Category: Politics

The time for action is now

~ Shaun ~ Leave a comment

1/ Having been promised an energy price freeze, millions will be shocked when hit with a 25% rise in fuel bills in October. 5 million kids risk being pushed into poverty, with charities having to stop feeding the hungry so they can help the starving. We have to act. [THREAD]

2/ After a summer of doing nothing the government has finally done nowhere near enough. Things are so bad that @Human_Relief which has spent 30 years focused entirely on aid to the world’s poorest countries, has opened a food bank in Birmingham.

3/ In June, Rishi Sunak gave households on universal credit £1,200 a year for fuel bills. But he’d already taken £1,000 a year from them, whilst benefits rose by just 3.1% as inflation hit 10%. Once the October fuel bills land, this will leave them £1,450 a year worse off.

4/ The low paid get just £550 in government help, despite facing £1,300 rise in fuel bills not to mention other costs. Families with more than 2 children are even worse off as the flat-rate payment gives them just £2.60 a week per person for a couple with 3 kids.

5/ It’s no longer the welfare state that’s the last line of defence but charities. And yet charities find themselves broke. Compassion isn’t running out but cash is. Churches are worried they won’t be able to afford to heat their halls for those who cannot heat their homes.

6/ The reversal of the NI rise will give £1,800 to the richest and just £7.66 a year to the poor. The gap between rich and poor continues to widen as the government lavishes billions on the already wealthy at the expense of the new poor.

7/ The removal of the bankers’ bonus cap, corporation tax cuts and the rejection of a further windfall tax will mercilessly underline that a winter of destitution is coming for millions not because we are a poor country but because we are an ever more unequal one.

8/ The coming battle must be against poverty, not against the poor. You cannot rely on a heartless government having a change of heart, but concerted action by the public can force a change of mind. The time for action is now.

A superb thread from Gordon Brown. Just superb. What we saw today was the scariest moment yet in the current Conservative reign. I cannot believe what they are doing to the poorest in our society.

Don’t…

~ Shaun ~ Leave a comment

Don’t use heating.
Don’t cook hot food.
Don’t expect a pay rise.
Don’t fall ill.
Don’t need a dentist.
Don’t swim in the sea.
Don’t use trains.
Don’t use airports.
Don’t bother reporting crime.
Don’t expect justice.
Don’t attempt to protest.
Life in Tory Britain in 2022.

The above was tweeted here. It sounds like a joke, but the sad reality is that every single line is evidenced by what is currently happening in the UK at the moment. Our government has literally impacted every important aspect of our lives in either a negative or devastating way.

And why are they not doing anything to help? The following article may help answer that question.

Why aren’t the Tories doing more to address the Cost of Living Crisis? That’s the question I keep coming back to. They must know it’s about to bite. They must know it’s not just going to swallow a few plebby, disabled people and/or the dependents of the poor souls who shine their shoes. In the same way the Housing Crisis started off “only” impacting the working class on the checkouts or your postman or bus drivers – and now engulfs the children of middle and the upper middle class also…

And one more thing, a look at why dividends are so damaging to the UK economy at the moment. It is a brilliant thread-

The UK ‘will’ descend into anarchy this Winter if nothing is done very soon

~ Shaun ~ Leave a comment
man wearing gas mask standing beside store facade
Photo by LT Chan on Pexels.com

Dear @Conservatives Just choose one of them. They are both awful. There isn’t a right choice. We’re just sick of hearing about it. See you at the next general election. Lots of love, Everyone else… tweeted here.

For those of you now in the UK we have a leadership election going on which won’t finish until the start of September.

Looking ahead to winter is frightening.

I’ve met pensioners who have no idea how they’ll heat their homes. Parents who will have to skip meals so their kids can eat.

The Tories are too busy fighting each other to notice.

Labour has a plan that meets the scale of this crisis… tweeted here.

And we finally have some words from the leader of the opposition, Keir Starmer.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is on holiday for the second time in a couple of weeks. He is currently the Prime Minister, he has said he will make no decisions and he is finishing his premiership as he began it by not giving a damn about the British people.

So many questions such as who wears a suit on holiday? Who leaves a basket for someone else to pick up and how arrogant do you have to be to be on holiday while the majority of the British population can see what is coming down the track very soon?

The prediction for energy bills means that millions will simply NOT be able to pay to keep warm. They will not be able to afford food either or at the very least it will be a choice of eating or heating which is sadly becoming a bit of a cliche already.

When you have a situation where so many in the population will lose all of their savings, get credit defaults for not paying fuel bills, go hungry, go cold and be completely miserable you can expect anger to grow very quickly.

When you have two disinterested candidates trying to be Prime Minister over a period of many weeks while a zombie government does nothing, the anger starts before Winter arrives.

Throw in a Prime Minister who is showing complete disdain for the British public and we all start to worry about what is coming down the line. Those with money will be affected if there are riots, if millions don’t pay their bills and if the country becomes more angry and violent.

It does not take a genius to understand that if nothing is done there could be a very serious situation about to occur in the UK and that, even worse, it may already be too late.

There is only one solution to this and that is to put a block on the huge energy bills we have incoming. Fix that and we blunt inflation, lesson interest rate rises and get some time to get things resolved for the long run. The problem is that politicians only do what suits them in the short term, but I do believe this is the only solution.

A left-out generation that will never recover from the scars

~ Shaun ~ Leave a comment
man in blue denim jeans sitting beside white short coat dog
Photo by MART PRODUCTION on Pexels.com

The reality is grim and undeniable: a financial timebomb will explode for families in October as a second round of fuel price rises in six months sends shockwaves through every household and pushes millions over the edge. A few months ago, Jonathan Bradshaw and Antonia Keung at York University estimated that April’s 54% increase in fuel prices would trap 27 million people in 10m households in fuel poverty. Now, 35 million people in 13m households – an unprecedented 49.6% of the population of the United Kingdom – are under threat of fuel poverty in October… More here.

It is truly shocking what is happening in the UK at the moment because literally nothing is happening to stop the disaster that is coming this Winter. The government is paralysed by infighting and a silly election for the next Prime Minster who will be voted for by 0.3% of the population. Johnson has been on holiday as has the Chancellor and they simply do not care.

Financiers and insurers are getting +10% pay rises while those who keep the country going are at approx 3% and big business is taking more rights away from workers every day without any consequence. I really don’t want to moan, but seriously. This has all gone on for way too long!