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 duck 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
