Cost of living crisis
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What an idiot. That’s a dangerous line of argument (for them) for the government to pursue. The unions and their members might put 2 and 2 together and realise that the government’s sanctions against Russia have added considerably to the cost of living crisis. This hasn’t happened here yet as it has in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and even Czechia.
Hopefully they will and so undermine the government stoking the war there by pouring arms into Ukraine.
So by the same logic, the energy companies are more culpable in making windfall profits from the energy crisis, part of which has driven the demand for an increase in the price of labour, which “the idiot” is complaining about.
Am I the only one who thinks that the quality of the capitalist lickspittals known as government ministers is at an all time low?
Perhaps it’s some kind of weird nostalgia but their equivalent from decades ago at least had a little more guile and cunning than these tosspots.
Ironic
NGO Shelter’s go on strike.
Unite union said a 3% pay increase this year had left some of Shelter’s staff unable to pay their rent and very worried about the possibility of becoming homeless themselves.
Unite said Shelter’s reserves last year stood at about £14.5m, substantially higher than its target reserves of £8.9m, and that it was “fully able to make a fair pay offer”.
That reminds me. Not seen anything in the papers about how many people didn’t pay their energy bill on 1 December. I seem to recall the figure of a quarter of a million being bandied about at one point by the organisers of the “strike”.
“257,617 people were pledging to ‘strike’ on 1 December. How many actually did remains to be seen.”
Bet all of the energy companies were shitting themselves, not.
I am still not clear what “striking” was supposed to be. I didn’t pay on 1 December for the simple reason that I hadn’t been sent a bill to pay (I expect it will arrive in January). I suppose it could mean cancelling any direct debit (if you were foolish enough to sign one for your energy company). The consequence of that will be that you, too, will receive in January a paper bill to pay.
So we will need to wait till January to see how many people burn their bill for the last quarter of 2022.
Lavish expense alongside abject poverty in Washington DC:
The number of UK households in arrears on their energy bills soared to record levels in the second quarter of this year, with more than two million behind on their electricity payments.
Data from the energy regulator OFGEM shows that at the end of June, 2,347,511 households were behind on their electricity bills and 1,858,585 on their gas bills. Both totals rose by about a quarter in just three months, and by almost two-thirds since the end of 2020.
I don’t think Don’t Pay can claim all those as “strikers”. The vast majority will be people who simply cannot afford to pay.
On their website they say;
“No individual, no organisation and no political party is coming to save us – it’s up to us to defend our communities and take back power from the profiteers fuelling this crisis.”
Another articles says what they did in 3 December.
But my local council — run by the LibDems also runs such warm spaces:
https://www.richmond.gov.uk/services/cost_of_living_hub/warm_spaces/warm_spaces_charter
After food banks, warm spaces. What an indictment of capitalism, supposedly the only game in town. But it also looks as if “community activism” is not a game in town either. If socialism is impossible, as you claim, the only game would seem to be common or garden reformist politics.
Incidentally, what did you do on 1 December? Cancel your DD or what?
Tessa Khan of Uplift
“This Day of Action is to give a voice to those who want change from this government,” said Khan. “Instead of spending billions of our money subsidizing gas fields and expensive gas imports, which will guarantee bills stay high for years, people want sensible, practical solutions to permanently lower our energy costs.”
“People want those in fuel poverty given the support they need to stay warm this winter; they want help to insulate their homes; and they want this government to unblock onshore renewable energy, which will provide our homes with cheaper energy for years to come,” Khan added. “This is about coming together to tell the government to look after the needs of British people, and not the needs of wealthy oil and gas companies.”
This is about coming together to tell the government to look after the needs of British people, and not the needs of wealthy oil and gas companies.
Oh dear. So this is what playing the only game in town comes down to. Telling the government to look after people’s needs. Pathetic.
Oh dear. So this is what playing the only game in town comes down to. Telling the government to look after people’s needs. Pathetic.
You (and the rest of your cronies) are presumably sufficiently well-heeled, unlike the 2,347,511 households who were behind on their electricity bills and the 1,858,585 households behind on their gas bills at the end of June 2022.
A typical ‘devil take the hindmost’ attitude. Deplorable.
Lizzie’s Game
International Rules
- All nations shall compete against each other—on unequal playing fields.
- National teams shall be selected by the national supporter base—often by democratic poll.
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National players shall be employees of international consortia—which shall shift their national allegiance according to investment returns.
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The supporter base shall not shift its national allegiance—even when its national team loses.
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In compensation, supporters shall sportingly abuse the national team for not delivering at home.
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The supporter base shall believe that next season’s national team will deliver miracles.
Here endeth the international rules of Lizzie’s game—the bread and circus of capitalist economics and politics.
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It is not so much telling “the government to look after the needs of the British(!) people” that is pathetic (even if it is naive) as imagining that the government will or can do this.
That’s not the way capitalism — the so-called only game in town — could work. Its priority is making profits to accumulate as capital. That comes before meeting people’s needs. In fact meeting people’s needs doesn’t even come second as preparing for war (so-called “defence” comes before it.
People’s needs are met to some extent of course but far from adequately while those without an income of their own that is not enough to keep them alive have to rely on meagre government handouts or food banks, warm spaces and other forms of charity.
The fact that so many simply cannot afford to pay for heat and light is an indictment of capitalism and one of the reasons socialists are socialists and why we want to see it replaced by a system based on the common ownership and democratic control of the productive resources on which society survives. Then there can be production directly to satisfy people’s needs and everybody’s needs will be met.
That’s the weakness of your position. You reject, and even deride, this as the way-out. And so end up seeing food banks and warm spaces as the best we can hope for or at least great victories.
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