Anyone else thinking of going to one of these cost of living protests?

[CalledYouARadical]

I'm very fucked off about my low pay. Our department went to management earlier in the year with a fully thought out rationale for wage increase that got outright rejected. (We are not in a union.) We do difficult sometimes upsetting work with a lot of responsibility for financial decision making for £9.50 an hour, it's a joke.

I saw about these protests on the news and thought I might go along to one, because I am honestly fucked off and struggling. Is this for me though? Would I be surrounded by a bunch of blue haired shouty people? I feel like I've got to do something. Does anyone on Mumsnet go to them? The next one is on 5 March.

thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/

I haven't heard about them before but I would go. Something's got to give, we are managing but have friends who are working 50+ hour weeks and struggling now rent and bills have increased. What is the alternative? People starve or freeze to death?

I am really seriously thinking about it.

So fucked off with the government telling us all we have to borrow £200 off them, as though that's a solution.

I have a ds who is 18. At some point over the next five years he is very likely going to be having to pay back some or all of the £200 on whatever property he ends up living in. And I will also be paying back the £200. So in a household that earns fuck all we'll end up owing more money to the government than they 'lent' us, and that's supposed to be a solution?

It's just shit.

I'm not sure what the solution is. It's not just in GB that energy, fuel, and other costs are rising. If you want the government to help, the end result will be that taxes go up, as the benefits have to be paid for some how. If you want wages to go up, the cost of goods and services will rise.

I think the best option for the rise in energy prices though is a windfall tax on energy suppliers - though that's only a short term solution.

I admit I don't know the ins and outs of all the finances.

But I do know that £9.50 buys me fuck all. My weekly bus ticket alone is £18, and I pay another £14 for ds. And that's just the buses to get us to work and school. If we go on a route owned by a different bus company we have to buy whole new tickets. For example.

It just seems crackers that there are more billionaires now than there were two years ago and there are other people like me who aren't earning very much at all but everything is getting ridiculously expensive. If wages going up is such a terrible thing how come it isn't so terrible for the economy for people to become actual billionaires?

Anyway, will I look like a loon if I go to one of these protests?

I'm happy this is happening. I don't know if it's happened elsewhere but I have to say finally and it's about time we go on protests! Sitting online and ranting about our lot does nothing.

I'd definitely go if I wasn't incapable of doing so due to my disability but I'm going to be watching what happens. I don't buy the "What can the government do?" excuse. They aren't struggling to pay for anything and most of them are making much more than they did before this whole shitstorm.

I don't know if anything will come from this protest but action speaks louder than (online) words. It's worth a try and I hope something good comes out of it.

Also OP, I'm not sure why you're worried about how you'd look and talking about blue-haired people. Am I missing something? Is this a protest for something else?

Genuinely asking.

No Lol it's just that I'm 50 and feel a bit self conscious. Also ime it's young people who go to demos not middle aged losers.

No, you won't look like a loon. All kinds of people join the protests.

I encourage you to go OP. The low wage earners in the UK are being thrown to the dogs and quality of life is plummeting. The government is at least partially responsible. You should be angry. You should protest. Apathy has ruled for too long.

I was at the last one. I'm a boring 33 year old mum, no blue hair. There's all sorts of people there and all very welcoming ime (unless you're a Tory)

I'm definitely not a Tory!

Though I'm sure that Tory voters are getting screwed over too. It's not like the energy companies have access to your ballot papers is it.

I'm encouraged to hear that other people are doing this. I also agree that we need to.

The government does not control the Global Gas Market. Prices are a factor of supply and demand and the fact that Putin is one of the largest supplier of natural gas. The same goes for crude oil. We had the opportunity to develope our own shale gas industry but it was decided , with a dominant green agenda, that we would buy US shale gas instead. The French have spent decades investing heavily in nuclear power altho we invented that technology. This being the current situation I don't know what you expect or think the government can do. Unless you expect them to subsidize utility prices but with record puplic borrowing following Covid how do you suggest we , as a country, fund that ?. This is just a poinless exercise in spouting intolerant political prejudice. Nihilistic bombast with a nasty twist of personal abuse.

The government does not control the Global Gas Market. Prices are a factor of supply and demand and the fact that Putin is one of the largest supplier of natural gas. The same goes for crude oil. We had the opportunity to develope our own shale gas industry but it was decided , with a dominant green agenda, that we would buy US shale gas instead. The French have spent decades investing heavily in nuclear power altho we invented that technology. This being the current situation I don't know what you expect or think the government can do. Unless you expect them to subsidize utility prices but with record puplic borrowing following Covid how do you suggest we , as a country, fund that ?

Agree with @Pyewhacket

I also agree with you. £9.50 is not enough. How on Earth can businesses cope though. I work in an essential industry where consumers expect lower and lower prices and higher and higher standards.

These things need paying for. I would literally love to pay my staff a higher wage. It's just not economically via blue.

Would you consider moving abroad? You may have a desirable profile

People of all ages and types go on protests OP. I'm 67 and I've got just over 50 years of protesting under my belt (started very early) and my 75 year old DP has been on a few, too. And people are usually lovely and you can find a mini-tribe to bond with, and I say that as an introvert.
I encourage you to go. The whole experience will hopefully surprise you with its diversity and camaraderie and sheer fun and uplift.

You won't look like a loon! My DH and DS went to one last weekend, me and DD had a kids party to go to. It was quite small and DS is only 3 so they didn't stay long, but they were there and showed their face. Some people spoke, some local MPs. There was a real range of people there. I will go to the next one.

I went to a Brexit related protest a few years ago with my DH and baby DD and it was absolutely fine. There were all sorts of people and a surprising number of families. You can always go and leave if you don't like it?

@flowerycurtain so you are happy with an increase in benefits, to support lowly paid workers whose employers can't pay them anymore ? People will literally freeze or starve if nothing is done ..

I’ve been on many demos over the years-with friends of the earth
It’s great-we used to have a right laugh
In fact my kids loved going on them-my dd was 3 days old on her first
I just shoved her in a sling with a nappy in my back pocket-and we got results
Big ones-we won far more than we lost

@CalledYouARadical

No Lol it's just that I'm 50 and feel a bit self conscious. Also ime it's young people who go to demos not middle aged losers.

I think your demographic needs to be represented at the demo too. Not just young people being affected - it’s everyone! I’m sorry for your situation OP, I agree that it is completely unfair that you earn £9.50 an hour for a stressful, high responsibility job. Absolutely go to the demo, and good luck to you!