The one where the Daily Mail compare my chicken casserole recipe to, er, apartheid…
So the Mail have put up their latest smear article again, albeit with some ‘corrections’ as it was first uploaded around 11pm, swiftly removed, and put back up an hour or so ago. So I’ve just had the pleasure of reading an enormously unhinged attack piece in a national newspaper where they compare my eating meat to…apartheid. Yes, really. (I’ve screen shot and published her article throughout this post to spare you all from burning your eyes on that website.)
Tell me Liz Jones, is it just me eating meat that offends you or are you comparing the entire (and quite sizeable) segment of the Earth that chooses to be carnivorous to heinous crime and genocide?
So – as if the world needs another open letter on the internet – here goes. (Apologies to readers of a sensitive disposition, it gets a bit sweary. If you’d had this warped twisted shite written about you, I imagine you might be quite sweary too.)
Dear Liz Jones.
I’d never heard of you before this evening, and I must admit that having skimmed through a long and rambling nonsensical smear attempt, I really wish I could un-know the little I’ve discovered. Mainly that you’re a little bit warped, with little research capability, and you write like a bad-tempered six year old who’s just been shown where his Turkey Twizzler comes from.
Anyhow, to the point in hand, here’s an excerpt from your bizarre rant:
Firstly, 1: Yes I used chicken in my Guardian recipe. FREE RANGE chicken. In case you missed the memo, I only eat free range meat.
2: Ditto bacon. Good old free range streaky fucking bacon. It’s delicious, by the way. Like bacon, but better.
3: According to you, I ‘Crowed’ that I’m a lesbian. Damn right. One big old proud crowing lesbian right here. Not *really* relevant to your story about cheap chicken though, is it? But get a dig in for the readers to lap up, there’s a dear. (I wonder if any of them are single…? You might have done me an inadvertent favour. Hey ladies…)
4: “an oppressed member of the minority…” Hold your horses lady. I’ve never referred to myself as ‘oppressed’. Damn it, I’m pretty free. See this, here, this reply to your obnoxious piece of shit? That’s free little me freely exercising my freedom of speech on my big free platform right here. What the hell says to you “oppressed” about that? Wishful thinking there Jones, no ‘journalist’ running off her smart mouth is gonna oppress me into submission. Quite the opposite. See points 1-19.
5: “…has no problem oppressing something further down the food chain…” Bit of a stretch. Is this irony? I can’t tell. I’d almost understand the vitriol that this sentence is written with, if I was encouraging people to go out and buy cruelly farmed battery chicken for every dinner of the week – but I’m not. I was raised a meat-eater, I’ve wrangled with my own guilt over it over the years and finally settled on eating free range meat, and not very often. Meat to me is a luxury, not a requirement, and if the budget doesn’t stretch to it then I simply fall back on one of my repertoire of vegetarian or vegan recipes. As a snapshot, in the last three months, my published recipes have been 44 vegetarian, 4 fish and 8 meat ones. Not exactly seven nights a week then.
6. “Surely if you have no money meat is the first thing to go.” Well Jonesy, in my case it was my car, TV, guitar, watch, jewellery, anything I could sell really, before I started giving up food groups… (And for the record, non-smoker, celebratory drinker.) But I reiterate, if the shopping pot is a bit tight, I don’t buy meat. Again, last 3 months of my published recipes have been 44 veggie, 8 meat (free range), and 4 fish. So there.
7. “Meat should be more expensive, given a sentient animal has given its life.” – and it is, if you buy free range, which I do. (By the way Liz, how’s buying M&S prawns for your 17 cats working out for you?)
8. Photo of a £1.99 chicken from Tesco from 2008, 4 years before I even started blogging, in fact. Nice touch for those of your readers that don’t bother with the words bit and just disingenuously link ‘me’ to ‘battery chicken’. I’ve never used that chicken in my life. Scouts honour. I don’t shop at Tesco for a start. But if I did, they do free range chickens, and I’d have bought one of those. Gosh, this record has stuck a bit.
9. “Before we start patting ourselves on the back for how far we have come since apartheid, think of those (chickens) who are at the bottom of the pile.” I have no words. What sane person attempts to link the two? Are you really saying that Mandela is akin to a battery chicken? Really? This has to be desperate linkbait given the day you’ve chosen to publish it, which is crass and revolting.
10. “You cannot be a concerned citizen and just tune these animals out.” I don’t. Which you’d have known. If you’d done your research. And a bit rich coming from a woman who raves about ‘buttery soft leather’ goods. At least my animal products are for nutritional purposes and not just for fatuous arm candy.
11. “So Ms Monroe, if you think that you, a young mum…” (What HAS my age got to do with the price of chicken?!)
12: “… with little money…” Dear me Jonesy, have you got my bank statement there? No? Then be a love and don’t comment on my finances because you have no idea how ‘little money’ I have. Sooner or later you’ll catch up, I WAS poor and unemployed, I NOW have a job and a living. So we can quit with trying to paint me as the woe-is-me single mother, because I’m alright. I haven’t got a jacuzzi bath or a Fendi handbag on my modest Guardian income but I can put three meals on the table, and some of them will even have yummy yummy free range meat in.
13: “…deserve my sympathy…” No ta. I’ve seen your version of ‘journalism’, I don’t need to be subjected to your ‘sympathy’ too. Stick it up your arse.
14: “If you have ethics…” I think I do. They might be different to yours but wouldn’t the world be boring if we were all identikit trash-spouting Daily Fail journalists?
15: “…and you care about doing the right thing…” (Tell me, where would you peg ‘donating book royalties to food projects in Africa’? Is that ethics/the right thing/batshit bonkers? Hadn’t really mentioned it but now you seem hellbent on convincing your readership that I’m the axis of evil then I thought I’d try to balance it out… Or does ‘trying to do something good’ only count if you’re a vegetarian, in The Very Small World Of Liz Jones..?)
16: “…you don’t pick your battles…” Oh I do. I only respond to outright lies, I can take criticism on the chin but raving bullshit needs to be addressed.
17: “…treading on them…” I find that quite unhygienic, where chicken is concerned. Bacon too. I much prefer mine not trodden on. Have you SEEN the state of my shoes?
18: “… Just so long as you and your brood are okay.” I’m not sure what you mean by this. By ‘brood’ do you mean ‘the human race’? Because heaven forbid that anyone should try to do anything that ensures that that particular ‘brood’ is okay. I mean really, what’s the world coming to when people try to help other people?!
19: “A modern day I’m alright Jack…” Bet that took you all day to think of that one. Smart cookie aren’t you? Pat pat.
Please feel free to publish my response in full and as swiftly as you are able. You won’t, of course, because you thrive on the controversy of attack-drivel-shit, but the offer is there.
And for goodness sake, if you want to tear me down a bit, at least write an article based on a fact or two. Like the fact I’ve got rubbish hair, look like Wurzel Gummidge on a good day, or swear like I was once in a male-dominated public service. Pithy attempts at demonising cabbage and chicken are laughable at best.
And angry? No, I’m not angry. I’m laughing my arse off that someone is dumb enough to pay you for that. I think you’d be far happier with a free range chicken and bacon casserole inside you. Happy soul food. There’s a recipe on the Guardian website you might like to try.
With all my free range love,
Jack Monroe.
Twitter: @MsJackMonroe
I’ve written to the Mail and asked for a retraction and apology. Under the PCC code of conduct I should get one ‘of equal prominence.’ I’d settle for one I can link to and ‘crow’ about… No, I’m not holding out much hope either!
Categories: Blog
Liz Jones is apparently a vegan.
The rest of us vegans are currently asking her to keep very quiet about that.
Yes, exactly. It’s taken long enough for people to start accepting vegans/vegetarians as not total cranks and then she comes along and spout all that crap. She is famous for being crazy though and makes her a good living by all accounts. It’s confusing to think where the mail are going with all of this but it seems obvious that she has been asked to write this. It’s not very nice for Jack but she obviously has them very rattled. The DM really is pathetic (why oh why do people buy it?)
“I only respond to outright lies, I can take criticism on the chin but raving bullshit needs to be addressed” – hear hear!
Ahahahaha! Awesome, Jack, awesome! Ooh doesn’t she sound jealous!
I Salute You, great reading.
Rebuttal, directed and concise. You play a mean game of chess, Jack. Good for you!
Be well,
Laurence
The attacks are going to step up as you know.
I’ve played chess for 20 years. I’m not about to stop now 😉
Lol. I used to play chess with my little brother (50 last April) when we lived in Rhodesia, and quit because he got so good, that I never won! RTV used to have a 10 minute program when it went on air at 5PM once a week, and that’s how we learned to play it!
This is me speaking strictly as a hobby farmer, who raises her own meat, milks her own damn cow and takes responsibility for each and every animal and animal byproduct she and her family consume. If you want to talk about a scenario under which commercial farm animals face certain extinction and mass genocide, let’s take a look at vegetarians, and vegan’s for that matter. If meat/dairy/egg consumers ceased to exist, so would the need for these creatures and the financial ability to support them. Better to buy products produced by animals who have lived a quality life under great conditions. Yeah, that’s right vegetarians. Eating ethical meat supports the privilege these animal’s have to live. Dairy cows can cost upwards of $10USD a DAY to feed. You wanna pay that bill for millions of animal’s when your insane vegan crusade meets success? Plus the wages of those who care for them? Eat what you want, take responsibility for the animals you affect. If it weren’t for me, my cow would have been sent to auction to turn into BigMac cheeseburgers. Because I drink milk, she now has the freedom to raise her own babies, eat a fabulous diet and free range in a beautiful pasture. Bite me.
What this lady says is true. Coming from a farming background, I know this to be a fact. Domesticated farm animals will not survive in the wild. They have been cared for and bred too far away from their wild cousins, that they would starve and be predated upon. Without them, we would be in deep doo-doo.
Cut your hysteria. You sound as sad as Liz Jones. Pathetic.
Hi, vegan here: Not that it’s in any way a realistic scenario, but if the industrial meat/dairy/egg industry ceased to exist, new generations of animals simply wouldn’t be born (it’s not like most of them reproduce naturally at the moment, they mostly use artificial insemination), how is that a bad thing? So we’d be talking about *one* generation of animals that needs care until they die – or omnivores eat the last of them and it ends there, I don’t see how either of those scenarios is worse than the 150 billion animals currently being slaughtered worldwide every year.
Anyway, just because I personally choose not to eat or use animal products doesn’t mean I’m on an *insane vegan crusade*. You sound pretty vitriolic yourself though.
You can tell that you are making a positive difference to people’s lives when the Mail starts a smear campaign against you.
I’m so pleased you didn’t link to the story. Their reactionary bullshit so often gets retweeted and only serves to drive up their hit rate. Which only encourages them.
I hope you get the retraction.
I read the article after reading your post and was so antagonised by the absolute idiocy that I was inspired to comment on mail online. I even had to sign up! And was frustrated by a word limit! Could have written much more! Yes Andy who commented above, as a veggie I also wish to disown Liz Jones.
For the record Janok Place, it’s very difficult to be an ethical vegetarian in a world geared towards omnivores. And there is no way I would like to see the mass slaughter of farmed animals. But I’d be perfectly happy to see a gradual decline in their numbers as the demand for their produce grew less. Bite me.
Well said Giulia. As a vegetarian I too am disowning Ms Jones. Her article is almost hilarious in its antagonistic vitriol, it’s pantomime villiany, and the implied claim that Jack is evil for cooking with meat is absurd and not one this vege agrees with. It’s tantamount to playground bullying and name calling. Grow up Ms Jones. But I believe everyone has the right to choose what to eat, I exercise that right to be vegetarian, and Janok you are just being offensive and insulting to me and my vege peers. Liz Jones wrote the article, not the whole world of vegetarians.
I can’t often comment on your posts via WordPress as usually I am logged in on one of my website customers’ sites. But I receive your posts via email and this time ‘had’ to respond on the Daily Mail column in question (as username ungullible), though often the moderators bin anything dissentful I post there. Anyway in case so, here’s a paste-in of what I put there (in two parts as I busted their post length limit):
I AM A PASSIONATE VEGETARIAN yet I find this attack on Ms Monroe far more nauseating than the fact she eats meat.
The Tories attack the poor & the disabled for the financial crash caused by their chums the bankers; Liz Jones rants at a single parent on low income for daring to eat meat (she only eats free range produce by the way), rather than at the factory farmers (guess which way those vote) who inflict immeasurable suffering on the same animals shown in this article, so that supermarkets (guess which way their owners vote) can sell them cheap & still up their profits.
This reeks of being a manufactured reason for an attack on Ms Monroe, perhaps as vengeance for her past criticisms of this paper, perhaps due to her being known for her non-right wing views?
And what the hell is the relevance of mentioning Ms Monroe’s sexuality, is it just a clumsily contrived way of “oppression”, so that Jones can somehow claim there is an incompatibility between being lesbian & being non-vegetarian?
So Liz Jones, serial column ranter, you use the nutritional decisions of “millions of people in India”, and a quote about caviar from an American sitcom, to justify your views? Really? Are you that desperate for ‘justification’ for your arguments???
PS Clever how you bring apartheid into it – good to be topical, what?
If my memory serves correctly: Liz Jones buys £8 toothpaste and has tended to rescue animals she can’t really afford, slagged off her Exmoor neighbours so badly they shot her vehicle and hated her guts, gets cheated on by every guy she alternately gushes or (mostly) whines endlessly about weekly – for many years now – in her pathetic You magazine column and has zero self-respect for herself. She visited a homeless shelter wearing designer clothes &/or carrying designer handbag. She’s so pathetic, vain and ridiculous.
Anyway. So apparently everyone who eats meat, no matter what else they do, are evil ‘oppressors’ and I suppose by simply being a vegan she is automatically a saviour, creating equality and freedom for all creatures great and small, human and non-human alike? Does she secretly compare herself to Nelson Mandela too in this nonsense? Has she really done anything massively worthwhile her entire life. Is this just her form of attention seeking to boost her career because she’s too old to strip off and swing on a wrecking ball?
Jack, you should just ignore these people more – you’re doing something worthwhile and great, and they’re fucking jealous/trolling morons. Liz, do everyone a favour and get professional help and stop writing your pathetic columns. So sad.
Oh Jack, that is mean and nasty, and unfortunately I am unable to comment on the Daily Mail website since they revamped their comments owing to running Windows7 and Firefox, otherwise I would have given them a piece of my mind.
We don’t see eye-to-eye politically, as I am a Libertarian, and you are a Labour supporter, but that doesn’t deminish in my eyes what a super job you are doing as an advocate for those of us who are just struggling by on a very tight budget.
As a diabetic, I have recently had my annual blood tests, and it threw up a result that I am borderline anaemic. As a committed carnivore, this is an astounding result, and entirely down to the fact that meat is too expensive and I just can’t afford it right now.
I used to be a blood donor before I developed high blood pressure, and donated 56 pints of blood, so my blood’s iron content was never in doubt in those days. I have a needle track up my left arm like a junkie, which I am very proud of.
Keep up your good work, and don’t read the Daily Mail. Their standards of journalism have declined markedly over the past couple of decades, and are devoted nowadays to winding people up into a frenzy of hate.
Respectfully yours,
Liam Hillman
Acting Chairman
Libertarian Party of the United Kingdom
Looks like Daily Fail want to turn you in to a superstar,here come another bunch twitter followers some people just never learn lol.Take care Jack.
Is it just me or did the Liz Jones article, if you can call it that, sound like the insane ramblings of either a. An 18 year old who’s realised her essay on battery farming is due in in ten minutes or b. A rather crap journalist who really shouldn’t write articles when she’s had a few drinks.
That woman is just a female version of that turd Littlejohn. I think the mail must have a little cloning factory out back.
Jack, you are good at fighting back but I think you would have a more peaceful life if you did not and just let the nutcases go. Keep on with what you do so well, cooking, blogging, campaigning, mothering, but don’t waste the energy on the haters. It is not worth it, your readers and followers know the whole story, don’t worry about the others
Another very, very silly article, another excellent response. I love your style, Jack.
Why on earth pick on your recipe when there are meat laden articles all over the papers this month – ethical concerns or a feeble attempt at ‘get your own back’?
J x
Well said Jack.
Maybe Liz’s new fella just asked for a week off from her printing the ins and outs of their relationship for all the world to read, she spotted a chicken and thought of a ‘classy piece’ to write … or maybe she just thought ‘what drivel should I write about this week ….. as usual!!
From an ex Liz Jones fan ….. never again will her column darken my line of sight!!
Jack – If you are a ‘public’ figure who campaigns as you do, you are going to be attacked. Count it all Joy……
Sad though that my last post on your blog, you decided not to publish it. It’s your blog of course, but my post was only mildly critical — I hope you can actually take criticism otherwise life is going to be very miserable. As a ‘public’ figure I know.
Your food recipes are fantastic by the way. Your rants are ill-tempered and wont do the cause any good even though I agree with your comments re bedroom tax. I work with homeless men all day long so I do know what I’m talking about.
Every Blessing
Leonard
Leonard, I publish every comment that doesn’t either contain swearing or get eaten by the spam filter. There’s currently 600+ in the spam filter, so any unpublished ones are probably there. If you have a look through, there’s plenty of criticism in the comments…
Great response – sadly wasted on the Daily Mail. So bogged down in their sense of entitlement and self-righteousness that it’s quixotic in the extreme to use old fashioned concepts like logic and reason on them. Still – I’m very grateful for the work you’re doing; ethical, thrifty and humane – thank you.
You didn’t exactly calculate it to get through to the Mail-filtered Liz Jones, but good sentiments.
I have read some of the drivel that the Jones creature writes, from what I have seen she makes her living writing about her Crap life, her crap ex husband and at the last look her crap “boyfriend” an aging rocker. She starves herself to be as thin as possible and crows about how poor her skin is as a result of her diet. She bought a property that she could not afford, filled it with an assortment of animals that she could not afford, then proceeded to piss of all the locals, just to write more crap about her lonely existence. I know that she has written about clothes, but nothing that I would want to read. I remember that a while ago she launched an attack on a web forum for Mums, it all smacks of jealousy. So if you are young, pretty, a mother and getting lots of positive press, watch out, there could be an aging stringy bitch snapping at your heels.
Geez – where to start eh?? I learnt about you from our paper Sydney morning herald – smh.com.au and subscribed.
Ok so I’ll be brief – Brilliant work Jack – your sexual orientation has nothing to do with whether or not you use its free range chicken in your recipe!
After reading this piece where she likened caged animals to Nelson Mandela (OMG! was she high on righteous indignation at her poor journalistic skills being pointed out??) I was flabbergasted.
We all make mistakes the correction would be an opportunity for her – yet she used it like others have said to chuck a tantrum. Criticism goes both ways – if you can’t take it, don’t dish it out – hopefully Liz will get this message (one can only hope).
Keep up your brilliant work! There are lots of people worldwide struggling to get by -to be able to enjoy a meal more than once a day whilst living in a first world country should be the right of all people.
Liz Jones is a DM fashion journalist,a vegetarian/vegan and all round loopy fruit cake. The briefest of sweeps through her output in the DM reveals her to be living in a world where everyone else is out of step but her. Quite frankly the majority of her opinions are so far out they lie on the periphery of the galaxy. Therapy is probably in order.
Some have nothing better in their lives than to knock others down, including most journalists of this ridiculous publication. Ignore. Although you are quite correct, total bullshit really needs addressing.
Well done!
You’re marvellous.
Er…I’m single?
I read your blogs and have done for over a year.
You do a really great job but I have learnt over many years in business that one’s energies are usually better directed at positive things.
I would get very heated about things that I felt were unfair and usually have a good rant (which would make me feel better for a bit and salvage hurt pride). It was only when someone very close to me pointed out that I was taking it personally that I realised I was often over-reacting and wearing myself out with my angry responses.
I thought about what this person had said to me and decided to deal with unpleasant events in a calmer way.
All I can say is it left me with a whole lot more energy to deal with the things that really mattered to me!
No offence is meant to you as I think you do a fab job and I love your energy and dynamic approach to life.
To say it changed my life is an understatement – these sort of people no longer get to me and that is really liberating!!
Keep up the good work Jack and happy Christmas to you and little chap.
The Daily Fail appears to be running out of battles to fight so is having to start making up ones of its own. How terribly wearisome.
Don’t change Jack. I read your material, Jones’s? Notsomuch.
This is a beautiful response to an unwarranted, unfounded and vile attack. She is a bitter woman who hates to see others succeed, and no doubt incredibly jealous that despite her years in ‘journalism’ you’re ten times the writer she ever ever has been or will be.
Liz Jones is a professional troll.
Liz Jones is a joke of a woman. I first read something she’d written a few years ago and thought it was an actual joke. If u have spare time google stuff by/about her, for fun, it’s not from this planet. Her wrath is your badge of honour!
Brilliant response, and completely pathetic article by ‘Jonesy.’ You’ve done more to help people than she has ill bet (without going and researching her!) xx
What a bizarre article from Liz Jones. She didn’t actually make her point clearly enough for me to be sure what her point was :-/ I was pleasantly surprised to see as a fairly recent Aldi convert that Aldi’s chicken breasts and whole chickens are British free range and half the price of Tesco. We used to eat quite a bit of chicken but I just couldn’t afford it. My daughter is allergic to milk which ruled out some of the veggie dishes we used to like.. so Aldi free range chicken has helped as it is around the price of Tesco regular chicken.
Just think , the more the Mail attacks you the more followers you will get . Keep your counter attacks pithy. They hate what you are highlighting
I’ve read Liz jones crap before, and also thought she was joking, she seems to me to just write about her x husband, a boyfriend she may have now? ( who cares?), and about animals she has picked up over the years , and of a sad pathetic life she has picked for herself , where she starves herself to stay stick thin, and annoys her neighbours so much to the point they hate her in the village!…… What your personal life has to do about chicken is beyond me!!! Let them drivel on jack……. I’m thinking your where she wishes she was 30 odd years ago 😀
Great response. Really appreciate you fielding their page hits by covering all the bullshit here, as well. Liz Jones is known to be quite nuts, by the way, even by DM standards, but I think the DM getting well and truly stuck in means you’re doing a good job with your campaigns and writing.
Also, on an only marginally related note, I’ve always thought your hair looks good! x
According to another well known journalist who is acquainted with jones she demands difficult and expensive vegan meals wherever she goes but eats nothing. And has a strange obsession with women’s bodies (don’t we all) and is utterly bonkers on every level, but having a rant attack on you for eating chicken tops the bizzare list. Shouldn’t she be protesting Nandos?
Good on you for sorting her out.
I’m a vegan but that’s my personal choice, just as it’s your personal choice to eat meat occasionally… It doesn’t change the fact that I love your blog and all the work you are doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if Jones is secretly scoffing expensive steak and fois gras, all in the name of ‘research’ no doubt.
Oh, and I think you have brilliant hair, despite what you say :-).
If the Mail has sent Littlejohn and Jones out in an attempt to smear you, you’re obviously doing something right to rattle their cages. Keep up the good work!
Jack you’re a great writer, and have the moral high ground and the other woman, has spewed a piece of trash journalism.
I know it goes beyond freedom of speech, to which their must be some limitations or redress, and the attack was personal and deliberate, and you have every right to reply in kind.
However..
I am concerned in the week that your message is about to get an airing in parliament, that they are just trying to make you the story to dilute your message. If they print a piece of junk each day just to see you fire up and shoot it down, which you do so well, that will be time you don’t have to frame some choice words for your great work on social justice which this nation is crying out for.
I’m on team Jack, just think you may need a sustainable strategy if you are going for the long game.
Not sure I want to read your rant, anymore than hers. Stick to what you do best – your positive blogs make my day.
Here here Beth. Responding to idiots like Liz Jones will do no good.
She is a vegan and thinks everybody else should follow her example. Her hate-filled bile goes down well with the type of people who read the Daily Mail and believe it all.
Meanwhile the Daily Mail sells loads more newspapers. Sad really!
Liz Jones should be ignored. Her pen drips more poison than Rita Skeeter. Every one of her articles is full of inaccuracies, half-truths and outright lies, with large doses of vitriol, bigotry and hypocrisy. I can’t read anything she writes without being overwhelmed with feelings of violence towards her, so I don’t read her malicious drivel. I suggest you don’t either.
Many moons ago I read the DM (hangs head in shame). Now I’ve grown up into an almost heat-or-eat pensioner and can’t be arsed with lies and more damned lies I read Jack’s blog and similar. The piece written by – whatwashernameagain? – validates my reasons for cutting trash out of my life, preferring to lean toward facts and more damned facts. It enables me to heat and eat. Simple as that.
Wish I could play chess as well as you!
That Liz Jones authored the article says it all – I nearly didn’t bother reading any further. She only ever wrote one thing of interest (2009) http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1684240/Can-Liz-Jones-survive-on-benefits.html
Oh dear, Liz Jones is loop-de-loop as my old Dad used to say. She’s not even worth arguing with, the sad old witch.
Please Jack, let these negative nasty articles go! It won’t help anyone- WE all know you’re nothing like what she’s saying- and so will many who read that rubbish in passing! I can’t help but feel you concentrate a lot on fighting back- leave it and return to what you are best at and loved for! Hoping you have a lovely Christmas with small boy 🙂
5 minutes here and there, which is less time than I’d spend stewing on it if I didn’t reply. I think outright bullshit needs to be challenged or they’ll keep doing it.
” I think outright bullshit needs to be challenged or they’ll keep doing it.” I’m not sure I agree – I’d guess as long as they a rise out of you they’ll keep doing it.
You do so much super cool stuff – I’m a huge fan – but they don’t deserve your time.
Liz Jones is ill,you only have to read her column to see that. I personally cannot understand why she is employed,since her writings are merely juvenile diary entry’s. Jack you are a real person as opposed to the poor cardboard cut out Liz Jones is (and I really do feel sorry for her,she is a very sad sad individual) Keep up the good work,despite the attacks,I know it must be hard,looking forward to your book.
She’s no more a vegan than my Aunt Fanny. She eats eggs, drinks milk, and even had two – failed – businesses selling ‘ethically produced’ milk and eggs to Selfridges. I wish this self-righteous, bitter old cow (sorry cows) would go and stick her head in a bucket of her new boyfriend’s gluten free Victoria sponge mix.
oh my ‘expletive expletive’ good night
I had to read that woman’s attack on you twice it’s so garbled it took two reads to make sense of it, I expect the majority of daily hate readers will skip right past it tbh the chances of most of them being vegan or vegetarian are slim, or is that picture Ive got in my mind of them all looking like Littlejohn a pig with an apple stuffed in it’s mouth that makes me think that many won’t read it.
There is a little bit of me that loves it when you go on the attack Jack, damn you for being a free range normal person aye haha 😉
I agree with those who say don’t bother to read or engage with The Daily Mail, even when it writes lies about you. Life’s too short and you are busy enough with more important things than matching rant for rant with The Daily Mail, of all things. Daily Mail readers are not interested in the truth, have the attention span of a goldfish and will forget it immediately. By responding you create more interest for the paper and reward the writer. Newspapers LIKE controversy. Anyway, those who know it is untrue and enjoy a rant will do it for you. Famous people learn very quickly that they can’t engage with everyone who writes lies about them; some actors and singers say say they never read their own reviews because being needlessly hurt doesn’t help them. Maintain a Nigella-like silence and let your actions and your own writings speak for you.
I am in total agreement with this. Answering back just gives this BS an importance it shouldn’t really have.
After Littlejohns attack these were my thoughts, but then Jack had I think about 5k extra hits on her blog to see her reply to the odious man many of whom have stayed and follow Jack now, while Jack’s got youth on her side and the energy I say give it back to them with both barrels, if she doesn’t they will produce a we were right piece because she hasn’t replied.:)
Well played Jack.
Liz is frightened of catching carnivorous-lesbianism. Simples.
Fab. Love your responses to stuff lie this.
I don’t usually read newspaper articles … Probably down to people like Liz.
This was brilliant though! I’m a veggie, because I want to be, although I missed out the whole “pretentious dick who thinks I’m superior to everyone because I don’t eat meat” part.
Hope you enjoy writing your next recipe, perhaps you could send Liz a signed copy?
I wonder if this new feeding frenzy from the Mail again has anything to do with you handing in your petition his week.Maybe some ones had a word in their ear.
i bet!
I think you are right to correct the lies spewed about you, I’m sure you are the sort of person who can deal with criticism but not the bullying lies. In the grand scheme of things, this is making more people aware of the poverty issues you are highlighting. Keep up the great job.
God Liz Jones is tedious. But where the hell do you get free range bacon? Cannot find it anywhere and thus am baconless. Someone tell me and we’ll piss Liz off more…
Sainsburys. 🙂
Yep, Sainsburys do excellent free range and outdoor reared meats, although you sometimes have to go to the bigger ones and dig around a little bit. Priced much better than Waitrose which is where we used to get our free range stuff.
Most supermarkets have it. Look for the Spoilt Pig packaging.
Or online there are loads of options.
Good for you Jack.
Shouldn’t need to have to defend yourself as anyone who reads your blogs knows the journey you have travelled.
What is so wrong with trying to help those on a low budget feed themselves well?
Jack, you’re a star. A star. I so enjoy you shooting down these poisonous “journalists”. How are they even in work?
Liz Jones… I’ve always believed you were a foul woman. This cements it. Well done.
Fekking brilliant Jack.
Fekking brilliant Jack!
Carry on “replying” to these morons Jack, If you let them walk over you one time ~ they’ll come back and wipe their feet ~ go girl!! xox
Brilliant reposte!
I tried to find Jones’ article on line, but the Mail Online site is like a church bazaar lucky-dip and it was taking too long. But I did find a Lizzy Jones Diary item, apparently posted at about the same time as her cheap chicken piece and was intrigued by its opening lines:
‘I wasn’t going to write about this out of misplaced loyalty, and because he asked me not to, but I have just been told I have to write seven columns in five weeks because of ‘pulling forward for Christmas’, so pressure has, as usual, got the better of me.’
Is Lizzy desperate for copy, any copy?
Oh dearie me.
I’m a vegetarian, for ethical reasons. But that’s my choice. My partner eats meat, and that’s his choice. Out of the two of us, you could say I’m the odd one – the human race is by nature omnivorous. Leaving aside all the other drivel in this article, she seems to think we should all be vegetarian – which isn’t human nature. I wonder what her view on omnivorous animals is?
And comparing meat-eating to apartheid? Good god. That leaves me speechless.
This is hilarious! Liz Jones is a complete freak. I can’t believe anyone could take her seriously.
Go, Jack!
I’ve always hated the Daily Mail, and Liz Jones gets me all prickled up, hedgehog style. But you know it’s one of those things: I’ve also always found intolerable the way a certain vegetarian and vegan faction seem to think themselves more moral, more ethical, more deserving, more upright, more everything than the rest of us who’re only about 95% vegetarian. And the thing is, all plants are living organisms too, and have to be killed for other animals (including us) to survive – who’s crying for them? Will Liz Jones cry for the poor murdered little plant babies whenever she has beans, peas, pulses, grapes, apples, cereals, potatoes, squashes, anything seeds or with seeds inside…? What’s more, in intensively farming veg and fruit and grain crops throughout the world, much environmental damage is done. I’d like for instance to ask Ms. Jones if she’s one of the quinoa quinoa quinoa for every meal brigade, and if she knows exactly the horrible environmental damage – and the untold human misery and famine – its intensive cultivation for the European market is causing in South America… So – well done, girl, and as far as I’m concerned you were nowhere near hard enough on the little madam…
Er….Have you ever been to South America? “Untold misery and famine!?” Who fed you that bullshit! The Daily Mail?
Erm ” A modern day I am alright Jack” says Liz Jones. Oh Dear this one statement reveals realms!!! Go back under the stone you came out of ‘Liz Jones’ and take the shitty newspaper you write for with you. Dear oh dear.
I think David Jacobs has nailed it about the petition. The right is scared of you, Jack. You’re too good and you’re too influential. You are a total star and you have a huge amount of support. I know it’s hard for you but honestly, being attacked by the Mail is a compliment, horrible though it is for you. It’s not you, Jack, the living, breathing human being with feelings they’re attacking, it’s you as representative of everything they hate like compassion and caring and trying to help. Liz jones has been going on about animals forever, among other ravings about everything from her neighbours to her anorexia. She’s not worth worrying about and even Mail readers ignore her.
Go you! Liz Jones is a foul woman and a terrible journalist.
She once wrote a piece about how ‘men shouldn’t trust women in their late 20s/early 33s as they’ll do whatever it takes to have a baby’. This was based on her experience of telling her partner she didn’t want kids before having sex with him, stealing the condom full of jizz and then trying to impregnate herself with it.
Liz Jones claims to be vegan, but still indulges a love for wearing/carrying leather – she’s a bitter, twisted nutter. Love your rebuttals Jack! Show her how someone with wits and the will to do some research can do!
That last part made me laugh out loud! Well done Jack, for standing your ground but not playing their game. We need more people like you in this world, thank you.
Shocked and stunned that someone brings up apartheid and compare it to someone who is trying to help others eat on a budget whether it’s meat or not! I personally don’t eat meat through choice but I certainly don’t think I am better than other people because I don’t! a very crazy and scary article, why scary ….because someone will be stupid enough to believe it!!
I’m a vegie but my boyfriend isn’t, does that mean i’m with an apartheid loving oppressor?! Shite :-/ seriously though is this classed as ‘journalism’? Please know that not all animal loving vegies are arse bags, my partner eats free range & is careful about the meat he eats so thats good enough for me. & well done liz you’ve most likely put people who were considering becoming vegies off it, so yeah great job!
What a load of tat. The Mail. Not your recipe. 🙂
I often wonder, when I read lunacy like this in the Mail, why sanity, logic, and the ability to construct a fact-based argument don’t appear to be prerequisites for employment there.
I’ll ignore the endemic dodgy spelling, punctuation, grammar, and syntax, (well, why not, the Mails does), as life is just too short.
Oh damn – a spelling mistake – Mail, not Mails!
Let’s not forget that this is the Liz Jones who bleated of her own (self inflicted) financial woes to the extent that pensioners sent her money AND SHE GLADLY TOOK IT. She knows nothing of ethics, morality or even humanity.
You go girl! Another example of bad journalism from Ms Liz Moans, thank you for sticking up for yourself.
As someone who can only afford to heat one room and can’t afford to feed my cats organic prawns or buy designer cashmere outfits (hello Liz) I love reading your blog for your yummy food ideas.
That woman has no idea how most us us normal peeps live and assumes everyone can afford free range organic hand massaged veg or meat. Shame on us for not being rich! 🙂
Thank you for your blog *sending you and your little lad xmas hugs!) x
Jack, I’m not sure how wise it is for me to comment again on meat-eating after my recent ham-fisted outburst (pun intended), but I’m going to try and be more reasonable this time. Whilst I write this, I’ll try keep in mind your obvious compassion for people, and your attempts to do your best with a limited budget against what is the last socially acceptable form of discrimination: speciesism. I’m not going to reference the DM article – I committed to never reading the DM again after that Littlejohn thing and I’m sticking to that.
I’m 38 years old. I’ve only eaten a vegan diet (albeit a junk food vegan diet) for a little over a year (around 14 months now). Before that, I was vegetarian for just over 5 years. So, for most of my life I have eaten animal products. I embraced all the industry BS about needing animal products for calcium, protein and omega acids etc. In my ignorance, used to mock a veggie colleague and tell him it was perfectly natural for us omnivores to eat meat. I was dead wrong on so many levels. I now know, from scientists like Prof. T Colin Campbell, that animal products are some of the most toxic and harmful foods humans can eat. You might not see immediate effects, but the damage is being done and the tumours are being fed. Purely from a health perspective I encourage everybody to read The China Study or at least watch Forks Over Knives.
But, that DM article isn’t about health, it’s (supposedly) about compassion. If you step back and look at the bigger picture, you’ll realise that cows, sheep, pigs etc. are all just like us. They feel anxiety, fear and pain just like we do. They grieve when their babies are taken away, just like we do. And why wouldn’t they? If you trace our evolution back far enough you’ll find a common ancestor. The life that is inside them is no less precious to them than ours is to us. They are the same as you and I.
So, if they are just like us, and we treat them as property, how is that not slavery? How is loading up trucks with live cattle ready to go to slaughter different from loading up trains with people to go to the gas chamber? The ONLY thing that is different is the story we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better about our cruel and uncompassionate life choices. Organic, free-range etc. are just more stories we tell ourselves – the animals are still not free and are still butchered for our enjoyment.
So on the question of compassion, why would you discriminate? Why choose selective compassion? If it is in you to be compassionate to other people (and clearly, Jack, you are a compassionate person towards other people) why not extend that compassion to all living creatures? Once you know, once you accept that all life is valuable and a pig is no less alive than you, I or even SB, how can you choose to be a part of their suffering? Most people wouldn’t find racism or sexism socially acceptable, but collectively we still accept speciesism?
So, if you can’t avoid eating meat for compassionate reasons, do it for your health. If you can’t do it for your health do it for the health of your children. If you can’t do it for their health, do it because you don’t want to be just another mug the meat industry is laughing at when they lie to you and pay for yet another study that claims eating their products is good for you.
Unless you grow and eat all the vegan food you consume and only drink filtered rain water then you are causing suffering throughout the planet to other humans and also animals. Sorry about that but tis the truth. Also, your comment on comparing the killings of humans (including young children) in the gas chambers due to their beliefs to those of animals taken to slaughter for their meat really is quite disgusting and offensive. (and shows a lack of compassion and sympathy). You really are not helping the vegan cause here. 🙁
Sounds like you’re telling yourself a little story there, Badcat. Of course, our mere existence has an impact on the planet. But that’s not an excuse I would use to justify wilfully harming others (human or otherwise). I can lessen my impact through conscientious choices that have no negative impact on my quality of life and so can you if you choose to. My compassion and sympathy includes humans, but also extends beyond just humans. I feel no less hurt for the people who were sent to the gas chambers than for the animals sent to slaughter because I raise my compassion and empathy for the animals up to the same level I feel for humans. I’m not lowering the sadness I feel for human tragedy to the level most folks apply to the animal holocaust that goes on all around us. I’m not telling you what to do, Badcat, but if holding up a mirror and showing how we humans apply an arbitrary double standard has made you feel disgusted and offended, maybe it’s what you’re seeing in the mirror that needs some consideration?
The thing is that many people accept that human beings do huge damage to other species, and they’re actually OK with it. A lot of people want to minimise that damage, but not to the extent that it seriously impacts their lives. So yes, we do collectively accept speciesism. Many people don’t feel that compassion extends to granting animals the rights that we would grant our own species. While it’s your choice to do so, you cannot expect others to follow your values, because they are a long way outside the norms of the culture in which we live.
I would agree with most of what you said and I accept that for the most part I’m just pissing in the wind. I’m not expecting any major changes to occur any time soon. But, to use an analogy, it’s only a minority of people in the UK who are using food banks – should we not speak up for them too just because our apathetic culture permits some people to live poverty or worse contributes to it through their purchasing decisions?
Despite my long post above, and apart from the odd moment my frustration gets the better of me, I don’t normally go around berating people about eating animal products for compassionate reasons. The ethical was the focus the DM article took. For me personally, the most compelling reason for avoiding those products are health reasons. I might be in a minority, but it’s still worth speaking up – especially if just one person who is suffering from cancer, heart-disease, diabetes or osteoporosis reads The China Study as I recommended above.
I felt disgusted because I’ve not yet known a case where healthy animals are shipped off, starved and then gassed for no reason other than the fact they were of a certain animal species that offended another animal species. At least the animals going to slaughter are serving a purpose and we, as consumers should try and respect that by trying to buy free range and using the whole animal (had a health test in your life? Blood test perhaps? they use animal by products to manufacture those tests you know). I’ve looked in the mirror for more years than yourself Richard and am happy with who I am and how I treat humans and animals alike. I treat anyone or anything how I wish to be treated, with respect and kindness and empathy. Eating meat doesn’t make me a bad and terrible person, nor does being vegan make you a better person than me nor less likely to do harm to another person or creature.
Badcat, some people still think the earth is flat. Does it make them bad people? Not to me. Does it make them wrong? The science says so. And the science says animal products are very bad for you – especially the proteins found in milk. Still, I’m pretty sure most people who eat animal products do so because they don’t know any better. They’re probably never seen the horrible graphic footage of the way the animals are treated and they’ve probably never took the time to investigate the science that shows animal products are toxic to humans. As someone else replied to my post, it’s a cultural thing. Maybe if slaughter houses had glass walls society might act differently – or maybe not? Either way, because the DM article was focused on ethics, I chose to write a comment that made a logical argument that if a person considers all life to be valuable (and not everybody does, clearly), then how we treat animals has to be viewed in the same context that we treat other human beings. As I tried to stress in my reply to you, I wasn’t denigrating human suffering – I was raising my level of empathy for the animal suffering to the same level I have for human suffering. I didn’t claim you were a bad person or that I was a better person than you – even after you accused me of lacking compassion and sympathy. I merely suggested that if my comment made you feel disgusted and offended, then you might want to consider the root causes of that. I did so because when I used to mock my vegetarian colleague (as I mentioned in my initial comment), I did so to avoid having to face up to what is really happening, but I’m willing to accept that might not be the case with you. I do not know you, after all.
I was curious enough to check the Mail Online to see what the comments on Jones’ “article” were like and found that there were none, well there was actually precisely one (quote: “bizarre and frankly bonkers” “garbled idiocy”). Evidently Jones’ attempted smear has managed to provoke nothing but a massive eruption of apathy, while your pieces by contrast provoke hundreds of comments and heated debate. Hmmm..
In the past, more specifically on the Littlejohn article, it seemed the DM was moderating out the comments. I posted one in support of Jack that wasn’t sweary or ranty and it didn’t get published. That was the last time I went to that website.
Whenever Liz Jones puts an article up it can take over 24hours for your comment to appear for some strange reason. Only seems to happen with her column mind you. This has been discussed on other forums and is a bit of a mystery! 🙂 I think it’s to make it look as if no one is concerned about her opinions.
Jack – I love your blog and admire your stance on meat – but I think your last shot was a bit cheap. Us veggies wouldn’t be happier with meat inside us. We make a choice just like you do. However, having said this, I do think that the point that Liz Jones has entirely missed is that for many, vegetarianism is a privilidge – that to go veggie, organic, free range etc can be expensive. Plus, its often the domain of the well educated middle class. For many many poor working class people, meat is a staple – and much needed. I’m certainly not saying thats right, but thats just how it is. And Liz Jones, from her ivory tower of relative wealth and privilidge has no right to comment on that.
I was making the point that her suggesting I shouldn’t eat meat is as crass as me suggesting she should.
Ah, fair enough. That didn’t come across, but I take your point. x
Oh dear! I googled ‘Liz Jones’ and there was stack of photos of her – take a look at them – there is nothing behind the eyes. They are blank, dead, empty. If the eyes are the window of the soul, she is soulless.
She writes like a troll. Such vitriol, such a rant, such inaccuracy.
I remember reading somewhere that the success of feature writers is measured in the number of angry responses their articles generate. By that standard she is successful.
You are a target for her BECAUSE you are successful at what you do. When I was a child and visited my grandmother, there was no toilet paper in the outside loo, we used cut-up newspaper. Just try and imagine Jones’ article strung up in my Nan’s loo 🙂
Liz Jones is demonstrably bonkers. She no doubt has a down on you for also being a mother – she appears to detest mothers,for some bizarre reason of her own. Next week, there will be a whiny, poor-me article from Liz about how horrible you’ve been about her: it’s part of her modus operandi to have a pop at people in print, and then act all hurt and bewildered when they fight back. She never learns.
Thank you, I stopped reading or even caring about the DM a few years ago when they printed a story about people I knew and was wrong! I did enjoy the laugh, what is sad that people still trust it to be true! Thank you for the smile.
Point 15. Wow, Jack, you really are amazing!
J x
The DM article is not accepting comments. I wonder why?
Brilliant, Jack.
I do hope some publisher is making a note, because a compilation of your replies to un-researched drivel would make a compelling book. (Not that I want you to have to waste your time on pseudo-journalism such as the article in question, but you are VERY readable, and never more so than in these instances).
How very dare Liz jones suggest that you are of the I’m all right Jack mentality, when she spends such fortunes on beauty treatments and designer clothes trying to make herself attractive, which of course will never work with her extremely ugly personality. Where you jack give your spare cash to charity and spread joy and love with what you do. The hope and insiration you spread through your recepie and blogs have helped me immeasurably all Liz jones does is depresses herself and those around her.
I was struggling to find the best bit of this wonderful, wonderful riposte. And then this leaped out
” I don’t need to be subjected to your ‘sympathy’ too. Stick it up your arse.”
I’d never heard of you before I came across this. But bejaysus I like you. Fair dues.
Okay, you responded. Now please ignore her. You are too busy and important to waste your time on a nutcase. She is goading you to see if you will take the bait. Also, think of your future. I do not think it out of the realm of possibility that you will run for Parliament some day. You don’t need nasty replies to crazies out there on the web. They might come back to haunt you. from across the pond.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read that piece, I thought only J.K. Rowling made those kind of words for Rita Skeeter… reality beats fiction!!
OMG Jack can’t believe Liz Jones comparison to apartheid. Unbelievable, and totally insulating, to anyone who lived under it, it’s a smear campaign pure and simple from the DM, what a bunch of idiots, hate that rubbish paper. You go Jack your amazing.
,
Liz Jones is basically Katie Hopkins with the self-esteem problem inverted. She seems to resent almost everyone, so you’re in good company.
Late to all this cos was tucked up in bed fast asleep. I just find it so depressing that the likes of the Mail think it acceptable to try and trash what is good and decent. Keep up the good work Jack. We’re on your side one zillion per cent.
Anybody who suggests that people who struggle to feed themselves should give up meat as a complete idiot. Only well off people ( living in the mild, not tropical, subtropical climate)in wealthy western countries have the luxury to feed themselves well on a vegetarian diet, for the rest it equals to playing roulette with their health and life. That journalist is just a showpiece of our western ignorance. After living in Africa I proudly buy intensively farmed chickens and battery eggs the money I save I donate to charities to feed those who need it. I will happily buy free range what ever once there are no starving humans. You are doing great job helping others to live and feed themselves better on a little.
if at some point Jack you could do with a good laugh pop along to amazon and read the reviews of Liz’s book. hilarity will follow.
Dear Mr Monroe,
WITHOUT PREJUDICE
It has come to our attention that you have used two images which are the copyright of Getty images on your blog above, namely cx3374 (pigs) & fd4434 (Tesco Chicken) .
We are unable to locate any record of having issued you with a licence to use these images. I would be grateful if you would provide me with any evidence that you have been issued with a licence by Getty Images or their agents/authorised affiliates.
Subject to that, as it appears that you have breached OUR copyright I require you to provide me with information about where you sourced the image, the length of time that you have used the image, and any other usages that you may have made of that, or any other image that you may have reason to believe may be the intellectual property of Getty Images.
Unless you have a licence from Getty Images or their agents/authorised affiliates I require you to remove the image immediately, and will be requiring payment for use of the image to date with a minimum sum of £468 for each image if paid within seven days to a UK bank.
If you would like to make use of the image for the future, any such future use would only be permitted subject to negotiation with me of a separate additional licence and payment of a licence fee at our rates.]
If you wish to contact me please do so via email to copyright@gettyimages.com with the phrase Unauthorised usage 18452/Monroe in the subject line.
Please do not ignore this letter. Failure to respond may result in legal action
Yours sincerely
T.P. Mesa
Copyright Agent
Getty Images Legal Department
605 5th Ave South, Suite 400
Seattle, Washington 98104, United States
Phone: (206) 925-5000
Fax: (206) 925-5623
E-mail: copyright@gettyimages.com
Dear T.P. Mesa.
I have forwarded your email to my agent who will be in touch with you in due course. In the meantime the screen prints of the Daily Mail article that contained the two images have been removed. I wasn’t aware that taking a screen shot of a newspaper article, complete with copyright watermarks for photographs, was a crime. And certainly not one worth £468 for less than 12 hours exposure on a little comment blog.
And it’s MISS Monroe. The whole ‘a GIRL called Jack’ should have given that away.
Jack.
Tell Getty to f**k off, Jack. Seriously. They send these things out all the time in the hope they’ll scare people in to paying up. They know for sure this is not enforceable. Your use of screen grabs for the purpose of review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment is clearly covered by the Fair Use Act. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
Oh this getting nasty. How on earth did Getty images find out about these images. Guys – time to bombard Getty with our emails. Up for it?
Actually, Jack, regarding this Getty thing. It’s been a while, but when I’ve received these requests in the past they have always been recorded delivery letters. Never by email and certainly not by “blog comment”. They’d found the images using an automated bot that scours the internet for unauthorised use of their images, and the letter included printouts of the pages the images were present on and printouts from archive.org to show how far back the images had been used. This message was sent to you suspiciously quickly, far to quick for an automated bot to come across the image and if a human had actually looked at your page they would have spotted that your use probably fell under the remit of fair use because you were commenting on the use of the images in an article written about you. I would wait for the real letters to appear (if this was in fact genuine and not somebody trying a wind-up). Might be a good idea to remove these comments too – you don’t want to have anything public that admits using the images – just in case. Just in case it is a wind-up I wouldn’t email them and alert them either.
ALSO, a quick Google of “It has come to our attention that you have used two images which are the copyright of Getty images” didn’t bring back any results (0 results), which suggests they haven’t been posting these things on people’s blogs. I say that because they’ll be using standard form letters – the individual agent at Getty won’t be writing a new letter, email or post for each offending website.
Jack, you’ll get sick of me commenting today I swear, this Getty thing – T.P. Mesa must really be putting the hours in if he is at the office at 7 am (his/her local time) on a Sunday morning just waiting for Miss Monroe to post to her blog. I also looked on the Getty website and got no results when I entered the image ids. I can’t guarantee it, but I think this is a wind-up. It’s just too suspicious (the speed at which they contacted you, the time – 7am on a Sunday morning), the fact it was via a blog comment, and not being able to find the same message online elsewhere. I do have first hand experience of these things and like I said in my other post, they send recorded delivery mail with print outs – not blog comments. Your contact details are available here on your website, so if it’s genuine you’ll hear from them via the normal channels. I think you should sit tight and not alert them and remove the comments just in case any of your outraged readers decide to email them on your behalf.
I call bullshit on this “demand”. It is virtually certain to be a fake.
To begin with, it is wrongly marked “without prejudice” – a mistake a genuine lawyer would not make. There are many other mistakes too.
Doesn’t sound genuine to me-The Getty Monster do send out demands for large amounts from infringers, but £468 for blog use of a newspaper page screenshot is plainly daft. The Daily Mail pay photographers £40 per image used on their website- thought you might like to know that!
What an unpleasant post! Still, it suggests that you’ve got the DM on the run, so kudos to you!
Take no notice of Liz Jones I feel the green eyed monster in her and you are so much more classier and intelligent keep up the good work hun x
Thank you Jack, I feel inspired to switch to free range now. Not ready to become veggie but I can’t keep eating such unhappy animals.
I normally only buy meat in the reduced section and freeze it anyway but yeah, I feel certain I must be able to make the switch.
Let’s call it a new year’s resolution, only one I want to keep.
wow… this whole episode casts aspects of our society into a very strange light indeed.
liz jones is a total waste of space – i think even daily mail readers might be able to appreciate that
well done for sticking up for yourself and showing her up
As a veggie of 20+ years standing, I really do despair of those who use vegetarianism/veganism as an excuse to berate others.
That said, I think Liz Jones is attacking you on the same grounds essentially as the odious Littlejohn did over your kale pesto – poor people should not be allowed to eat “luxury” foods. I think these rightwing nuts believe the poor are really only deserving of gruel and dry bread.
I have enjoyed your many meatless recipes, Jack over the last few months. And I think that some of the meat eaters who have tried them and discovered you can eat well and cheaply without meat will be encouraged to cut down or cut out meat from their diets.
Fucking epic. That’s all. Oh, and I love you.
Thank you Jack! After reading those snippets of Liz Jones article all I could think was; Who the hell overcooked her grits!! Geewhizzzz. All she’s succeeded in doing, is painting herself as a sad bitter woman. Poor thing! AND now they want almost £1000 for the images you used, looks like someone’s having trouble making payroll this month. Fools
I’d never seen this blog until just now and I’m glad I did. In my opinion you succeeded in knocking her down a peg or TEN! Hurrah 🙂
You go Jack. I hate the daily fail! What a dick! Liz, not you Hun x
Jack, I wouldn’t worry about Liz Jones attacking you, there is no group anywhere – whether in terms of gender, sexuality, class or child-bearing status – that she hasn’t ‘attacked’ before now. To be honest her crassness and hypocrisy are only exceeded by her insanity. The most interesting point is how slow the DM are these days to publish readers comments on her farticles and drearies. It speaks volumes for the poor to non-existent editorial standards at this rag that calls itself a newspaper who apparently pay this condom-emptying witch £500k per year.
“Condom emptying witch”, that is a precise description of that prickish so-called person. Bravo!
Writing for ‘The Daily Mail’ (washes hands after typing that) has voluntarily resigned from the human race before putting finger to keyboard.
The Daily Mail’s (washes hands after typing that) record on human rights including apartheid is somewhat less than blemish free, so I’d suggest she SHUT THE EFF UP!
Awful, awful woman. If I didn’t know she was (unfortunately) deadly serious, I’d think she was satire.
Awesome. I love you!
What a ridiculous and dreadful, old woman. I think she must feel quite jealous and threatened.
I’d just like to say to martina that here in the uk we ARE living in a wealthy western country. And I have lived as a veggie most of my life, both on benefits and earned income. And it’s not difficult! So I wouldn’t proudly state that I’m happy to live on intensively farmed chickens and battery anything! And in support of Richard, yes I do actually agree that cruelty to animals is on a par with cruelty to people. It’s just that most of us are too brainwashed by societal norms to see it.
The truly difficult thing for a veggie (and I’d really like to be a vegan but that would be sooo difficult) is that so many of our veggie choices are linked to the meat industry. Or to unfair trade issues! Or to climate issues!
If the ethical choices were there and readily usable I’d make them. But in a world geared towards omnivores the best I can do is take a stance slightly left of centre and hope that things will gradually change.
I don’t dislike meat eaters. Most of my friends eat meat. Do I feel superior? In all honesty, having made a moral choice that most people don’t make, slightly!
Prefer your veggie recipes jack, but veggie or otherwise, you’re doing a great and necessary job! Good on you!
Just brilliant! I wish you didn’t have to defend yourself. I read the article to my hubby he thought it was great, he loved the daily fail reference!
Amazing that you are one if the new sainsburys faces, especially since whenever I shop there I am convinced that food prices are higher than anywhere else! Any chance you could do a blog post on your weekly sainsburys shop as it would help me work out where I am going wrong!!!
San xx
Sorry, continuation.
Just to explain the superiority thing.
If you choose not to wear fur because the fur trade is cruel, don’t you feel at least a bit morally superior to those who do?
If you choose to eat free range meat rather than the other stuff, is that not a moral choice?
Anyone who makes a moral choice is likely to feel their choice is superior to a non choice.
It doesn’t mean we don’t understand. But anyone who chooses not to eat meat because of the cruelty or animal rights issues is either lying or delusional when they say they think it’s fine for other people. That’s like saying, hey I’m not a pedophile but it’s fine if you are.
I suppose that depends where the lines are draw and I think that’s a fair point because we all tend to draw our lines to suit ourselves ( bit). Eating meat is an ethical dilemma. I feel better about only eating free range organic meat from the local farm. I do think that is morally more acceptable than eating factory stuff. I am probably in denial about what others do but I cannot find a flaw in your argument. I think this will keep me awake tonight. I still think you should have to have a meat eating license and in order to get it you should spend a day in a abattoir. If that were the case I would be vegetarian. What kind of hypocrite am i? I am having lasagne for supper.
Oh no, third post! But this s just to say big congrats on the sainsburys deal! Well done! Looking forward to the ads!
You are amazing…love the way you take down those Daily Mail freaks. And, errr…are you single by the way? 😉
Jack I have been following your blog and inspirational recipes for some time. You really provide something great and positive to your readers aswell as your friends and family, a wonderful way to use your talents. Sad to see some others in the world just get a kick out of being negative and spiteful, her article is also odd – really odd. Unfortunately the more successful you get the more weirdness you may attract, but keep on sailing your own course. Happy new year.
Liz Jones is a bizarre, hypocritical ‘journalist’ and this article is just shy of nonsensical. Keep up the good work Jack, loving your recipes and common sense, you crowing oppressed lesbian! Xx
Liz Jones is a bizarre, hypocritical ‘journalist’ and this article is just shy of nonsensical. Loving your recipes and common sense, keep up the good work ya crowing oppressed lesbian! IXx
No Liz Jones is bizarre and hypocritical, but by no stretch of the imagination could she be considered a ‘journalist’.!
I had to go and read the ‘article’ and laughed all the way through. What a nutter ! Nobody can take this seriously can they? Then I read the comments and yes they can, incredible !
Does she actually get paid for writing this twaddle ?
You are doing a good job Jack, hope you have a great Christmas.
Talking about Mandela and chicken in the same article takes guts…. So my compliments to miss Jones for her article she should be ashamed of as well as the editor of such a celebration of unprofessional rubbish journalism. If I can call this so….
“Deserve my simpathy”…. Who the hell she thinks she is?!!!!
Already, dear miss Jones, start by learning how to put two sentences together that actually make sense!
Jack, as usual I love your post!
Just love how beautifully you write and how you seem to overcome the spiteful negative tirade from others with such ease and panache. Keep smiling and blogging. You have a loyal and loving following. You don’t need to acknowldege those idiots who wish to put you down though I understand why you do.
Jack Monroe, I love you! Ends.
Brilliant! Well done Jack!
Remind me never to piss you off… lol, great to see your still in good form. An uncompromising delivery of truth. Amazon could despatch the amount of bullshit that the daily mail release. I think the daily mail have journalist and columnists on IV drips so they never have to leave and see the real world. I can envisage the DM press room as a cold and bleak, concrete shell where loud speakers constantly blast out hate fuelled rhetoric.
give them ‘your’ pity.
sorry. should have been Amazon could ‘not’ dispatch the amount of bullshit that the daily mail release.
my apologies for any distress caused by the truly terrifying idea of Amazon doing such an abhorrent thing..
As well as the apalling SEO use of the death of Nelson Mandela, she is also using you in the same way. You are “big” on the internet right now, so of course she had to write about (“attack”) you to get her page views up. She never cares about getting her facts right.
I am vegetarian and love your blog as it has many veggy recipes on it but think it is great that you also show people how they can eat quality free-range meat on a budget if they wish. It is obvious from your blog that you care about and help thousands of people every day, whereas she only offends that many.
Keep up the good work and ignore the haters! 🙂
I hope that sub-human (I do not wish to acknowledge her name, unlike Voldemort) reads your words, then again, despite a well written response to her lame bullying, she probably is incapable of reading something so honest, true and factual. She would melt like the Nazis in The Temple of Doom. And we all know she has more fillers than a small bathroom.
Jack, as a happily married heterosexual man, I love you to bits! Keep up the fight against ignorant media journalists and keep up the recipes too! Happy Christmas and an excellent new year to you and your family.
you need to write to the mail on sunday, jack – not the daily mail!
(although perhaps you have – the thread with the letter is blocked by library censorware!).
—–
i think you and liz both have valid points of view. i read that liz gets paid £1 per word for her stuff in the mail – nice work if one can get it.
upton sinclair wrote about the cruelty involved in urban animal slaughter a long time ago – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle
things haven’t changed much.
matthew scully wrote an excellent book called `dominion` about how we should strive to treat non-human animals.
there was an edition published in the uk by souvenir press but their web site appears to be non-functioning – perhaps they’ve gone bankrupt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Scully
and also renowned author – foer
http://www.eatinganimals.com/
To put this in a little context, here’s the sidebar piece Jones wrote and stuck on the side of the article:
“PS: DEMENTIA BUDDIES? THEY’RE THE ONES DRIVING ME TO MADNESS!
Bus drivers and Boots staff are to be trained as dementia buddies. I tried to get on a No 19 in Knightsbridge the other day. The bus didn’t stop, so I chased it to the traffic lights. I banged on the door. ‘You didn’t stop at the bus stop!’
Bearded driver: ‘Ay?’ Me: ‘You didn’t stop!’ ‘Ay?’ Me: ‘You went straight past. That is against the law of England!’ ‘Ay?’ He not only didn’t speak English, he shook his fist and drove off.
Boots staff are no better. At the cash till, you wait in line until a voice booms: ‘Till number ONE!!!! please.’
You then hear the magic words, not ‘Hello, Madam’, but, ‘D’you ’ave a Boots reward card?’ These are the people who will recognise the first signs of madness? They’re the ones who’ve driven us to it!”
Ha ha ha, people with dementia are MAD aren’t they, ho ho ho.
Good work, comrade. Very good work. First we take down Liz Jones. Then we take down her paper. Then capitalism itself. Full communism is surely moments away. Come the Great Day we will feast on chicken thighs while Liz Jones enters deep re-education. Somewhere inhospitable. Thee Faction salute you. As do we always.
Epic, great response!
Pay them no mind, Jack. What a snooty and pathetic article from the DM.
god I hate the Mail
Knowing a little about Jack Monroe’s background before the recent attacks she’s had in the press has help put them into context. They seem to be based on writing up a particular angle to feed a prejudice without an attempt to inform the reader. It’s noticeable any information is scant because it would interfere with the writers free rein to rant. it’s unfortunate lots of well-meaning readers would end up seeing Jack as representing something which is the opposite of what she exhibits in her work. No, I dont know her in person but as the re-inventor of some stylish frugal food.
As always, I find Jones´article to be somewhat childish and lacking of any factual information. The kind of throwing the toys out the pram style article written to cause a reaction. I never respond to these things but a reaction she has indeed got out of me, although, probably not the one she was hoping for though.
So, to Jack, I came across your articles on the Guardian and was immediately impressed by what you are trying to do. i wish you had been around when I was a student! Keep up the good work and the great recipes (I actually tried the banana and tea curry and even as a banana hater found it was amazing!!) Don´t let this rubbish bring you down. Small boy (I love you call him that!) is lucky to have someone who is making him home cooked, nutritious meals every day instead of the ever available ready meals taking over the supermarkets!
Not to mention the financial apartheid enforced by the Con/Lib coalition on working families, pensioners and the unemployed to go without food, heating and clothing.
The best, most intelligent & well researched (!) riposte to LJ’s poisonous & stupid tosh I have ever read.
What a beautifully eloquent retort. The more I read of your stuff the more I wish I knew you, though thankfully plenty of my friends are like you in all the ways that matter. (Probably why I like ’em, eh!)
Smart, concise, sharp, kind, inventive, talented, warm and acidic enough to avoid saccharin… We need more people like you at the forefront of our country.
Regards, a massive fan of your food and of your brain.
P.S. Fuck the Daily Fail and it’s Zombie fodder.
The more I read from you the more you make be proud to live in Southend.
Great to see someone standing up not just for themselves but for others with a good dash of humour in there too.
So, to recap, Ms Jones wrote a full feature piece for a national daily newspaper championing…chickens? And because you happened to publish a recipe containing chicken, that makes you the devil incarnate, or at least an evil, evil chicken oppressor? That’s what we’re dealing with here? I think this is a new low, even for the Daily Fail. Keep up the good work, Jack, and don’t let ridiculous shit like this get to you!
How bizarre – Chicken thighs are (and have long been) a convenient low budget source of protein and are excellent for use in casseroles – stock from the bones and moist succulent meat. I recall many a meal prepared by my mother based on such staples – I’ve cooked a fair few myself.
Thank goodness our supermarkets make such provender available and that there exist those willing to encourage sensible use of it in difficult times.
Love the idea of militant vegetarianism at the Mail.
Fatuous arm candy *snort 🙂 almost wet myself laughing at your response to Liz Jones’ lazy, bad ‘journalism’. Well said!
I saw your book today and thought it looked quite good. I was put off by the animal recipes though, so thought I would find out more first. I’m really not into all this political point scoring with food and being embroiled with nastiness and tit for tat with journalists just detracts. It’s not necessary and frankly it leaves a bad taste. I’ll pass on the book and keep on with my nice Rose Elliot’s instead. What a shame.
The book came from Jacks fight with poverty Sara, along with finding creating and sharing recipes Jack is fighting for thousands who are in the position she was in just about a year ago, The recipes can be altered you just remove the animal products, in fact I think you’ll find an awful lot of Jacks recipes don’t have meat in them as meat is just to expensive for those on the breadline to buy.
May I politely suggest you read Jacks hunger hurts piece on this site, 🙂 x
This was one of those odd readings where I was left scratching my head…surely she couldn’t have meant…oh wait, I think she did…
What a ridiculously shoddy piece of writing and the accusations! Has she for once given a thought to empathize with someone on a low food budget?
I buy ethically sourced meat and eggs. It’s important to me. But there was a time that my budget didn’t allow for it and surviving on beans and carbs would have made me in constant pain.
This “article” if you could even call it that was a piece of disjointed garbage.
Like always, I love to see how you are able to hand your naysayers back their own words with both bite and grace.
Good work!