From Patriotic Alternative.
Johnny Alba
“Now is the winter of our discontent” is one of the most quoted lines from Shakespeare’s work. Richard the Third was of course talking about the troubles afflicting him and his family. But the present-day elites in Britain would do good to remember this quote as it appears that this winter is going to be one of mass discontent. The elites, as always disconnected from the body of Britain’s population, appear to be blind to the extent of what may be coming.
The Government seems to realise that a crisis is looming, recently they announced that they were preparing for the “reasonable worst case scenario” over the coming winter. The scenario would see below average temperatures coupled with gas shortages forcing authorities to enforce energy saving measures that would see blackouts for industry and the public. Gas prices are continuing to spike ever higher, with the latest forecast by consultancy Auxilione predicting that the price cap on bills will gradually rise by more than £4,000 in the next eight months. They said that the cap is expected to reach £3,576 in October, rising to £4,799 in January, and finally hitting £6,089 in April.
Pushed into poverty
British households are already struggling with the price rises that have hit the British householders over the past few months and for many this is a doomsday scenario that will have dire consequences. According to estimates 10.5 million households, about a third of British households, could be pushed into poverty. Consumers are already facing the worst cost of living crisis in 40 years with inflation hitting 10.1% in the 12 months to July and estimated to peak at 13.1% in the fourth quarter of this year.
The Government have it seems no real idea how to handle this crisis. They have announced that all households will receive a non-repayable grant of £400 from October, with certain sections of society getting slightly more. Given the estimates for the rise in gas bills and inflation will not even scratch the surface of many household’s financial worries, nor does it offer any long term solutions. The Government’s best “strategy” is to throw a bit of money at the problem, close the curtains and hope that it will all turnout alright. The other major parties seem just as clueless about how to solve the problem as the government does. Though a few have come up with alternative plans many are just the same but involving larger sums of money. Potentially racking up more debt for the Nation but still not solving the long-term problem.
Industrial unrest
Britain is facing a wave of industrial unrest as wages fail to keep pace with surging inflation rates and employers fail to offer any reasonable pay rises. We have seen ongoing rail and London tubestrikes,8 days of strike action taking place at the UKs biggest port and a looming mail strike. As winter approaches we are also seeing an already struggling National Health Service potentially being hit by a wave of strike action, as are many councils across the UK. Some Union leaders are already talking of Britain being hit by a General Strike, something we have not seen since 1926.
There is a wave of anger growing across the British Isles, not just amongst Union members but taxpayers and consumers alike. Many are seeing their benefits, pensions and wages devastated by surging inflation, private rents rising to an unaffordable level and their hopes for the future crushed. There is already a Don’t pay movement calling on people to refuse to pay their bills in protest at surging energy prices and massive energy company profits. But this could just be the start of a wave of civil disobedience, harking back to the poll tax protest of the late 80s and early 90s. It is not beyond possibility that we will see a return to violent protests, as we saw in Trafalgar Square in March 1990. When the public are desperate and feel that they have been abandoned and not listened to by the Government things can easily boil over. The State seems unaware of this potential threat but then maybe not as they were quick to settle the recent pay dispute with the police service. Whether they are or not, they still seem either unconcerned or just uncaring about how to go about fixing not just the energy crisis but the many other issues that are slowly tearing apart social cohesion in the UK and building resentments amongst a people losing hope.
The Left are already jumping on the waves of strike action across the UK with the likes of Socialist Worker putting much time and money into supporting the strikers across the UK and rallying people against the main political parties, as they did at the Conservative hustings in Perth recently. Other groups such as the Anarchist Federation are also using the strikes and cost of living crisis to try and reinvigorate their rather moribund organisations and spread their ideology.
Uncaring elite
The Left is correct in their judgement that many of our problems are caused by an uncaring elite that is more interested in short termism, centralisation of decisions and services away from local areas, pushing neo-liberal policies such as mass deregulation and ultra-free market policies, putting the interests of large corporations ahead of the general public and even the SME business sector, which should be the driver of our economy, and promoting their own personal interests ahead of the general populations.
Many thought that Brexit would be what saved the UK but it has not happened and chances for real change resulting from Brexit have so far been squandered by the Government and the other parties.
Britain needs a complete change away from the policies of not just the present Conservative government but all the political mainstream and of course the ever-lurking danger of the Left in the background. Our democracy has been in crisis with parties becoming ever more unaccountable to the electorate, the COVID farce was a god-send allowing them free reign to do whatever they desired and not being accountable.
Alternative needed
There needs to be an alternative for the UK, an alternative that will see the full potential of the much thrown about Brexit phrase “taking back control” actually come to life, not just in taking back control of our own affairs from supra-national organisations such as the EU and the European courts. But also of actually letting the citizens have the right to be the ones in charge of deciding policy and having control over services and policy in their local areas. Britain needs a return to and expansion of localism. Too often policies are made for areas by people far removed geographically from them and with no understanding of the situation on the ground. We have over the years seen a massive decline in community-based organisations and the good work they carried out in the local area, this has partly been another effect of the neo-liberal policies that put the individual above the community. A reinvigoration of community organisations and their involvement in helping the residents of their local areas and influencing local policies would be a great step forward.
A majority of the British population now appear to favour the nationalisation of services such as energy production and distribution, water in England and the railways. Privatisation of these services has certainly not shown the expected benefits to the general public but rather the benefits seem to have flowed to the companies and their international shareholders. Maybe the time has come to look at nationalisation again, it will of course have costs and may not be plain sailing but potentially it could deliver long term benefits to the country.
As Nationalists we need to spend more time addressing these issues, as the Left is doing. The Left is already seeing progress with the ideas of Jeremy Corbyn and his faction again gaining traction. Even the Labour Party, though it is hard to see them as “left” anymore though some still do, is seeing a surge in popularity after the decimation of its vote and party strongholds in recent years.
The core Nationalist platform is caring about the future of our people and our Nation, we need to step up now to fight for the future of our people being devastated by the cost-of-living crisis. We have the opportunity now to increase our support base within many marginalised communities who are being ignored by the government and we shouldn’t squander it. If we can get people onboard now by showing real leadership and new ideas to address this current crisis, it will be easier to get them onboard with other areas of our programs and ideas in the future. We should not squander this opportunity or our Nation’s future.
Winter is coming and it is going to bring discontent, we need to harness that coming discontent and energy to move our Movement forward. We can show people that a real alternative exists to the present political options in the UK and that alternative is the Patriotic Alternative.