The blogger turned austerity activist has defeated all-comers, from Edwina Currie to internet trolls, on her way to success
The winner of OFMs Blogger of the Year apologises, when we speak, for not blogging all that much in the weeks leading up to our chat. Jack Monroes online diary, about cooking for herself and her young son on a limited budget , got her a Guardian column and publishing deal, transforming this tough, funny 26-year-old from Essex into a post-austerity celebrity feted by many on the left, derided on the right, signed up to appear on Question Time and endorse Sainsburys. Blogging changed her life, so much so that she now sometimes struggles to find time for it. Im not cooking any less, she says, Im just not finding the extra half an hour at the end of the day to sit down and write.
To briefly recap the story Monroe has told to MPs, and even a parliamentary committee collecting accounts of poverty in post-recession Britain: between winter 2011 and spring 2013, she left her job as a fire-station worker in Essex and moved with her young son, Johnny, to Southend. There, out of work, short of cash and stressed, Monroe made inventive use of cheap supermarket goods, spending just £10 a week on food and writing up the recipes on her blog, which quickly found a large audience who related to her story. Fast forward to now and for the first time in a long time, Monroe feels financially and emotionally secure. Which brings its own problems. I feel as though Im expected to apologise for having improved circumstances, she says. People are very supportive when youre the underdog. And as soon as youre no longer the underdog, in peoples eyes, youre no longer worthy of support.
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