Britain is the only G-7 nation whose GDP is still lower than before the pandemic— no more does it seem like the 6th richest country in the world, as its economic performance comes to resemble that of an Eastern European country with an emerging economy. Government figures show the following:
+ the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose by 11.1% in October, a 41-year high,
+ the UK’s top energy companies are set to make almost $200bn/$245bn in excess profits over the next 2 years. In the same time energy bills are set to rise to their highest levels in 40 years causing a cost of living crisis. Average bills for electricity and home-heating natural gas have doubled in the last year and are expected to rise further in April. The government does nothing about this bare-faced price gouging,
+ the purchasing power of the pound decreased by 13.20% in 2022 compared to 2021, fuelling a resulting rise in import prices,
+ 1 in 6 British households rely on some form of social welfare,
+ almost a third of British children live in poverty,
+ the number of children eligible for government-funded free school meals is just under 25%,
+ 1in 4 households are in financial difficulty or on the verge of it,
+ almost 1 in 10 households have failed to pay bills,
+ in the 12 months to March 2022, 2.1m emergency food parcels were distributed by a continuously expanding web of more than 2,000 food banks — an increase of approximately 1 million from 2014-15, according to the food-bank organizing charity, the Trussell Trust. This need is driven by spiraling food and energy prices (the price of cooking oil and pasta, for example, has risen 60% in the last year), and plunging wages.
+the sharp decline in public services and public sector wages has ensued in months of industrial strikes by train workers, postal workers, London bus drivers, university teachers and staff, paramedics and ambulance drivers, road workers, workers at Heathrow airport, passport and visa staff, courthouse staff, with nurses due to have their first ever strike beginning on 15 December. This has all the makings of a general strike as the winter starts to intensify.
The Tory government blames the war in Ukraine and the pandemic for causing these problems, without however fooling too many Brits as people realize several other countries have also had to deal with the consequences of the war and the pandemic.
Taken from here
The Twilight Zone of the UK’s Holographic Politics - CounterPunch.org
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