succulent roast turkey. crispy roast potatoes. tender brussel sprouts. carrot batons. peas. tasty stuffing. cocktail sausages wrapped in smoked streaky bacon. loads of thick meaty gravy. this was my christmas dinner last year.
as i write this the hairy bikers are on tv cooking a range of christmas dishes. they've cooked partridge, chicken and now they're cooking a goose. jamie was on tv earlier as well giving us a glimpse of his all too perfect looking house and family and how they do christmas food in the oliver household.
i read this earlier today.
By midday on Wednesday, Louise Spencer has £6.80 left in her purse to last until Monday, which works out at £1.36 a day to pay for anything she and her two small children might need. She is confident that she will make the money stretch. It's just a question of careful budgeting.
Frugality is an art she has already perfected. This morning she has done the weekly shop, which came in 67p cheaper than the £20 she had set aside. Providing a week's worth of meals for three people for £6.66 a head is easy once you work out how, she says. The gas and electricity payments for the week have already been made, so she knows the children will be warm. The only thing to fear is the unexpected - a broken pushchair, a request to buy her daughter's class photograph.
Louise, 24, doesn't smoke, drink or take drugs and she very rarely goes out with her friends. She spends pretty much all the money she gets in benefits on her children. She rejects the suggestion that her family might be described as poor. "Oh no," she says firmly. "We get by."
According to the official definition, Louise's family are surviving well below the breadline, and Abigail, five, and her son Sean, three, take their place alongside the 3.9 million children in Britain classified as living in poverty.
how do you feel when you read this? i wonder what louise and her family will be having for christmas dinner.
if you're challenged about people living in poverty, take a look at the links below:
the children's society
shelter
salvation army
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