Well, it's Thursday, traditional (according to me lol) family grocery shopping day. I managed to save £11 today by buying deals and using a couple of coupons. Still, it came at £100.13 and that's without meat (which I buy in a different supermarket because of quality) and without veggies. I don't buy the premium brands, I don't even buy that much "free from" stuff any more because the cumulative cost is just ridiculous. Mind you £6.50 on milk, because dad wastes so much of it, and £4 on pots of porridge because it's easier for dad and loads of silly little dessert pots for mum because there are days when that's all she wants to eat (almost £8 on those). Frozen veg because there are days I can't deal with peeling veggies or breaking them apart. And have you seen the cost of laundry and cleaning products? !!
Aye, living is cheap in Scotland . . . insert sarcastic tone.
And then there was the Budget yesterday. No cut to Carers Allowance - for now. BUT the usual increases applied each year to increase benefits by inflation is stopped. So prices continue to escalate but we're supposed to cope on the same.
Conservative Governments are utter bastards. And yet listening to all the brouhaha yesterday you'd think that everyday workers are being treated like gods - oh yeah, create a "living wage" which isn't living at all and, quite frankly, isn't legally biding. (I heard someone say it was and yet there have been 3? 4? prosecutions of companies failing to pay it - how many don't pay it? A hell of a lot!) And on the other hand cut tax credits by 3 or 4 times what in "increase" in minimum wage is - because that's all the "living wage" is, it's a re-branding. Plus they are hiking up the rents paid by social housing tenants, the very people who are on minimum wage and claiming tax credits.
No one seems to be asking - why is the benefit system costing so much? If all these people are in employment now, why is it costing so much? I'll tell you why. Because people are forced off the job seekers allowance into 0 hours contracts, with no guarantee of work. Because people are forced to take low paid jobs which don't even cover the cost of transport to the place of work. because people are forced to take unpaid work. It all makes it look like so many people are not claiming jobseekers allowance - true, they aren't, but nor are they in decently paid employment meaning they don't need help.
One day I hope that the workers of this country, of whom there are far more than bosses and company directors and politicians, realise they have a voice and that voice doesn't have to agree with the elitist numpties in Downing Street and Whitehall who have never struggled or faced poverty, going hungry or going cold in winter.
And, btw, even if I only cared for my mother 35 hours a week I should get £252 a week - minimum wage, not £61.
No comments:
Post a Comment