revealing an empty purse, moleskine and biro.
'Why have you forsaken me? I just wanted to help the people but I can't carry this burden on my own anymore' (arthritis).
With a double tap of his posterior, Jesus/Mr Asda appears and whispers 'Jack, you were never alone. See those broken boots and that one set of footprints? That was when I carried you. 45p rice for everyone'. Then he kissed her head.
[end scene].

 

[jenny2603]

"luckily my son's father and I are very good friends and we've always had a good co-parenting arrangement."

Apart from when he didn't notice you and SB were starving and reduced to selling old lightbulbs. There must be an explanation as to how a man who is a good and attentive father by all accounts failed to notice all this misery and drama. I'm going for didn't happen but I'm open to ideas.

 

[Silver Linings]

Meanwhile on Instagram.

 

[hydeist]

Jack's HacksTM for stocktaking is just glaringly stupid. When I was skint (living alone, so admittedly easier to manage food-wise), I KNEW WHAT WAS IN THE FRIDGE because I was skint. I knew what there was because there was fuck all - "the poors" aren't sitting on pantries packed out with so many tins and jars that they need Jack to come teach them how to look inside and count their stock cubes.

 

[Emmapism]

Spoiler: O/T interview

Small job update: Interview went really well, will find out next week if I've got the gig

Even just having the interview has lifted my spirits tbh. And it's nice to have a thread I feel like I can always share this stuff in. You guys are so great

Why is Jack riding JO's balls again? He's said some shitty stuff has he? Pot meet kettle. I can taste those bitter beans from here

 

[Powershower]

The whole prune, bacon and anchovy combo always feels to me to be very Victorian/Edwardian, along with stuff like devilled kidneys and gentleman’s relish, maybe we’re on our way to a return of steampunk Jack? My husband accidentally bought a bag of prunes a couple of weeks ago, he was making a sticky toffee pudding for the first time and it turns out he didn’t know prunes and dates are not the same thing. Fortunately he realised before cooking it and got dates instead, but if he’d taken Jack’s approach to cooking, ingredients are all interchangeable especially if they look kind of similar, I dread to think what abomination he’d have served up.

BTW, I’m working on the transcript of the Sophie Ellis Bextor and Jack podcast requested last week, I should be posting it either today or tomorrow.

I thought gentleman’s relish was a euphemism until I was about 30

 

[jenny2603]

Ugh. Too short.

Jack, Jack, Jack. No one gives a hoot about creators using crowdfunding to support their work. I donate regularly to people who do stuff I enjoy and have been known to kick in a one off donation where I've particularly enjoyed an article by someone I don't regularly support. The problem I have is with you is that you promise so much and deliver very little. Worse than that many squigs seem to think donating to you helps the poor when it does nothing of the kind. If you can make a living flogging recipes for foul slurry, then good for you. It's the lying I can't stand.

I have spent most of my career working with people who have fuck all and am in a state of permaraging despair at the lack of attention given to poverty and the way they're spoken down to, demonised and locked out of influencing solutions to their own problems. When I see a useless grifter like Jack monetising her childish family drama whilst claiming to help people it enrages me. I work with people all the time who constantly talk themselves down and have no clue how brilliant and skilled they are because they don't get the chance to make the most of themselves and quite often their skills lie in stuff like caring or manual work that society as a whole doesn't value- failing to realise we'd be fucked without those skills. I really wish my clients could monetise things like caring for their elderly parents or disabled children or doing odd jobs or volunteering in their community the way Jack has monetised her fucking endless passive aggressive tantrum at her mum and dad because then they'd be able to treat themselves and frankly their daily anecdotes and jokes would be far more interesting that Jack's rotten shitting arse.

Somewhere out there in an alternative universe there is a Jack who when fame came a knocking realised what a gift she'd been handed and set about learning real campaigning skills, good basic cooking skills and learned from her mistakes. I believe she's making a great living from her budget cookery books and shows and has highlighted many important issues whilst working in partnership with a range of campaigning charities. Is there any chance we could swap our Jack for Good Jack?

 

[JombleWomble]

Sophie Ellis-Bextor Spinning Plates Episode 21 Feb. 15th 2021 Transcription part two

We resume with Jack talking about her parents.

JM:..there's nothing you can't get through with love and security and compassion, and that makes for a slight wrinkle in my own story because when I found myself dirt poor and hungry and cold I couldn't and didn't go to my parents because I knew they would drop everything to help me out and I knew that they're not well off despite what people on the internet might say...they would have bent over backwards to to have helped out and I didn't want to put this on them. (Transcriber's note: this is really the crux of many people's issue with Jack's story, and it really doesn't stand up to scrutiny. She's implying her parents would have been put out of pocket to help her, but we know while not in the super rich category they could comfortably, and eventually did, cover the cost of keeping her and SB fed.)

JM: I was ashamed as well...I'd managed to fuck it all up...I kept up appearances. It was when I went to the foodbank for the first time one of the volunteers there was a woman who went to church with my mum...I went home and I was like, I've got to tell my parents before she does...they turned up with carrier bags of food...I thought if I didn't say anything it would just all go away. (Transcribers note: out of the whole poverty story this is the one bit that, to me at least, feels entirely truthful).

SEB: How long had you been in the situation before your parents found out?

JM: A year.

They talk about Jack's friends coming to her cold flat and Jack not being able to offer a drink, Jack falling off the radar, feeling embarrassed and asking for help.

JM:...when I went to a Sure Start centre...we would get lunch and it was enforced socialisation for an hour, we'd be there waiting for the lunch..one of the staff had noticed that I'd help wash up and would be scooping left overs into Tupperware and bags to take home, and I was like, I don't need that I just can't bear waste. This went on for a couple of weeks and she went, honestly if you need the help it's there. I was like, my parents were foster carers, I've seen what happens to children of parents who say they're not coping, I'm fine. (Transcribers note: I can't believe Jack didn't understand the very big difference between a parent who is coping in all ways other than financially and one who is genuinely unable to care for their children in a meaningful capacity.)

JM:...It took about six attempts...she continued to ask...said, you've been coming here to this group for six months, you've lost a lot of weight, you don't look well, you're exhausted, you're taking food home, just take this form...in the end I was like...okay.

SEB: How old was SB at this time?

JM: He was twenty months when I left the fire service and when I re-entered full time employment...three and a half. (Transcribers note: I'm assuming she means getting paid for writing her blog and book as full time employment, not she got another job. I'm not saying writing isn't a proper or time consuming job, but this is phrased to make it sound like she was not self employed.)

They talk about SB, apparently he has read Jack's book but does not remember the poverty.

JM: The amount of times I've had to bite back (to SB) we used to live on £10 a week.

They talk about Jack writing letters to the local paper, her most popular blog posts (the political essays apparently), Jack getting "viscorously" (sic) angry about issues and losing while days to writing about them. SEB heavily praises Jack for her writing skills, which Jack clearly enjoys. Jack explains that her rambles at the start of recipes are partly a form of copywrite to stop people from stealing them, which has apparently has happened. They talk at length about what Jack ate growing up, she doesn't suggest that there was any poverty or shortage of food.

End of part two

Thank you so much for transcribing this!

This particular bit:
"I've seen what happens to children of parents who say they're not coping, I'm fine."
has really wound me up. I won't go in to too much detail because 🔺️🔺️ but I've worked with so many families who have needlessly suffered because they were terrified to ask for help thanks to this horribly pervasive myth that social services will swoop in and steal your children. It's heartbreaking.

It's irresponsible and cruel for Jack to bring this up in the way that she did. She has a large platform and is referring to her own experiences to imply that she has some actual expertise in this subject, so people are going to believe her. She could have brought up that fear in a "I want to reassure everyone that my fear was unfounded and asking for help actually resulted in help" way, but she's selfishly left it as a "trust me, asking for help is a risk". It's unbelievably selfish of her and sums up the reasoning behind this thread title- it worked out OK for her so in her mind it doesn't matter how her words might now affect others.

Frauen, please don't let fearmonging like this put you off asking for whatever help you may need!

 

[Silver Linings]

 

[maytoseptember]

@maytoseptember

Are the comments these ones or are there new ones? Has Iqbal from Sainsburys broken his silence?

I knew you guys would be on it FAST. I’ll post my screenshots for those who didn’t see the first time around and some extra posts too…

 

[Geetbo]

I have to say I thought buttery tits Jack would be the low point today. But no, bean induced shits Jack came to say hi.