Crooks & Liars!!

 

Image courtesy of University College London.

        Once again, in this country, we are approaching what they call elections, what I prefer to call "National Crooks and Liars" competition. Having been aware of these competitions since my teens and now 90 years old it is obvious to see the pattern. The contestants raise themselves into a frenzy, spouting the most barefaced lies with such conviction as they can muster, wear a particular colour tie to denote which camp they are aiming to be part of hoping for a lucrative job and fat pay check with pension and expenses.

       Flunkies leading the Crooks and Liars to their new lucrative job.

                                                      Image courtesy of The Guardian.

          You have all heard the lies and should know them off by heart. "We will end child poverty in X number of years", "We will end the scourge of poverty across our land in X number of years". There other favourite lies they like to spin, "We will end homelessness in X number of years by building X number of house every year." Of course after the "Crooks and Liars Competition" is over things settled down to the usual backhanders to friends and cronies, double dealing and second and third jobs with the various companies that bought them during the competition to safeguard their wealth and profit making. So where does that leave you and I, well as usual right where we always end up, struggling for a decent life.

         The following information is taken from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2024 report.
            Poverty has increased, close to pre-pandemic levels
2021/22 22% approximately 1 in 5 UK population were living in poverty, that accounts for 14.4 million people.
Among them 8.1 million working age adults app 2 in 10 living in poverty. 4.2 million children (app. 3 in every 10)
It has been almost 20 years and 6 prime ministers since the last prolonged period of falling poverty
          In the 1980s, under the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher, there was then an unprecedented rise in poverty even at a time of high income growth, This has not been reversed, meaning current levels of poverty are around 50% higher than they were in the 1970s. 

            Lots of people will give reasons for The Thatcher push to poverty, but rest assure none of these reasons were for the benefit of the ordinary people.
          So, with these facts in mind, do you think it is worth bothering to support any of those in this ridiculous charade of "Crooks and Liars" Competition??

 

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

Unfair.

 

 

            GREAT Britain, well I suppose it all depends on which side of the fence you sit. To the ordinary citizen of Great Britain the the word GREAT is a joke. Every day we have more reports of buildings with crap RAAC concrete all nearing the end of their lives, from schools, hospitals, public buildings and who know what else. We have an education system in meltdown, a transport system that is not fit for purpose, a health service that is falling apart at the seams, poverty is on the rise, homelessness is on the rise, child poverty is on the rise. More and more families depend on food banks and can't afford to heat their homes, while struggle endlessly to pay their way. We have social services that fail miserably to look after the elderly, infirm and those in need.

                                            Image courtesy of Trussell Trust.

            However, on the other side of the fence in GREAT Britain, the millionaire/billionaire class has added unimaginable amounts to their personal wealth. Large corporations are roping in mountains in profit and handing out millions to their CEO and their shareholders. Great Britain, a divided society with opulence, privileges and power for the few, and a harsh struggle with poverty and deprivation always a close neighbour for the many, who know all to well that there is nothing GREAT in these conditions.

 Image courtesy of Compensation Cafe.

          All this happens with our consent, we pay the managers of the system to handle our affairs and this is the hand they deal us. They won't change the system as it benefits them and their cronies immensely. If we want to change the system, then it is up to us the ordinary people. We must in solidarity, take control of our communities, our workplaces, our towns and cities and bring this insanity that spawns poverty, inequality and gross injustice, crashing down, we can build a better world if that is what we really want.

                                      Image courtesy of Economic Policy Institute.

Visit ann arky at https://spiritofrevolt.info      

Rising??

  Food for thought as we face a winter of cold and hunger, midst abundant wealth.

 “Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture...
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away...”- 

 Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet

 

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Lies.

          We all know that politicians lie, they lie with ambiguous statements, phoney predictions and promises they have no way or intentions of delivering. At the moment the BIG lie is inflation, they have just announced that inflation is running at the highest for 41 years at 11.1%. Of course if you are one of the very many millions who struggle to make ends meet, then the picture is a little bit different. You will obviously spend more of your income on food than the likes of Rishi Sunak and Jeremey Hunt, who will have no problem with inflation. However you are facing a food inflation rate of 16.2%. Even that is not the true figure for the vast majority of the population, who spend the biggest part of their income on the basics, they are facing something in the region of 30% inflation. The poorest always pay to keep the financial Mafia happy.

 

Image courtesy of The Independent.

 

  The following figures explain this.
        The inflation rate over the previous year for the following is eye watering;

         Low-fat milk up 47.9%
         Margarine up 42.1%
         Pasta up 34%
         Sauces and spices up 33.2%
         Oils and fats up 33.2%
         Butter up 29.7%
         Flour and cereals up 28.1%
         Cheese up 27.1%
         Eggs up 22.3%
         Jams and honey up 22.2%

        How do these figures relate to you and the so called inflation rate of 11.1%
      Don't you think we have had enough of the lies, austerity and exploitation of this economic system of greed with milk and honey for the few and a little bread and perhaps a scrap of margarine for the rest of us.

 

Image courtesy of Evening Standard.

 

 

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Liz.

           

 Image by Nate Kitch courtesy of The Economist.

     So Liz Rustbust has resigned with a helping shove from her party. The pantomime goes on, time for the next act, electing another prime minister from the bunch of self interested crooks and liars that have heaped misery and anguish on the ordinary people of this country. All this is done with the people not having any say in the matter. If there is anybody out there who thinks this will improve our living conditions, I suggest they see a psychiatrist immediately. We are in for more misery, poverty, evictions and homeless no matter on what head the stick their crown. 

Image courtesy of Sports Think Tank.

        2022 in the UK, one of the world's richest countries and millions are facing poverty and destitution. Wealth abounds with a handful of people living in obscene opulence, while 4 million kids live with food insecurity. Of the UK population 1 in 7 go without regular meals, the proportion is the same for those working or not working. More than 50% of the population are cutting back on heating, hot water and electricity. 1 in 4 households with kids are experiencing food insecurity, up 50% since April. Millions of kids will go hungry this winter, and millions of families are facing a struggle to get basic needs. All this before the next round of fuel increases. Interest rateare rising, exposing people to the threat of eviction, inflation is running at 10.1% and rising and our new Chancellor, though he may not be there for long, is promising tax increases and spending cuts and considering not raising benefits in line with inflation. This puts a vast swath of our population into Dickensian poverty, impoverished health and stunted kids.

                                          Image courtesy of International Boat.

       When has it ever been much better for the ordinary people of this country, through the centuries the public has struggled for a decent life, while that small elite bunch of parasites have lived a life of milk and honey, all at our expense. How much longer will we tolerate this gross injustice, how much longer will we see our kids go hungry in the midst of abundance? There is a better way to shape our society, but first we must take control of all our workplaces and our communities and fashion them to see to the needs of all our people. We don't need capitalist billionaire parasites to tell us how we wish to live, they need us to keep them in their bubble of opulence. 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info   

Organise.

          I sometimes wonder if the general public in the UK are fully aware of the tsunami that is thundering towards them. There is the energy price increase which will kill hundreds of elderly and infirm, their is the cut to universal credit, which will plunge thousands more into poverty, then there is the increase in National Insurance payments that will cut the wages of the poorest the hardest. On top of that, those in need of special care are being hit by a care system that is in dire crisis. All this while the bank accounts of millionaires and billionaires grow ever fatter and fatter. Of course it is not all being taken lying down, Stagecoach bus drivers are taking strike action over pay, care workers who have struggled to do their job under the most adverse conditions, under staffed and under paid, have decided to march to the Tory Party conference in Manchester to vent their anger.

    Before the national insurance and energy price hikes and before the slash at the universal credit, in the year 2019/20 11.7 million people, 18% of the population in the UK were in the "relative low income" category.

        Some facts and figures on Poverty in this country, one of the richest countries in the world:

The facts and figures show the reality of child poverty in the UK.

• There were 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2019-20.1 That's 31 per cent of children, or nine in a classroom of 30.2
• 49 per cent of children living in lone-parent families are in poverty.3 Lone parents face a higher risk of poverty due to the lack of an additional earner, low rates of maintenance payments, gender inequality in employment and pay, and childcare costs. 
• Children from black and minority ethnic groups are more likely to be in poverty: 46 per cent are now in poverty, compared with 26 per cent of children in White British families.4
• Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. 75 per cent of children growing up in poverty live in a household where at least one person works.5
• Children in large families are at a far greater risk of living in poverty – 47 per cent of children living in families with 3 or more children live in poverty.6 

 

         These figures are all before the present tsunami of energy price increase, and cuts, not to mention the pandemic, hits the public at large. No working class family will escape these hammer blows to their standard of living, what can we do about it? We can take a leaf out of the Stagecoach bus drivers and organise strike action, we can organise in solidarity with the care workers and take our righteous anger on to the streets. We can organise in our communities and work places to take control and shape society the way we want it, a society that sees to the needs of all our people. We don't need the millionaire/billionaire parasites and their bedfellows, prancing political ballerinas, that army of pampered privileged parasites that hold the reins of power over our lives, all to their own advantage. We don't need them, they need us, dump them, we can make a better world without them.

 

 WE THE LABOURING MASSES.

We the people have, every brick laid,
have fed the world with sweat and spade,
every instrument played in every band
created by the skill of the craftsman's hand.
We made every truck and every load,
our toil our effort every winding road,
every ship that ever sailed the sea,
our power our imagination made it be.
Cities and towns large and small,
our labouring hands fashioned them all,
every home, every spire,
luxury mansion or humble byre.
No matter what dreams the mind might spawn
without labour's hand, never see the light of dawn,
without labour's strength and labour's skill,
we would be foraging beasts in a jungle still.

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Failed System.

            The rich developed West, overflowing with wealth, a parasite class living in obscene opulence side by side with outrageous child poverty. The UK, 5th or 6th richest nation on the planet belongs to that unique club where child poverty is above 26%, we are in keeping with other countries that fail miserably to see to the health and welfare of the next generation. In that rich conglomerate of nation states belonging to the world's largest trading block, the EU, (I know that UK is no longer a member, but these figures were compiled shortly before we left.) there are 12 nation states where child poverty is above 26%, with Bulgaria and Romania champions of European child poverty, with Bulgaria at approximately 46% and Romania approximately 49%.

 

 
          This is modern capitalism at work, luxury yachts, grand mansions, tax havens, power and privileges for a small band of leeching parasites and struggle and poverty for the many with children bearing the blunt of this greed driven system of exploitation for profit.
         Large corporations dictate economic policy to the various governments and they put the stamp of legitimacy on them, then enforce the implementation on the population, all to the detriment of the people and the benefit of the corporate parasite class.
         Child poverty will remain with us as long as we tolerate this capitalist system where the holy grail is the economy, where the only reason for any form of production is for profit. Common sense tells us that it would by much better and fairer for all in society, if we built it round a state free public ownership and co-operatives, organised by the communities in co-operation with each other, and all free from the profit motive. However don't expect our prancing political ballerinas and their corporate paymasters to arrange that for you, that task will have to be up to us, to throw their rule book in the bin and take control and shape society to see to the needs of all our people, only then will we see child poverty turn into something your read about in the history books.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk  

Tomorrow!

      Artists paint pictures, so do poets and writers, but figures can also paint a picture. So let's take some figures and try to paint a picture of what lies ahead of us in the UK after covid19 .
         Bank of England unemployment predictions, 2019 3.8%, 2020 8.6% 2021 11.0%
Another prediction:
Unemployment could hit 15 per cent in UK hit by second coronaviruswave

Dark picture even before covid19:

       March 2020 An extra 1.5 million children will have been pitched into poverty by 2021 as a consequence of the government’s austerity programme, according to a study of the impact of tax and benefit policy by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

      The EHRC study forecasts dramatic increases in poverty rates among children in lone parent and minority ethnic households, families with disabled children and households with three or more children. There are clear winners and losers from austerity tax and benefits changes since 2010, the study says. The regressive nature of the policies means that low-income families have been hit hardest: the poorest fifth will lose 10% of income by 2021, while the wealthiest fifth will see little or no change.

After covid19: 

COVID-19 Impact: 50 per cent of UK households believe they will struggle to meet their financial commitments over the next three months.
       In the first three weeks after the UK government introduced the ‘lockdown’, an estimated 7 million households (a quarter of all households in the UK) had lost either a substantial part or all of their earned income as a consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. The immediate consequences of the crisis for UK households are seen in the large numbers (28 per cent) who were experiencing financial difficulties. An estimated 3.1 million households were in serious financial difficulty and a further 4.8 million households were clearly struggling to make ends meet. Anxiety about money was widespread, with half of all householders saying that thinking about their financial situation made them anxious.
Key findings:

• 3.1 million households are in serious financial difficulty
• 4.8 million households are struggling to make ends meet
• 7 million have lost a significant part of their earnings
• 7.7 million households anticipate some fall in income in the next 3 months
• 10.4 million households are potentially exposed financially
  

On housing: 

• Of those in serious financial difficulty, 64% are renting
• 31% are home owners
  

      These are some of the findings from a national COVID-19 financial impact tracker published by Standard Life Foundation, which were analysed by the University of Bristol’s Emeritus Professor Elaine Kempson, and Christian Poppe at Oslo Metropolitan university.  
      Professor Kempson will be leading the series of monthly surveys, designed to track the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 crisis on household economies. The analysis and reporting is being undertaken by Bristol in collaboration with other researchers, including academics at Oslo Metropolitan University.You can download the full report here.

      Theeconomic fallout of the pandemic could leave 1.1 million more people below the pre-Covid poverty line at year end, including a further 200,000 children, according to analysis released today (Thursday) by the IPPR think tank.

      Well there's a picture of tomorrow, do you feel that it is as it should be, or do you accept that the capitalist system has failed, as usual, to see to the needs of the ordinary people? If so, what are we going to do about its failure? Reformed is impossible, remove is the only answer.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Not News!

    This is just a wee blast from the recent past. I penned this about three years ago, but felt I wanted to spout it all again, as it is a train of thought that never leaves my mind. "When will we ever learn"

Too Old For The News.

    Something about living a long time, news never seems like news. Recently the Joseph Rowntree Foundation announced that almost one third of the UK population are living on an inadequate income. In its statement it said that during 2014-15, approximately 19 million people were surviving on less than the Minimum Income Standard (MIS). Mired in that 19 million group of desperate people are six million children, roughly 45% of all UK children, and 1.8 million pensioners. These depressing figures are up from six years ago when they were quoted as, 15 million, or 25% of the population.  

       Why do I not see this as news? Well has it ever been other? It is just bubble gum and candy floss to plaster across that babbling brook of bullshit, our mainstream media. Through the years, as I have seen governments come and governments go, I have been reading figures like this. Under one government the figures improve slightly under the next they deteriorate, so we switch governments again, and the process goes boringly but brutally on its destructive way. Yes we the ordinary people wrestle small gains here and there, but slice by slice they are taken away from us, and we have to start all over again in the constant struggle to try and get a decent standard of living. Poverty has soared and then slightly abated, homeless has grown and then slightly abated, child poverty has increased and then slightly abated. However, none of these problems have ever been addressed  and solved. Nor can they, the system is incapable of solving these problems, or surely it would have done so by now. Have no illusions, the system has the wealth and the resources to sort it all out, but doesn't. Based on the profit motive, these problems are actual results of the system, a few must gain while the majority must lose, that's capitalism. So if you wish to see that 45% of UK children ceasing to be a statistic on a poverty scale, if you wish to see those 1.8 million pensioners live the remainder of their lives in reasonable comfort, don't ask for better allowances, organise to destroy the system that is responsible for these statistics of misery and anxiety. We must accept that it is a class war, and at the moment we are losing, but we have the numbers, the ability, the resources and the imagination, to turn that tide and be the winners of that better world for all.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Vultures Don't Feed Lambs.

       The Mirror newspaper published an article recently, and I wonder why, perhaps they thought it was "news". What the Mirror doesn't seem to realise is that every ordinary person in the UK knows that poverty has rise sharply. Every ordinary person in the UK knows that child poverty has rise sharply. Every ordinary person in the UK knows that pensioner poverty has rise sharply. Every ordinary person in the UK knows that people with disabilities are finding it harder to make ends meet. So where is the news? It would have been better had they pointed to the real causes and the only remedy, get rid of the economic system that creates these problems.
       They take their facts from a recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation report. The report states that over the last 5 years poverty has increased for pensioners and children. It also states despite rising employment, in-work poverty has also risen, and it doesn't take an economic expert to see this is down to the fact that inadequate pay, hours and/or both these factors. It has now reached the point where more than 50% of the people living in poverty are in a working family, this is up from 39% 20 years ago, now there's capitalist progress for you.

      Other interesting facts from the every day life of people in the UK, there are more than 4,500 people sleeping rough on the streets of England alone. 14 million people here in the UK are living in poverty, an increase of 400,000, over the last 5 years, there are 4 million children living in poverty, an increase of 300,000 over the same period. The report also states that people are more likely to be living in poverty if they are in a family where there is a disabled person or a carer.
     Now try as you may to equate that with one of the richest countries in the world  and a supposed highly developed and civilised country. We live in a society where deprivation and opulence live cheek-by-jowl and the capitalist system has proved over the centuries that it can't remedy this disparity. This inequality has increased and will continue to increase as long as we tolerate a economic system that has as its foundation the creating of wealth for the few at the expense of the many. the building bricks of capitalism is exploitation of the many by the few, and the above figures are not an unavoidable accident, they are an ideological choice, the inevitable consequences of such an economic system. How much longer will we accept the poverty of our friends and family, the stunting of the potential of our children and the abandonment of our elderly, while the perpetrators live a life of obscene opulence with private jets, luxury yachts and  private estates. The remedy is in our own hands, don't expect the vultures to feed the lambs.

   

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Deliberate Avoidable Cruelty Foisted On The Poor And Vulnerable.

     How many facts have to be revealed showing that the inequality and exploitative nature of this capitalist system is also avoidable, cruel, inhumane and downright vicious, before enough of us stand up and state, enough is enough, and bring the whole rotten edifice down.

     Every so often we get little parcels of information of the cruelty built into the system, but they are never brought together to paint the full picture of a society built on avoidable poverty and deprivation with an ongoing attack on the poorest and most vulnerable.

 The following facts gleaned from--

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/life-expectancy-poor-rich-poverty-death-health-lancet-imperial-college-london-a8646946.html

and 

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hunger-food-poverty-insecurity-uk-significant-growing-ministers-mps-dwp-environmental-audit-a8719176.html

 

     Fact, if you live in a poor area of society you are likely to die anything up to 10 years earlier than someone living in a more affluent area.

     Fact, life expectancy among the poorest is declining, contrary to the trend in the more affluent areas.

     Fact, children in the poorest areas are two and a half times more likely to die as children then those from the more affluent areas.

     Fact, there are 2.2 million people in the the UK living in severe food insecurity, the highest reported in Europe.

      Fact, recent Unicef data shows one in five children under 15 live in a home with severe food insecurity, stunting the lives of the poorest children.

      Fact, Philip Alston, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said policies and drastic cuts to social support were entrenching high levels of poverty and inflicting unnecessary misery in the UK, and that Brexit was exacerbating the problem.

      Fact, Emma Revie, chief executive of The Trussell Trust, said: “A failure to address the root causes of poverty has led to soaring need for food banks, with more than 1.3 million food parcels provided to people by our network last year.

       Fact, high living costs, stagnating wages and the rollout of universal credit has led to a steady rise in food insecurity.

       Fact,  The findings, published in the journal Lancet Public Health, also reveals that the life expectancy of England’s poorest women has fallen in the last seven years – having dropped by three months since 2011.

       Fact, findings show that people in the poorest sectors died at a higher rate from all illnesses – but that a number of diseases showed a particularly stark difference between rich and poor, notably respiratory diseases, heart disease, lung and digestive cancers and dementias. 

       Fact, Professor Majid Ezzati, senior author of the research from Imperial’s School of Public Health, said: “Falling life expectancy in the poorest communities is a deeply worrying indicator of the state of our nation’s health, and shows that we are leaving the most vulnerable out of the collective gain.

       Fact,  Researchers said this showed that poorer people in England were dying from diseases that can be prevented and treated, and that greater investment in health and social care in the most deprived areas, as well as industry action to make healthy food choices more affordable, would help reverse the trends.

       Fact,  “Working income has stagnated and benefits have been cut, forcing many working families to use foodbanks. The price of healthy foods like fresh fruit and vegetables has increased relative to unhealthy, processed food, putting them out of the reach of the poorest.”

      Fact, “The funding squeeze for health and cuts to local government services since 2010 have also had a significant impact on the most deprived communities, leading to treatable diseases such as cancer being diagnosed too late, or people dying sooner from conditions like dementia.”

        All of the above facts are happening in one of the richest countries in the world. All of the above facts are avoidable. All of the above facts are created by deliberate ideological strategies. None of the above facts are unavoidable accidents. Put all these facts together and ask yourself, is this system worth persisting with, or should it be brought down and replaced with a system of equality, justice and sustainable co-operation that sees to the needs of all our people, a system freed from the corrosive and exploitative motive of profit that benefits a small bunch of pampered and privileged parasites? What does your humanity and intellect tell you?

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Monarch Democracy!!!

       The establishment and its mouthpiece, the mainstream media keep referring to the UK as a democracy, but a democracy with a monarch. This edifice to imperialism may get labelled as a “constitutional monarchy”, but a democracy? I’m sure anyone with a modicum of rationalism must see this as a contradiction, who voted them in, how do you vote the monarch out? Built on that template only an idiot would refer to the UK as a “democracy”. Somewhere else this fantasy democracy falls down is in how it treats it citizens. I would imagine that in a democracy those in most need would receive the most care. Well how does the UK “democracy” fair in that aspect? Well for starters we have lots of privileges heaped on those with lots of money, while at the other end, those in need suffer in poverty. 

         In this UK “democracy” while wealth and plenty is displayed for all to see, it is out of reach for the majority. The fact is that more than 14 million people live in poverty in the UK. Of that army of disadvantaged, 4.5 million are children, while a further 1.4 million are pensioners. Mired in that swamp of avoidable poverty, 7.7 million are deemed to be in persistent poverty, meaning that they have suffered this deplorable condition for four years or more. Then there is those with greater needs, the disabled. Of the unacceptable army of poverty stricken, 6.9 million are in families with a disabled member.
       If you live in this fantasy UK "democracy" and you are a family with a disabled member, you are far more likely to be living in poverty than a family with no disabled member. In fact approximately half of those living in poverty in this land of milk and honey, are disabled, or living with a disabled person.
        Now how do we equate these facts with the word and idea of “democracy? It seems that in this UK fantasy “democracy”, the greater your need the deeper you sink into poverty.
     If we want a "democracy", a real "democracy", we have to get rid of the pompous circus of monarchy and privilege, we have to get rid of the party political system and its inherent corruption, self interest and privileges, we have to dismantle the capitalist system that fosters and is fostered by a brutal, callous, greed driven indifferent drive for profit and growth for the few, at the expense of the many. Or we can continue to live in the self destructive illusion that we are equal participants in a democracy, and that getting shafted is part of the deal.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk