The Winter of Discontent #2 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing etc

[Ensay]

Shrinkflation is annoying.

 

[Tatooine_legend1]

Bodger is off on holiday. Unbelievable.

Johnson jets off on holiday as Brits face soaring bills, cuts & shortages crisis

Boris Johnson jetted to the Costa del Sol as millions face soaring UK energy bills, a cruel benefit cut, empty supermarket shelves and higher petrol prices

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[Purrrrrrr]

I don’t shop in Primark; because i’m fortunate enough to have the means to make more sustainable choices. There’s absolutely a need for lower income households to be able to purchase clothing at an affordable price- what boils my piss is seeing people who can absolutely afford to make more sustainable choices choosing not to because they’d rather have shitloads of stuff.

There also seems to be this odd trend (which I feel seems to be changing slowly) that it’s preferable to dress in something new and cheap than purchase second hand.

When charity shops first started they helped people in two ways those who could not afford new prices could buy from them and that help the charity help whatever the charity was set up for. But then charities become a huge concern and most charge more than places like Primark and the true poor cannot afford to shop in them. I have done volunteer work for many charities and now won't give to any of them. even my beloved local hospice is in on the act. Now I donate directly to people I can see need help. Homeless charities although they do good will try to stop you from giving directly. But I give to those I see on the street, those I can actually see who are sleeping rough.

 

[Wackie Jeaver]

yeah but if you're going to eat baked beans, they have to be Heinz. Same with ketchup and tomato soup. Tis the law.

 

[HotesTilaire]

I don’t think it’s boring, that’s why I’m here! I don’t get out much so it’s good to hear what it’s like in the stores.
I am a big fan of beans/legumes as a veggie. We call it “bean meal” tin of tomatoes, tin of chick peas, tin of kidney beans. Do some onion and garlic with the tomatoes then add the rest and let it simmer down a bit. Throw in some basil or smoked paprika or whatever spice if you fancy a change of flavour. Even better with cheese on top!

 

[gingerteacup]

My supermarket is stripped. So many people are panic buying. I’m scared. Very scared

 

[GobShyte64]

Why kill the pigs? Why cant u keep them alive until they have the gas or whatever?

 

[veryfondoftea]

Re. crisps, there was none in the Tesco express today when I was buying my sandwich, went next door to the newsagent and they had only big packs left or.....Taytos! So I tried them for the first time and they were sooooo good!

 

[Ibrokethegoddamnwheel]

New narrative on inflation. Do they really think people will believe this?

View attachment 868069

It’s gaslighting at this point. Bloody ridiculous.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

Can someone please tell me the facts? As I’ve already stated, I’m very anxious about what is going on currently.

I am panicking badly. The articles about lack of food, industry potentially having to shut down. What can I do?

I want to be prepared now. Please help?


Please can you post the link to this? I’d like to read so I know exactly how bad things could potentially get.

Someone’s just refuted it with an energy sector bigwig on Andrew Marr, who I trust more than the daily Mail lol.

Re prep - it’s very subjective, surely? I’d suggest doing anything that alleviates your anxiety.

 

[dancingqueen5678]

Oh yeah it has definitely always been around. All the hymns back then were about the poor being poor because God chose it. I was more talking about the modern reality TV side of it - endless programmes and people watching out of some weird curiously. We had a chance for attitudes to change but sadly it has steadily got worse.

wasn't that the origin of Boxing Day? Christmas Day poor people would work serving the rich their Christmas dinner cleaning up etc and then the rich would give them a box with bread etc as they would have the 26th off and they'd open the box with their families that day thus calling it "Boxing Day"?

 

[GobShyte64]

I was doing my food shop online. Tesco double strength squash 1.5ltr was £1.00. Now its triple strength for £1.75! 75p increase! Madness. My food bill is £110. Gone are the days when my food shop was £80!

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

This is what the Government want though, they want to spread the wealth so not everything is London focused, and it reduces over crowding/demands on NHS etc.

Im not saying this is the prime reason for the toll though but it will be a factor in decision making, it’s all “levelling up”.

I’m in London & all for the levelling up of the country outside of London to London’s cost/detriment, but surely the remote working revolution is the first steps towards de centralising from city centres & creating walking cities instead where it’s possible to walk to your nearest hospital, doctors, school, etc etc? You can’t implement the punishment without implementing the solution?

Also there’s low income people in London too, arguably living in far worse conditions than they would on min wage elsewhere, these sorts of fixed charged stealth tax are regressive and it would make more sense to band it on income (tho impossible to implement unless you did something like annual passes I guess?).

 

[NeverEnough]

Fucking hell the word crisis must be the most overused word in the media at the moment. Loses all meaning after a while.

crisis

1. a time of great disagreement, confusion, or suffering: 2. an extremely…

dictionary.cambridge.org

What’s today’s crisis? Who is undergoing a time of great suffering today? Was your garlic bread substituted again?

You’d almost think they wanted dramatic headlines for sales or clicks.....

 

[dancingqueen5678]

Anyone watching dispatches? It’s about how kids growing up in poverty and how they will be effected by the £20 cut

 

[Onecandream]

I’m with utility warehouse who say they aren’t being affected at all so prices are staying the same. Thank god

 

[Ibrokethegoddamnwheel]

I remember growing up petrol was less than £1 a litre. When it started getting close to £1 people were outraged. Now look where we are, it’s just not sustainable. I wanted to go and visit a friend who lives a couple of hours away, but have had to put it off as we can’t afford to put extra fuel in the car to make the journey. Bit of a first world problem I know but it sucks.

 

[IngressUK]

New narrative on inflation. Do they really think people will believe this?

View attachment 868069

How is inflation good for you?

Prices go up meaning you have less to spend and just fuels demands for wage increases to compensate.

It is a vicious circle.

 

[Mark81]

potentially controversial here but I find the mentality in regards to the war in this country really bizarre. Everyone's always like "we were okay in the war/everyone these days is too soft/the people today would never have lived through the war/our war hero ancestors would be laughing at us, they all just got on with it". But that's subjective. If you were a kid evacuee who ended up with an abusive family, if someone you loved went off to fight and died or just never came back you would be suffering. I'm sure there were plenty of people during the war years who struggled, and whinged. In the same vain, that Germans under the Nazi's actually faired quite well, in particular, women, they got paid a decent amount of money providing they had lots of kids and followed the 3 C's (now fully aware that this isn't okay but if you consider it in 1930s context, that's what women were expected to do anyway.) Jews, on the other hand, would have a very different story about how world war Germany was for them.

I agree, but I think they also had a sense of perspective. The pandemic has shown how comfortable people have become in their lives and take a lot for granted. Most people alive today have never really known a life changing event, one that changes the world we live in. Everything we have and take for granted could be gone over night, just look at history. People say 'it's 2021 not 1940', but that again implies certain things shouldn't happen now and that life has somehow plateued, where in actual fact anything could happen.

Of course not everyone enjoyed the war, my nan wrote her story down from her time during the war and it wasn't pleasant, but she also found good times amongst the bad. They literally just had to get on with it because what was the alternative. Just sitting around moaning g it's not fair won't really get people very far.

 

[Jc456]

Agree we need to consume less, buy more second hand etc but as someone with a low income all our clothes are fast fashion but worn for a long time. I spend less than £200 on clothes a year