As the cold Scottish weather draws ever closer, we start to think of something Margaret Thatcher said, "society is all about choices". Many of us will be faced with making some of those choices, do we eat, or do we heat? The cruelty and injustice of this system is apparent all around us, all the year long, but in winter it shouts loudest. Thousands of our people die each winter from avoidable cold related illnesses, fuel poverty is a mass killer. It is difficult to imagine why we tolerate this winter killer epidemic in the knowledge that the corporate energy companies are making hundreds of millions of pounds annually. Scottish Power, which is typical of those companies, raised its prices last year by 7%, this year it made over £700 million pre-tax profit, and hand its parent company Iberdrola, almost £900 million. Despite this, they are talking about increasing prices again. That's a lot of money siphoned from us to hand to a bunch of greed driven shareholders, while the price we pay, is living with the mass killer, fuel poverty and the resultant misery and deaths. Like everything in this society, it's not that there isn't enough, it's just that you are excluded, because you can't afford it, be it luxury or necessity. I call it financial apartheid.
The shivering victims are the fuel of the rich. A real shame when you consider that Scotland has its own oil fields. I did not know that the Scots suffer such hardship in winter, it is really unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteMore than one third of children in Scotland live below the poverty line. In some areas in Scotland it is much higher. Where I live, the Springburn area of Glasgow, child poverty is at 52%. A criminal indictment of one of the richest countries in the world.
ReplyDeleteI have translated and published this article on my blog. Many people here in the south believe that everyone in Scotland live and enjoy high social benefits. It should be noted, moreover, that both Spanish and Scots are operated by the same company, Iberdrola, which has now taken over the sun, charging a high fee to all owners of solar panels, whether public or private.
DeleteGreetings and a warm hug to the people of Scotland.