MASTERCHEF

Tonight's dinner chez moi is likely to consist of new potatoes (reduced at the co-op) with mashed swede (likewise) dressed up with herbs, onion and fishcake.
Last night I did spaghetti with kale, tomatoes, onion and ginger. So with a bit of luck the £10 i allocated for food on Sunday will stretch till tomorrow.
Such penury is, superficially, unnecessary. However, I am on Death Row at my current place of employment and waiting to hear if it's two, three, or possibly a month or so's time until my resources really will be stretched. And necessity the mother of inventions Greg and John could only imagine .
The only comfort, amid all this uncertainty, is that one is anything but alone. A growing band of shoppers in my local co-op do a little circuit to the sell-by veg and other items in the hope of picking up a bargain. Which means there are fewer and fewer to be had.
While welcoming the U-turn on the sell-off of the forests, it is striking there will be no turning on any of the policies which fundamentally affect people's lives. It is a nightmare beyond our worst imaginings.
In the 1930's, people flocked to the pictures to see how the other half lived and these days that translates into enthusiasm for vapid programmes like Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, newly revived for a new generation facing a return to the days of sharper class diviision and what is clearly a wholesale attempt to destroy the welfare state most of us took a little too much for granted.
The anger felt by millions will hopefully translate into a massive turn-out on March 26 for the anti-cuts demo being organised by the TUC. But what happens afterwards is far more important.
There is a danger that the despair many feel at the daily news of cuts and job losses will fade into apathy and resignation. It is up to the leaders of the labour movement to steer a path towards a fighting spirit and hope that things can change.
Meanwhile, I am battening down the hatches, re-trenching for a rough road ahead and trying not to fall into the slough of despond.
The truth is that Cameron, Clegg et al have NO IDEA what it is like to live on a limited income. If they did, they would know that their Big Society is a sick society - in which the poorest and the weakest are set to face years of suffering . On a scale very few of us could have imagined in the run-up to the General Election. The leadership of the Parliamentary Labour Party, now threatened by the gerrymandering of 50 constituencies, also needs to get its act together fast and come out in real solidarity with those it is supposed to represent.
The solidarity shown by these six councillors in Hackney is at least a start
http://l-r-c.org.uk/news/story/all-behind-the-hackney-six/