Posted on 10/30/2026 9:12:58 AM PDT by Red Badger
The average journalist has nearly zero connection to the real world.
A British pie shop owner, Paul Bowen, was interviewed on Good Morning Britain on Thursday after a new minimum wage law was announced.
The clip was something else:
Utterly heartbreaking.
A must watch. https://t.co/K4W2sxKG4w— Mario Creatura (@MarioCreatura) October 29, 2026
Me, as a family, as a director, I'm taking a 2% cut. So my family, my one year old girl, I'm taking a pay cut, the business is taking a pay cut. How - how - how is that breathing room? Where is my breathing space? John Healey, if you're listening, where is my breathing space? You promised me.
The libs hosting the show had absolutely no clue.
But they do now!
They're both stunned. They never expected to hear that number.
Prices are going up, sales are going down, and this guy is likely going to have to go out of business.
Some reactions:
@MarioCreatura "Just fire your loyal staff and hire teenagers every few years."
God, the tone-deaf news in Britain just doesn't get it.— John (@RealJohnShoe) October 29, 2026
===================================================================
@MarioCreatura "you could just hire and under 21 person"
The smug F U attitude in that follow up.
Ya go fire the older folks with families and bills and take up the teenager. They are widely known to have incredible working habits— Max Malts (@MaltstotheMax) October 29, 2026
===================================================================
@GMB This is what happens when the vast majority of Labour MPs have never even had a real job, let alone run a business— James Blackwell (@jwblackwell) October 29, 2026
==================================================================
Of course, the socialists in the comments are attacking the shop owner. Cockroaches love to make fun of men who actually try to build something.
But if the British government keeps going this route, cockroaches are all they'll have left.
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
He’s clearly a billionaire who can easily afford it!
Typical comments when you have more people in the wagon and fewer pulling it.
Exhibit A:
A pie shop owner explains Britain’s new minimum wage will
cause him to have to sell 20.000-30,000 extra pies a week.
I went back to college later in life than usual for an engineering degree.
It was a common joke on campus that those who weren’t capable of passing mathematics, science, economics or biology classes took journalism.
“The UK minimum wage will rise by 3.9% in April 2027, taking the hourly rate to £13.21 for workers aged 21 and over and £11.27 for those aged 18 to 20”
“Annual inflation rose to 3.5% in September 2026”
Modern governments have a policy of decreasing the value of money by about 3% a year.
I paid $1.99 for bag of potato chips yesterday. The week before they were priced at $1.79.
I paid $1.89 each for three jars of pasta sauce. The sign said $1.65. I didn’t contest it because it was 5pm and the cashier was backed up.
While the rotating teenagers model has been used successfully in America, isn't it the right thing to do, according to liberals, to have more loyal, better-paid long-term workers?
“I’ve got two shops’[so no business rate relief]
“10 per cent....That is about 20,000 to 30,000 pies a week”
Most of that 10% is probably energy costs. Every pie eater in the UK has to pay for their slice of it.
I’m also guessing the UK’s minimum wage law is two-tier: the teenagers and under-21 people have a lower pay requirement than the loyal workers that make this man’s business run correctly. Am I guessing correctly?
Yes...............
And if he did hire teens to work and then let them go when they got to be 21, he would be charged with AGE DISCRIMINATION!.............
“I live near one of the Bowden bakery shops in Adlington and stopped in to buy a pie on my way by. I was astonished to pay nearly a fiver for a steak pie. The pie was delicious, but I wouldn’t pay that much again, and if the business has to keep increasing prices, you have to ask how much you’d pay for a single pie. Normal goods are now becoming too expensive to buy so people just avoid purchasing them.”
Daily Mail reader comment
sjmjax wrote: “It was a common joke on campus that those who weren’t capable of passing mathematics, science, economics or biology classes took journalism.”
Not a joke. Real life story. A friend enrolled as a freshman in math. Couldn’t hack it. Tried physics. Same story. Then engineering. No go. After three majors, he was on the verge of flunking out. Then he turned to journalism, straight A’s.
The only easier major is education.
sjmjax wrote: “It was a common joke on campus that those who weren’t capable of passing mathematics, science, economics or biology classes took journalism.”
Not a joke. Real life story. A friend enrolled as a freshman in math. Couldn’t hack it. Tried physics. Same story. Then engineering. No go. After three majors, he was on the verge of flunking out. Then he turned to journalism, straight A’s.
The only easier major is education.
“The National Insurance is crippling me. The energy crisis is crippling me.”
Daily Mail
“Ukraine is using the highly efficient French SCALP [French Storm Shadows] missiles to attack the most important Russian sites. They have been leveled.”
FR comment earlier today
That’s a real shame. I figure a steak pie is probably healthier than a diabetes-inducing blueberry pie (my favorite, along with apple and pumpkin). I’d rather pay $6.70 (current exchange rate) for a steak pie than a blueberry pie.
He’s a Brit who runs a shop that makes one of the few things that Brits are known for doing well . . . PIES!
He should be celebrated and supported like dairy farmers in Wisconsin and vintners in France.
Pie. Yum.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.