I didn’t watch ITV’s wretched Loose Women this lunchtime because I was volunteering at our local food bank. The truth is I never watch Loose Women because I think it’s a pile of old shite, but today an even bigger people of shite appeared on the show: Rishi Sunak. He was pressed by host Janet Street-Porter to explain why he hates pensioners. Here is part of their exchange:
“You lowered National Insurance by 4p.. Big deal.. Pensioners don’t pay NI.. Then you froze the tax threshold.. So yes you gave us more pension, but that leaves a gap of only £1,000 before the basic average pension to the threshold to paid tax” “So many pensioners are living in poverty, around 2,000,000. Most are living in private rental accommodation.. So there’s an argument that pensioners have come our worse.”
Sunak smirks.
“Worse under the Tories, worse under you. As a pensioner, what I see is are pensioners who would like to take extra jobs to make ends meet, to buy little treats, to go out once a month, to put petrol in the car.”
Sunak takes a sip from his mug.
“But if they earn any money. More than £1,000 a year, and go above that threshold, they’re going to be paying tax. Now does that seem right?”
At this point, Sunak slips into patronising smarm mode:
“I love pensioners. They are very important to me,” or words to that effect. Then this gem: “About that pensioner who wants to earn that little bit extra, they don’t pay National Insurance.. So they aren’t paying tax on that work.”
“Well, they are … ” says Street-Porter, as she tries to repeat the point she just made about earning above the threshold and having to pay tax, but Sunak just talks over her. At this point, I could watch no more of the clip I found on social media. He is truly awful and either doesn’t understand how ordinary people live their lives or simply doesn’t care. Maybe it’s both? Sunak’s weird detachment from reality, his irritating nasal whine, his condescending, superior attitude – it’s all too much for me. I doubt that the people who came to our food bank this afternoon were watching Loose Women.
Our food bank, in suburban Melchester, was a little quieter than usual today. I don’t know why some weeks are quiet and others are busy but that just seems to be how it goes. I saw one pensioner today, from the increasingly wide demographic of the population we get to see. A colleague saw a severely disabled person, someone else saw someone with clear mental issues. I will never understand how we, a rich country, allow a situation to arise that sees people like them with no money nor food. While the prime minister of the country is poncing around on a light entertainment TV show, trying to show what a great bloke he is – spoiler alert: he isn’t a great bloke – millions are going without.
I got to talking with one of our paid admin staff who told me that one of our food banks, in central Melchester, regularly sees 50 people in one session. And that is the absolute maximum number of people they can see because otherwise there would not be enough food to go around. These are people who have got a formal referral letter from a partner organisation. Anyone who turns up on spec, there is nothing the food bank can do, other than refer them to yet another charity, who may or may not be able to help. I’ve seen people being turned away and believe me it’s horrible. The guilt the likes of Sunak should be feeling is transferred to us. Maybe that’s how he can live with himself? Someone else can take the blame.
The execrable Loose Women, incredibly, put Rishi Sunak on the spot today and reminded us yet again how his government is engaged in a full-frontal attack on working people and pensioners, this just a week or so after his pal ‘Lord’ David Frost punted the idea of raising the state pension age to 75, something Sunak later refused to deny.
This cannot go on for much longer. People are desperate for change and to have some kind of hope restored that things can be better than this. My weekly experience at the food bank and Sunak’s grim appearance on Loose Women simply shows the mess this country is in. In any event, I don’t think it’s just pensioners that Sunak hates. It’s everyone.
