Last night I turned on the TV. The news was on and there was a story on how the Prime Minister was proposing to give £200 to parents from economically deprived areas to encourage them to go on programmes which I guess were aimed to help them. To me, however, it sounded like one of those schemes that deal with symptoms rather than real issues. Similar to the decision to prosecute young people for carrying knifes, without getting to the root of why so many of them are actually carrying knifes.
I went on to watch Dispatches – The Truth About Food Prices as from the trailer there was an indication that I might learn a few tips on how to save on food costs. I was, however, left disappointed.
There were two families featured. The first family, seemed to go into a supermarket and pick up what they wanted without any real awareness of individual prices of items, just a knowledge that the overall cost of their shopping had increased dramatically. The solution presented to them was to shop around and go to some of the alternative low cost stores.
The second family were in the habit of throwing masses of food away. In simple terms, they were adviced not to throw the food away, but to use it!
So as I said, I was left disappointed. In fact, irritated and slighted urked. I guess the advice given was great if you are in the habit of just going into a supermarket and picking things of the shelf without thinking of the price or if you ritually waste food. But for those that have never been in the position to do either of these things – those who naturally shop around and would not dream of wasting food …. I mean those who are really stretched by the food crisis and are most in need of help at this point in time …. I’m not sure what good the programme did for them. In a way, it’s as if the programme was for a selected few who were suddenly feeling a bit of pain akin to what a number of people feel on a regular basis. It did not seem like a programme that has solutions targeted towards all of us in the general population.
So, I switched channels to numb my brain with a bit of comedy and watched a couple of series of the American sitcom, "All of Us"