A Tory and a Tale of Blame.

Much of the British media output at the moment is about the alarming rise in the cost of living. Story after story is being told about people on low incomes having to choose between eating and heating because they can’t afford both. One addle-headed Tory MP (whose name I don’t know and wouldn’t want to know anyway) responded to this by suggesting that the poor should stop whinging, since they’re partly to blame for their plight. Why? Because they don’t know how to cook simple, inexpensive meals, and they don’t know how to budget. OK, let’s take these one at a time.

Cooking.

TV adverts are riddled with food manufacturers peddling a simple message: ‘Don’t bother to waste time cooking, buy these processed ready meals instead. They’re absolutely delicious, as evidenced by these pictures we’re showing you of delirious family groups dancing around the kitchen in delight.’ I remember it starting when I was a kid and Cadburys frequently ran a TV ad for their instant mashed potato. It showed a group of animated aliens falling about laughing at stupid humans who still peel potatoes, and then boil them for ‘twenty of their minutes’, and then mash them with a special tool, when all they have to do is pour some of this powder into a basin, add boiling water, stir it with a fork, and voila! Instant mashed potato. Grow up and get modern you silly humans. Instant is the name of the game now.

Budgeting.

Ever since Mrs Thatcher converted dear old Blighty to an economic system based on the principles of monetarism, the system has constantly ingratiated into the minds of the masses another simple message: ‘Spend, spend, spend! Happiness is having every one of the latest gadgets the clever people put before you. Contentment is to be found in lifestyle obsession. Shop ‘til you drop if you want to belong. It’s Christmas, so now’s the season to be shopping. Have you not heard of retail therapy? Well there you are, then. Buying things even cures depression. So get out there and spend money now!’

These have been two of the principal commercial imperatives for several decades, and several generations of people have been brainwashed by them. So maybe the addle-headed Tory MP might question why people don’t know how to cook simple meals and why they don’t know how to budget. I doubt he would be inclined to bother, however, because most Tory MPs are sufficiently well off to soak up the rise in the cost of living without even noticing the difference.