Eat Out To Help Out. Another way to discriminate against the poor and disabled.

Dear readers I’m so sorry that this blog is so late. I’m still battling the Covid 19 fatigue and this combined with the ongoing kitchen refit and insomnia has been a recipe for disaster.

My social housing provider should have started work on this in March but because of Covid 19 it was delayed.

Thankfully I’m no longer infectious and the work could continue. It’s been no fun living out of one room and having strangers in my house, but it’s finished now and I’m very grateful for it.

I’m also very grateful that I have a home when so many people don’t have one. I’ve come very close to loosing this one a few times and I’ve been homeless before.

I know exactly how you are feeling because I’ve been there.

I had a few disasters this week though, my cooker broke and was unfixable. It was around 30yrs old and I loved that cooker. No frills, it did what it set off to do and I love simplicity, it makes life much easier.

Secondly as a result of the covid 19 virus my hair has started to fall out, not loads but it’s happening. Thanks for that.

Insomnia has also hit me hard this week, and yesterday I was so exhausted that I couldn’t do much.

Anyway, enough about me. I hope that you are OK and as well and safe as you can be.

The Covid 19 virus continues to spread leaving many victims strewn behind it.

It’s a misconception that it’s only elderly people that become seriously ill and die, lots of fairly fit young people do also.

The elderly have been treated terribly though, left in nursing homes to die like their life’s don’t matter at all.

In my eyes out elders are very important, they paved the way for us to live like we do, albeit most of this has been taken away by the Tory government.

I was taught to respect and care for my elders but it appears the Tories have no regard for them.

Their cruelty appears to be never ending and whilst they’re away on holidays or spending time in their second homes, more people will continue to die and suffer.

There’s nothing more insulting than for these people to attempt to try and advise us on how to live and what to do when they come from a place of great privilege.

Talking about privilege here’s another example.

Recently the government unveiled its latest plan to benefit society and small business owners. They titled it Eat Out To Help Out, they even gave it its own hashtag.

Whilst on the surface it looks like a good idea, it’s still out of reach to so many of us. The idea is that it gives people £10 to spend at specific eateries throughout the UK.

Some businesses such as coffee shops are giving a 50% discount on some orders. This is good, however you have to have the other 50% to pay for it though.

To put it bluntly, so many of us don’t have the money to contribute towards this and we are excluded from benefiting from this by default.

I do have questions though.

Why didn’t they extend this further? Why, knowing that the majority of people living in the UK are living in poverty wasn’t it extended to them?

Why weren’t fruit and veg shops and retailers included in this? Why weren’t local shops that serve their communities by providing the means to cook their own food?

Why aren’t these small businesses included? They’ve suffered as well, but like us they’ve been swept to the side like yesterdays newspaper.

It all comes down to the government’s priorities, their priority being to keep their friends in business happy, keep the wheels of commerce going at whatever the cost to many.

The whole winding down of the social distancing rules was rushed, not because they put the safety of the public first. Public safety wasn’t even thought about.

My guess is that the government was leaned upon by their business pals and party donars. Big money won the day, sod the public.

I’m certainly not saying don’t support your local small businesses, if you can afford to you should, however you need to remember that so many people are excluded from this scheme and the very basics of what constituents a decent and happy life.

The government also unveiled their latest obesity discrimination campaign, whilst their party leader and prime minister is indeed himself overweight.

We already know that being overweight puts you at risk of contracting Covid 19, but they didn’t look into the reasons as to why so many of us are overweight.

A lot of it comes down to the lack of access to decent food and the ability to cook it.

Cooking food costs money and if you are living in a hotel room or one room with your family in homeless accommodation, you arent allowed to cook in your room.

This has been happening for years now, I’ve advised people how to cook kettle food whilst they are stuck in this position.

Kettle food has hardly any nutritious value though, it’s mostly starchy, gluteny and devoid of any vitamins. This food settles in your body for a long time.

Then we have people like myself who are dependent upon food parcels. Mostly you get tinned food which isn’t very good for you.

I know that some tinned food isn’t that bad for you, but its still very hard to cook a nutritious meal out of it. It even harder when you don’t have any cooking equipment to help you.

Then we have medication, the lack of ability to exercise in any way possible. Combined with food parcel food etc, it’s a disaster nutritionally.

How on earth can the government expect people with life changing disabilities to suddenly loose weight is beyond me. Staying alive and having a productive enjoyable life is a priority for them.

For years the government has abused disabled people in the worst way possible. They’ve taken their means of support away, their carers, their very means of support away.

Meanwhile the Tory government will continue to persecute them whilst they’re enjoying themselves in their second homes.

I don’t choose to live like I do, people don’t choose to live in poverty but the government does choose to persecute the most vulnerable on a daily basis. The government are the cause of our poverty.

So what do we do now? We try to survive in the way that’s best for us.

We need to continue to campaign against their disgusting ideals and attitudes.

Remember there’s more of us than there is of them.

Keep strong, support each other and continue to challenge the narrative.

Please keep safe and practice social distancing if you can.

I want to thank all my friends, followers and readers for all of the support that you have given me throughout my own Covid 19 battle.

I really couldn’t have got through this without you all. I’m so thankful and grateful for you all.

Lots of love and solidarity with all of you.

Please read, share, tweet and email my blog. Poverty and DWP cruelty hasn’t gone away, it’s become a whole lot worse.

For anyone wanting to donate I’ve got a donate button at the top and bottom of this blog.

4 thoughts on “Eat Out To Help Out. Another way to discriminate against the poor and disabled.”

  1. I beg to question one point. The lack of ways to exercise? I exercise 15 minutes a day with what I have. Myself. Leg lifts, Squats, Jogging in place… You don’t need equipment. You just need to move your body continuously for a set amount of time.

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  2. Glad to hear you’re still in the land of the living. I sympathise with your domestic traumas, I remember when HA refitted my kitchen a few years back, it was upheaval for a week but a job well done in the end and the result a beautiful shiny new kitchen. I also had a great old fashioned gas cooker that was brilliant but it eventually got condemned when they did the safety checks and the new replacement was rubbish by comparison. They don’t make them like they used to.
    We’re under some tougher Covid rules at the moment here in Kirklees, still queuing to get in supermarkets, pubs are open but I haven’t been, not allowed to visit or meet people from other households, facemasks obligatory pretty much everywhere. It goes on and on. Still not heard anything at all from my Jobcentre, don’t even know if they’ve reopened (fine by me!)

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  3. Charlotte as always thinking and praying for you and yours, you do an amazing job!
    Totally agree with you, even working I certainly can’t afford to eat out to help out! And I know come September if skls do go back we’ll see a lot of hungry underweight kids falling asleep or being hyper because they don’t have enough food, and we’ll be signposting them to uniform swap shops as theirs will be I’ll fitting or dirty because parents can’t afford laundry products a washing machine or even the launderette! This is the next generation, how can we expect them to respect society and build for futures when their childhood was this hell??
    I’m very worried….
    Stay safe all xx

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