Great British Bake Off winner, Jo Wheatley, has been hired by Kellogg’s to encourage mums to use cereals as baking ingredients in the run-up to Christmas.
A waste of time. The only cereal cakes we need are those crispy creations you get at the supermarket. Cheap and cheerful, no mixing bowl required.
This half-baked idea is the latest in a long line of boring schemes aimed at making women know their place... indoors..
And as Christmas approaches the pressure on hard-pressed mums to morph into homemade Kirstie Allsopps is gathering pace.
Endless campaigns to get baking, get stirring up your Christmas pudding ingredients, get foraging in your garden for decorations.
What’s the point other than to send out a message that women have nothing better to do than cook and get crafty with knitting needles?
Well here’s my crafty Christmas message: don’t bother, it’s a lot cheaper to buy the stuff.
Even if I liked Christmas pudding, I know M&S does a better job of conjuring up a fruity concoction in a dark green plastic container than I ever could. They’ve got decades of experience and time. I haven’t.
And as for those dreary DIY Christmas decorations made from bits of twig? They look as naff as artificial Christmas trees.
Where’s the sense in rummaging around in your garden for some cheap-looking deccies when those pound shops will save you the trouble.
Tory-supporting Kirstie, champion of the ‘women should be kept bare foot and pregnant making pointless pin cushions’ brigade, is partly to blame... although I suspect a sinister government plot.
If women are preoccupied with cake-making and crafts they might forget that they’re the biggest losers in the ‘she-cession’.
But why does anyone believe a word that comes out of Kirstie’s plummy mouth anyway given that she singularly failed to warn us the housing bubble was about to burst four years ago?
Now she spends her time competing furiously with jam and Jerusalem WI types who belong to a bygone era before feminism.
We’re teetering on the edge of financial abyss and they’re getting in a lather about the shape of shortbread.
Spare us these homemade harpies – we’ve got enough on our plate without worrying about making our own baubles.
This sisterly love won’t make things better, Tulisa
TULISA Contostavlos is desperately trying to wheedle her way back into Misha Bryan’s affections after single-handedly scuppering the teenager’s chances of winning The X Factor.
Ever since she publicly uttered the word ‘mean’ in relation to Misha, our girl has struggled to regain ground on her rivals.
Despite her fellow finalists roundly rubbishing the ‘Mean Misha’ claims – with latest evictee Janet Devlin saying the accusations were ridiculous, mud sticks.
Now, after three times in the bottom two Misha goes into this weekend’s semi-final hot favourite to be sent home.
Each time she’s sung for survival, Tulisa has wittered on about how ‘urban’ Misha is her soul sister. What a cheek. This woman, whose lack of credibility to be on the panel is exposed each week just like that chavvy thong she paraded on Sunday, is favourite to win with her manufactured girl band Little Mix. That’s a travesty.
But Tulisa’s not as dumb as she looks or sounds.
She might be clueless about music and geography but she played a blinder with that carefully placed poisoned arrow.
And if and when those girls scream like banshees after their victory is announced, Tulisa will probably still be banging on about what a great act Misha was. Misha’s not fooled – and neither are the rest of us.
Inspiring Fatima’s a winner, as athlete and TV star
CONTROVERSY reigns over the lack of women in this year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist.
But for my money the most inspirational winner of the title was one Fatima Whitbread back in 1987. Her harrowing childhood, abandoned by her mother, raped by the boyfriend of ‘that woman’ while she who brought her into the world held her down is so horrific it defies belief.
Rescued by the athletics coach who adopted her as a teenager, she set about honing her petite body into a lean, mean, muscly javelin throwing machine following a strict protein diet to rid her feminine shape of its softness so that she could take on the Eastern European powerhouses.
Her fiercely competitive spirit has been in evidence in the I’m A Celebrity jungle, with fellow contenders like Corrie star Antony Cotton struggling to understand how a mum in her 50s could get het up over a game.
But here is a woman who managed to overcome an appalling start in life by transferring that suffering into grimly determined sporting endeavour.
Her triumph over tragedy is in stark contrast to the back stories of the young lightweight reality TV show wannabes who should feel humbled by Fatima. We all should.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
well deanna, what sad upbringing you must have had to become the grumpy nasty witch we see today. last week it was attacking poor christine bleakley for being good looking but not very bright.
and this week its jo wheatley and kirsty allsopp for trying to encorage some of the old traditions of christmas cheer by encoraging some home made cooking and decorations.
something that seems to be lost in todays society.
the only thing missing from the end of that jealous and spiteful attack on them is the phrase "bah humbug".
cheer up woman! its christmas!
Unbelievable. What have Kirstie Allsopp's political view got to with her belief that home made food & decorations are better than shop bought? Your comments : "champion of etc . . .", "plummy mouth", "jam and Jerusalem" reveal sheer class hatred on your part. Funny, really, because some people might look at you, think you're a journalist & consider you as middle class as you think Allsopp is. You shop at Poundland which has been ridiculed as "chavvy" yet criticise another woman for wearing a "chavvy" thong. "Sisterly love"? Given your spiteful comments about these women & your recent ones about Christine Bleakley, you know nothing about supporting your fellow women.
The cereal cakes might be cheap & cheerful, you are cheap & nasty.
Another nasty, spiteful and sexist column. Home baking is very easy and cheap, I do it all the time, it takes minutes to prepare a cake for a fraction of the price of the cheap and cheerless store bought cakes, and I make bread for about 20p a loaf, so that makes economic sense in a recession. Again home made decorations are great fun to make, the whole family can join in and it is great for kids to have something constructive to do.
it's not only women who are preoccupied with cake making and crafts! Home made crafts certainly turn out better than the rubbish found in pound shops - and on top of all that there is a sense of satisfaction about creating.....
Anyway, remember when Fatima appeared on Come Dine with Me??! http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show/come-dine-with-me-recipes/series-10/filo-baskets-with-peaches-and-white-chocolate-mousse-recipe mmmmmmm looks delish!!
Dear Ed
This consistently unpleasant column has no merit. Time for something new.
SEEMS TO ME THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE THESE DAYS:
Time rich and cash poor and cash rich and time poor .... whichever one you are will dictate your views. I have been back to basics for years.
It's a shame you don't share the family values that make lovely memories for your family. Fun and games making and baking with the children, teaching them a thing or two and filling the house with lovely smells or traipsing round a shop buying decorations from a chinese sweatshop and shop bought cake laden with cheap fats and preservatives? Maybe its just that you feel guilty about missing out on such quality times with your children so you can finance a big house and a fancy set of wheels? Maybe time to get YOUR priorities in order?
Sounds like sour grapes to me...take some time off work and spend sometime making memories with your family? You never know..you might like it!
Make time to make lovely memories, quality time spent with your family, isnt that what its all about?
So... you suspect a "sinister government pllot" to keep women" barefoot and pregnant" ? I see....
Have you ever thought of getting some therapy?
Actually the government announced this week they're introducing free nursery places for two year olds to help women get jobs. Please do try and keep up before writing such bitter feminist drivel
It's not just women who get into making their own food. Men do it too. And by the time you've opened a packet of soup and put water in it, you can have chopped up a few carrots, onions etc, thrown in some stock and cooked yourself some lovely home made soup. It's all about attitude. Ready-made meals are not only more expensive but they often have hidden ingredients that might not do you much good. I like the fact that making your own stuff is now coming into more people's awareness because it makes more sense on every front. It's all the chicken nuggets that are making kids fat. You don't have to be wealthy to make your own cake, in fact, I would say that you can have more home made cake for your money once you know how to do it and find out how easy it is.
Go suck a lemon!
what/who is a "Real Mum" when she's at home?
It is cheaper to buy some foodstuffs ready made but when it comes to the taste I know which I prefer. Same as anything, you get what you pay for, cheap generic mince pies taste awful compared to homemade, the taste gap is closer with the premium products but by this time the price gap has also closed or even gone the other way.
It is cheaper and quicker to buy generic bland products but as with most things, you get what you pay for.
I'd happily take the pepsi challenge with a shop bought mince pie and a homemade one, I know which I and most people would prefer. The taste gap would be closer with a mince pie from those wonderfully labelled "premium" product lines but so would the price gap, at this price point the home made one would probably shade it.
I make home made cakes with my son all the time. It's a piece of, erm, cake. What's the problem?
I agree with the other comments. What a nasty, mean-spirited article this is. Home baking is a nice, fun, and most importantly cheap thing to do, which brings the family together and educates young children about how food is made.
Sounds like the writer is more interested in getting away from her own family to spend time at the shops or the wine bar.
"We’re teetering on the edge of financial abyss and they’re getting in a lather about the shape of shortbread."
And what are you writing about Deanna? Articles published in the last couple of months: Two seperate whinges about TV presenters and programmes you don't like. Two articles about expensive shops and hotels in London (why that is covered in the Manchester Evening News, I have no idea). Nine articles about X Factor. An article about lipstick and eyeliner. An article about the best places to drink in... London again. A moan about how other people besides yourself go to Blackpool to try to enjoy themselves and a complaint about Coronation Street.
So while you complain about the likes of Kirstie Allsopp fiddling while Rome burns, you are equally guilty of doing the same. You have free remit on your comment page to tackle whatever issues you deem worthy, yet all your troubles seem to revolve around what is on the telly. How about switching it off for a week and see what else of actual consequence you could write about.
I'm not a fan of Miss Allsopp, but if I saw her programme, I might come away for it with a fancying for a cake. All I'm left with after reading this latest insignt into your world is a bitter taste in my mouth.
Deanna, you must have been dragged up as a child. Buy this, buy that - it's all about the money with some people. If you can't put a price on it, it mustn't be worth doing. Well I've got news for you, you sad urchin - making stuff with the kids/grandkids is what Christmas is all about. As others have said - its all about the memories.
Here's to your lonely care home future, Deanna, dreaming everyday of Fatima Whitbread.....
'We’re teetering on the edge of financial abyss'-
Good thought, you best start writing decent articles then before you find yourself brutally affected by the so called ‘she-cession’ as well.