Jack Monroe #413 The flying monkeys are more like limping chimpanzees these days

[Valiofthedolls]

People who are blog-diving - when did Jack start posting her 'recipes'? Would be interesting to know how long before her May 2013 book deal. Especially since she was invited to give a talk on this difficulties that working class women face in the publishing industry.

The Blog archive starts in March 2012 and she was posting recipes back then, though posting a lot of other stuff too, the recipes weren’t the focal point.

For anyone who wants to get a quick flavour but not massively commit to a huge dive, if you scroll down almost to the bottom here, you can click on her archives month by month and get a sense of what she was posting at any given time - it shows both the post titles and the opening few lines of each

A Whistlestop Tour Of How To F**k Up Everything

I’m reluctant to use the term ‘living in the public eye’ because I’m not about to seal any deals with Hello magazine just yet, but when your blog gets in excess of 16,000 hits and strangers come up...

web.archive.org

 

[colouredlines]

Sorry, to be clear - she wasn’t claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or Working Tax Credits. She’s got the standard housing and child benefit, but not benefits relating to lack of work/income. Which she would be entitled to.

Ah, fair enough, sorry! She was definitely claiming them earlier that year, as the "Mummy works" post makes clear. A lot of her early blog posts are about claiming benefits.

Would she have been eligible for JSA at the time of Bread & Jam? She had quit her previous job a couple of months before. I don't know how the system works in the UK, if you can quit a job and immediately claim benefits?

She does make it clear in her blog that people advised her not to do the Bread & Jam thing - not due to anything benefit-related though, rather the utter madness of quitting a steady job to become a self-employed crafter based on nothing more than a whim.

 

[FrumpyCat]

More ye olde bollox from yesteryore. 2013 article.

Spoiler: Contradictions. Again.

We went hungry in world's seventh-richest nation - it has to stop

Mirror guest columnist Jack Monroe on going hungry and not even being able to give her son a Christmas present

www.mirror.co.uk

“Didn’t tell anyone she was hungry“ from November 2011 to at least December 2012. Even though in that time she told thousands of people including her parents and friends via her blog, by her own admission her mother came round with food, and they spent Christmas Day 2012 at her parents
View attachment 1638933

Took her “18 months to find work” and only then was she able to “feed herself and her son 3 meals a day again”. So from November until May/June 2013? Despite all the jobs (including bar work, a trainee reporter on her local newspaper etc etc all of which she LEFT- apart from the one that fired her for being too nice - and including the one she left to start her self employed craft business). Plus multiple columns and interviews etc.

View attachment 1638932
What I think she means by “took me 18 months to find work” is ‘work that suits my grandiose notions of what I’m entitled to’, because that’s when she got hired to write the weekly ‘Recipes for Life’ guardian column that lasted from July 2013 all the way through to April 2015 and commissioned to write her book.
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It’s also unbelievable (in the literal sense of the word) that she resigned from a £27,000 a year job in November 2011 but was in this level of dire straits by Christmas in the following month.
View attachment 1638957

It’s truly incredible that NOBODY in the media EVER did even a modicum of due diligence and research on this lying charlatan. No wonder her lurid pov tales have become increasingly wild and improbable over the years; she’s high on their ineptitude in letting her get away with it. Mateus mate, where are you?

Her parents sound like a right pair of cunts, leaving their daughter alone Christmas day in a freezing flat (on the plus side no need to plug in the fridge) not even getting her a present.

If only there was something Jack could have sold to buy a present for her son. Although at only 12 months old he wouldn't know difference.

 

[jenny2603]

Ah, fair enough, sorry! She was definitely claiming them earlier that year, as the "Mummy works" post makes clear. A lot of her early blog posts are about claiming benefits.

Would she have been eligible for JSA at the time of Bread & Jam? She had quit her previous job a couple of months before. I don't know how the system works in the UK, if you can quit a job and immediately claim benefits?

She does make it clear in her blog that people advised her not to do the Bread & Jam thing - not due to anything benefit-related though, rather the utter madness of quitting a steady job to become a self-employed crafter based on nothing more than a whim.

As she had a young child she would have been entitled to Income Support at that time. There would also have been no sanctions as she wasn't under any obligation to work or seek work due to childcare responsibilities. She has lied previously and claimed she was deemed to be intentionally unemployed and denied benefits for a period but that wouldn't have applied in her situation.

 

[SpudYouHate]

To be fair to Jack, most people are very happy to pass down cast off furniture.

The gritting was when she tried to guilt people in to buying her amateurish attempts at crafting. That pitiful attempt at a child's dress that appeared to be a bit of old curtain tacked on to a vest, looked like it had been made by a child.

Oh god, yeah- doesn't she claim to have got her tats when still working in her well-paid fire service job?

 

[Valiofthedolls]

Oh god, yeah- doesn't she claim to have got her tats when still working in her well-paid fire service job?

Maybe she paid for them with the spare money from when she was “moonlighting as a bartender” while employed at said well paid (shift work) job.

Jack Monroe #408 All those blue ticks holding her up like Simba

Tried and failed to find pics of Big Dave getting his MBE. Photos below - I assume the family photo is the same day, it was posted at the same time

tattle.life

 

[colouredlines]

Oh god, yeah- doesn't she claim to have got her tats when still working in her well-paid fire service job?

She had some of them pre-Poverty:

(Don't zoom in on the fingernails. It's not worth it.)

Her first Guardian video, Aug 2013, not that many:


Then in Jan 2014 she has significantly more tattoos: Depending on which version of 2013 you choose to believe, this could be due to signing a 25.000£ book deal...or saving up her prostitution income (and saving money by stealing food #jackshacks).

 

[SpudYouHate]

View attachment 1638997
“No carpets for TWO YEARS” = “the place I lived had laminate floors”. Also I know pics can deceive, but those pics of her home from the Guardian, Mirror and other pieces from 2012 and 2013 do not look like a place that’s damp or mouldy or anything else. Further, NO journalist at the time in any article from any publication, many of whom visited her at her home, makes mention of the damp or mould, which they surely would have? Yet she’s constantly milking that to this day.
View attachment 1639001
i chopped off their faces as wanted to show the floor but not SB and didn’t like/want to ‘squiggle out’ all over his face.

The pic she posted of SB on a rug in 'too small trousers', etc... looking absolutely normal for a kid at that age shows a rug. On a decent wooden floor. Carpets are hardly compulsory!

She had some of them pre-Poverty:

View attachment 1639065

(Don't zoom in on the fingernails. It's not worth it.)

Her first Guardian video, Aug 2013, not that many:


Then in Jan 2014 she has significantly more tattoos: Depending on which version of 2013 you choose to believe, this could be due to signing a 25.000£ book deal...or saving up her prostitution income (and saving money by stealing food #jackshacks).

Damn that's terrible posture.

 

[HotesTilaire]

Ah, fair enough, sorry! She was definitely claiming them earlier that year, as the "Mummy works" post makes clear. A lot of her early blog posts are about claiming benefits.

Would she have been eligible for JSA at the time of Bread & Jam? She had quit her previous job a couple of months before. I don't know how the system works in the UK, if you can quit a job and immediately claim benefits?

She does make it clear in her blog that people advised her not to do the Bread & Jam thing - not due to anything benefit-related though, rather the utter madness of quitting a steady job to become a self-employed crafter based on nothing more than a whim.

If she got £250 per month income from bread and jam, she would be eligible for top up working tax credits at that time IIRC. She could also have claimed Jobseekers/Income support and declared the Bread and Jam earnings, and given some up to keep her benefits.
The system has changed a lot since then so I might be a bit wrong, but broadly- she wasn’t claiming everything she would have been entitled to.
That element (JSA, WTC, Income Support) is what I think of as benefits. Housing and child is just kind of straightforward, lots of people claim, there’s never really been “shame” attached to them in the same way as “unemployment” benefit. IYSWIM.
In any case the Bread and Jam foundation becoming a community non-profit pseudo charity/good cause piqued my interest. Such a good person helping others!

Also- the fire service job being 1hr drive away, I forget the name of the Centre/location but it’s been mithered over before. A local frau May recall it. This was also why she was apparently learning to drive in that car she used to own.

 

[miss_terious]

Sh1thouse potaoes, meet sh1thouse onion.

I see the buy a full price book and I'll donate it to a homeless shelter racket is still live. Of course as ever, no evidence or updates have been provided.

View attachment 1637622

Random and pedantic, but wouldn't "budget-busting" mean that it'll exceed your budget, not come in under? Jack not understanding English as ever.

 

[HotesTilaire]

And yes, as she had a child under aged 5 she would automatically be able to get Jobseeker’s Allowance, whether she walked out, was fired, resigned, whatever. Below age 5 or maybe it was even age 7 then, you were deemed as needing to bring up your pre-school child so no requirement to find work.

Random and pedantic, but wouldn't "budget-busting" mean that it'll exceed your budget, not come in under? Jack not understanding English as ever.

@traumatised sideboard get it in the jacktionary!

 

[Valiofthedolls]

Also- the fire service job being 1hr drive away, I forget the name of the Centre/location but it’s been mithered over before. A local frau May recall it. This was also why she was apparently learning to drive in that car she used to own.

I saw it earlier in the post @colouredlines shared. In 2012 she said it was in Brentwood, then in those 2021 tweets that it had been 35 miles away

Unless there are two different Brentwoods,

Spoiler: Brentwood is not 35 miles from Southend

Edited to add dates

 

[HotesTilaire]

Was it kelvedon? Or is that where they are now?

 

[Valiofthedolls]

If she got £250 per month income from bread and jam, she would be eligible for top up working tax credits at that time IIRC. She could also have claimed Jobseekers/Income support and declared the Bread and Jam earnings, and given some up to keep her benefits.
The system has changed a lot since then so I might be a bit wrong, but broadly- she wasn’t claiming everything she would have been entitled to.
That element (JSA, WTC, Income Support) is what I think of as benefits. Housing and child is just kind of straightforward, lots of people claim, there’s never really been “shame” attached to them in the same way as “unemployment” benefit. IYSWIM.
In any case the Bread and Jam foundation becoming a community non-profit pseudo charity/good cause piqued my interest. Such a good person helping others!

Also- the fire service job being 1hr drive away, I forget the name of the Centre/location but it’s been mithered over before. A local frau May recall it. This was also why she was apparently learning to drive in that car she used to own.

Oh, and to follow on a bit more from @HotesTilaire’s posts, the self employed craft venture she set up and quit her job to become self employed for? All profits going not to her, but to local community organizations.

Given that bang slap in the middle of the SEVERE Two Year Poverty she quit paid employment to set up a business that gives all its profits away, just as well she had prostitution and stealing food to fall back on for 2013 really, innit?

Bread And Jam: Making Sandwiches For The Homeless

So what have I been up to this weekend? Well mostly launching Bread And Jam, my self-employed venture that reuses, recycles, re-loves and hand makes homeware and small gifts etc, with the profits g...

web.archive.org

 

[HotesTilaire]

She certainly recycles and re-uses well worn tales and old tactics! Painstakingly. She must be tired, so tired of them. I know I am.

 

[Helena Handbasket]

She must surely bore herself by now. It must be irritating not to be able to freely enjoy the things you’ve earned. I splurged on a pair of boots this week (payday, Klarna and the fact they will change my life for the better in every way and go with EVERYTHING even my safety pin jumper dresses.)
I don’t need to hide them so my enemies don’t see them or pretend I found them/was given them/bought in a Cats Protection shop for 76p. I can just wear them and explain nothing to anyone. That’s a simple thing but I don’t think Jack knows how that feels. All her purchases come with a backstory, a deep and meaningful reason for owning it and it’s all a lie. She can’t just say ‘I bought it because I wanted it and earned the money for it.’
She tries to justify things like a frivolous floral boiler suit purchases while telling journalists and followers that she doesn’t have lightbulbs. It must be exhausting and I just can’t imagine it’s worth it. With a decentish job and a credit card/enough credit to pay in 3 she could own all that stuff anyway. The grift is pointless.

 

[Mel Donte]

The Blog archive starts in March 2012 and she was posting recipes back then, though posting a lot of other stuff too, the recipes weren’t the focal point.

For anyone who wants to get a quick flavour but not massively commit to a huge dive, if you scroll down almost to the bottom here, you can click on her archives month by month and get a sense of what she was posting at any given time - it shows both the post titles and the opening few lines of each

A Whistlestop Tour Of How To F**k Up Everything

I’m reluctant to use the term ‘living in the public eye’ because I’m not about to seal any deals with Hello magazine just yet, but when your blog gets in excess of 16,000 hits and strangers come up...

web.archive.org

I've found her first recipe! Springtime blondes with green tea frosting. Ingredients include green tea powder, vanilla pods and macadamia nuts.

Her second recipe was slow-roast tomatoes with kale and roasted beans. She says that it's useful for using up all the kale and tomatoes she's left with from her weekly veg box. This recipe also includes lemon juice from an actual lemon.

Our Southend

I am you, and this is OUR Southend.

web.archive.org

 

[Helena Handbasket]

Yes when I was a little poor I always had matcha powder in! Top of the shopping list every week. Same with macadamias. A very cost effective nut and the children love them in a lunchbox! Vanilla pods are known for being very cheap. I usually add saffron and gold powder to my bakes just to really ramp up the unnecessary expense so I can see where she’s saving money.
I do not know what is a ‘roasted bean’ but at least it isn’t rinsed.
Roast tomatoes and kale though. She’s so basic.

ETA: Jack on Masterchef
*Reveals ingredients: kale, tomatoes and (I dunno) some kind of bean. Remember pantry items are also available.
Contestant 1: I’m making a Tuscan bean soup.
Contestant 2: I’m making potato and kale cakes with a bbq beans side.
Jack: I’m making roast kale, roast tomatoes and roast beans.

 

[Valiofthedolls]

For anyone who wants to get a quick flavour but not massively commit to a huge dive, if you scroll down almost to the bottom here, you can click on her archives month by month and get a sense of what she was posting at any given time - it shows both the post titles and the opening few lines of each

A Whistlestop Tour Of How To F**k Up Everything

I’m reluctant to use the term ‘living in the public eye’ because I’m not about to seal any deals with Hello magazine just yet, but when your blog gets in excess of 16,000 hits and strangers come up...

web.archive.org

Just realized the earlier link I provided ends in Feb 2013. This one goes through Aug 2013.

A GIRL CALLED JACK

"While her ingredients may come from the value range, that doesn't mean her food can't be haute cuisine" - The Independent. "Compelling, if sobering reading" - Lisa ...

web.archive.org

Helpfully she’s also created a Jack in the Press section though be WARNED, it’s extensive. Literally, if someone writes a letter vaguely mentioning her, or she’s mentioned in a blog, or writes some old tit on THAT site that doth not speak its name here, that’s “press” to her in the same way a broadsheet interview is. She must have spend 100 hours a week searching for herself online even back then

Edit: I also found the post where SB broke his arm and she ends it by making a joke about what happened (this was mentioned earlier in the thread)

Spoiler

Guess she wasn’t unduly worried given that he broke it at a playground yet she had a “late night stint” at A&E. And that she can make a facile jape about it. Subsequent posts which I won’t share have pics of him in his cast.

Small Boy's broken arm, and a rapidly cleared FiloFax. Because life doesn't always go to plan.

So, parenthood. It doesn't come with an instruction manual, or even a frigging clue, the first time around. From the weekend of unexplained throwing up at Brighton Pride, to the little blue line on...

web.archive.org

Oh! And on the VERY SAME DAY she posted that, she posted this about what an exciting time she’s having at the moment

Oxfam, Boris Johnson's Food Advisor, and just a typical Monday

So, aside from the SB-broken-arm, it's been an exciting couple of days. On Monday I had a meeting with Mora, the Campaigns and Communications manager for Oxfam, and recorded an interview about my e...

web.archive.org

 

[streby]

Oh, and to follow on a bit more from @HotesTilaire’s posts, the self employed craft venture she set up and quit her job to become self employed for? All profits going not to her, but to local community organizations.
View attachment 1639105
Given that bang slap in the middle of the SEVERE Two Year Poverty she quit paid employment to set up a business that gives all its profits away, just as well she had prostitution and stealing food to fall back on for 2013 really, innit?

Bread And Jam: Making Sandwiches For The Homeless

So what have I been up to this weekend? Well mostly launching Bread And Jam, my self-employed venture that reuses, recycles, re-loves and hand makes homeware and small gifts etc, with the profits g...

web.archive.org

I suspect there were no profits. If she was indeed just starting out on those crafts she couldn't have been producing saleable quality goods for a while, and as others have said it's very difficult to sell crafted goods at a price that pays for the materials let alone your labour costs. She might have made some money if she was already popular online for something else and/or friends bought something to give her a bit of encouragement but I don't think she can have made much in the way of profit by that point anyway. Saying you've turned your small business into a non-profit (and therefore need to find a new income stream) is a lot more impressive and heartwarming for blog readers than to have to say "I'm not making anything close to enough to live on, I need to find another job/grift. Turns out those other Facebook mums were right to tell me this was a bloody stupid idea to replace a steady income job when I have a small child to feed (who may or may not go hungry now, depending on which version of the story I tell later on)."