Happy Friday!

So it seems we are to have a General Election on 4th July. Bonus points to the protesters, who realising he was calling an election, played ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ through Rishi Sunak’s speech! I picked the photo to highlight this post before the election was called but I stand by it.

Here’s to 6 weeks of chaos…

Jeremy Hunt and Mel Stride warn against benefits ‘lifestyle choice’ I spent a while living on benefits while unemployed and you have be in a bad way for it to be a lifestyle choice. I’ve talked about this before. I wasn’t ill, when I was unemployed, but it wasn’t a good time for my mental health either. When I was unemployed, I had help, from friends and family, both financial and emotionally (thanks Ma) and it still was awful. I do remember the advisor at the Job Centre, telling me I should look for work that paid less and I pointed out that I couldn’t afford that because I was entitled to no top ups and on £25k, I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent. What kind of alternatives are people facing where ‘choosing’ to be long term sick is preferable to work? Because my health has been pretty good over the last 6 years and I know what has made the difference. A work culture that appreciates my work and cares about my health, physical and mental. And demonstrates that by paying well and having decent benefits. This means I have money to afford my rent and the rest of my life, to save a bit. I have healthcare via work that can provide therapy, that pays 10% of my salary into a pension fund without the need for any contribution from me. All of this allows me to live and plan. It’s not much and it’s not rocket science. How bad does life have to be that benefits and vitriol from the overfed ministers of this government seem like a decent alternative. Jeremy Hunt and Mel Stride lack imagination and sympathy and are trying to disguise the government’s failure over more than a decade to do anything other than line their own pockets by scapegoating vunerable people. Don’t let them.

JCB built and supplied equipment to Russia months after saying exports had stopped. Does this surprise me, nope. Aren’t the owners of JCB the guys who hosted Boris Johnson’s last wedding? Maybe (as he’s such a supporter of Ukraine) he should have a word with them? Or maybe the Tories should send their donations back until JCB undergo an audit? I wouldn’t hold my breath…

I went a week without ultra-processed foods. Here’s what I learned

On the Problem of Rooting for the Women to Fix This. One of the reasons I would like the abortion law in the UK to change is because to have an abortion here, you need the consent of two doctors. That’s pretty easy to get but it would be pretty easy to change. The US though, is on the way to Handmaid’s Tale territory, it’s frightening…

‘Everything’s just … on hold’: the Netherlands’ next-level housing crisis

Emma Barnett on the Today programme review – so chilled John Humphrys will choke on his cornflakes. I’m trying to reserve judgement, I’m not generally keen on Emma Barnett we shall see.

The shocking stupidity of the smart meter system I refuse to get one until the energy companies agree to take on replacing faulty meters fitted by a previous energy company.

How rental ‘libraries of things’ have become the new way to save money

Super Gran actor Gudrun Ure dies aged 98. Read the books, watched the TV programme and now have theme tune (makes so much sense now I know that Billy Connolly wrote it) going through my head, ‘She’s a serious granny (supergran), a mysterious granny (supergran), ‘she does things that you never saw your granny do, is there nothing that she canae do’……..