Back in 2023, “cozzie livs” – a playful abbreviation of ‘cost of living crisis’ – was named the 2023 ‘Word of the Year’. And it might just make a comeback, two years later.
Our benefits-slashing, chainsaw-wielding Chancellor might boast that UK inflation is cooling off (don’t hold your breath, Rachel). But the official figures obscure the real picture on the ground.
Ordinary working people are being pushed to breaking point. And the ruling class has more anguish in store for us in the coming months.
Water bills are set to surge by a staggering 26 percent, while asset-stripping shareholders and thieving bosses pocket billions in dividends and bonuses. Meanwhile, sewage is pumped into our rivers and beaches, and infrastructure is left to rot.
And while many renters live in overcrowded, mouldy flats, private sector rents soared by 8.7 percent in 2024. One in five tenants now hand over more than half their income to their landlord. Even a medieval serf would blush at such a fleecing!
It gets worse. Energy prices are set to rise by around 9 percent next month. Even before this, more than four in ten adults are using less energy because they struggle to afford it.
Rail fares, council tax, car insurance, groceries – you name it, it’s going up.
And if you can’t afford all of this, or end up on the scrap heap because of Britain’s stagnant economy, don’t expect the welfare state to give you a leg up.
The Chancellor’s upcoming Spring Statement is set to cut billions from the welfare bill, to shovel money to much more important things…like lining the pockets of arms manufacturers.
As a sop to workers, Labour are increasing the national minimum wage next month. But with prices going up left, right, and centre, this will feel more like a direct transfer of wealth to the billionaire class. Many will be asking themselves: what’s the point?
Rich vs poor
While we’re being ground into a pulp – forced to live a hand-to-mouth existence – the oligarchs at the top have never had it so good.
According to the Forbes ‘2024 Billionaires List’, there are now more billionaires than ever: 2,781 in total. And they’re richer than ever. Their total wealth has increased to £11 trillion, up by £1.5 trillion from 2023. The planet’s 20 richest people alone increased their net worth by £540 billion.
Just like Karl Marx wrote over a century ago: “Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole.”
The super-rich are taking us for a ride. This insane level of inequality makes the ancien régime of 18th century France look like an egalitarian utopia in comparison. And we all know what happened there…
On that note, the spectre of mob revolt is haunting the more far-sighted elements of the capitalist class.
A recent study by King’s College London, based on a panel of business leaders and senior government figures, found that “growing wealth inequality could be a major driver of societal collapse in the UK within the next decade”.
Or as the Financial Times once put it: “It is just a matter of time before the pitchforks come out for capitalism itself, and for the wealth of those who benefit from it.”
This is the mood of grim foreboding that has gripped a section of the ruling class. They can see that the train is about to derail, but they are powerless to prevent it. Their meek calls to ‘tax the rich’ and ‘restore faith in democracy’ are falling on deaf ears.
There is no light on the horizon for these ladies and gentlemen – only the dark storm clouds of capitalist catastrophe.
Eight months ago, the British capitalists’ trusted representative, Sir Keir Starmer, sauntered into Number 10 promising a return to stability, and above all growth.
But with geopolitical turmoil, Trump’s protectionist tariffs, and a flatlining economy, these lofty promises feel like a lifetime ago.
2025 marks 500 years since the German Peasants’ War, when the poor and downtrodden stormed the castles and estates of the rich and powerful, proclaiming ‘Omnia Sunt Communia’ – “all things are to be held in common”.
Half a millennium later, and the super-rich are due for another helping of plebeian justice. Pitchforks at the ready!
Record rise in shoplifting reflects rising class resentment
Andy R, Farringdon
The media is currently awash with stories about the rise of shoplifting in the UK, following the publication of the British Retail Consortium’s crime survey for 2023-24.
This found that retail theft increased 25 percent more than the previous year to over 20 million incidents, the highest since records began in 2003.
There’s no doubt that this increase can partially be explained by those shoplifting out of necessity, as capitalism disgracefully fails to meet basic needs, and people are forced to take drastic measures to survive. Criminal gangs are also a factor. But we should add to this list the increased resentment, alienation and anger that is palpable in Britain today, and the societal impact this is having.
As the cost of living intensifies, the wealth in society flows relentlessly upwards, and it becomes clearer and clearer that this system is rigged in favour of the rich and powerful. Is it any wonder that some people are choosing to take something back for themselves?
What’s more, while the capitalists and their mouthpieces are quick to point the finger, it is they themselves who are the real thieves within society! Every day through exploitation, profiteering and tax dodging it is the capitalist class who commit daylight robbery, and the working class which is swindled.
Predictably, the capitalists’ only solution is to spend billions on policing and prisons to ‘keep our high streets safe’. But one day it is the workers who will take control of the economy. And by actually meeting people’s needs through socialist planning, we could reverse this decline and eliminate the cause of most crime in the first place.
Out of work? Don’t worry, you’ll land on your feet
Sam Lovesey, Milton Keynes
Right now, lots of people are facing the prospect of unemployment and will need to apply for Job Seeker’s Allowance which gives them a measly £90 pounds a week (£71 if you’re under 24).
However, if you’re Thangam Debonnaire, recently unseated Labour MP for Bristol West and member of Labour Friends of Israel, you can expect to scoop up a cushy place in the House of Lords, earning £361 every DAY for the rest of your life.
It seems that while Starmer is very happy to cut disability benefits for millions of the country’s most vulnerable people, no expense can be spared for rewarding his establishment chums for a lifelong devotion to serving the ruling class. Not to mention stomping all over our supposed democracy after the people of Bristol declared they don’t want a Zionist to represent them.
When we lose our jobs, life becomes strained as we frantically dash about trying to find a new one before the money runs out.
But if you’re a bourgeois party grandee it appears you can put your feet up in Westminster and grow fat on handouts from the state! Clearly this writhing nest of worms need sweeping into the dustbin where they belong.
