To think it’s time for a general strike

[Mountainatmygates]

I am old enough to remember the poll tax riots which did eventually bring about a shift in policy.

The country is on its knees - I read yesterday that energy bills could hit 6k a year in the spring and put 45 million into fuel poverty.

it’s completely nuts and the current government are wholly to blame after 12 years in power. I have just been in France where bills have risen 4% because the energy companies are nationalised.

I think it’s genuinely time for some collective action.

I'm totally with you OP but no-one can afford to strike. My union(usdaw) seems a bit rubbish. I really wish there was something we could do. If people continue to vote Conservative then this country is screwed. I'd like to think we have got to the point where they won't but the tories will spout more lies and yet again enough people will probably believe them.

Mass protest as per the poll tax riots might also have some impact but the tories have conveniently restricted the right to protest because it’s all intentional

I’m totally with you, would like to partake in mass action around the country
and to those of you who voted for this, I hope you are reconsidering your plans for the future

Any other ideas?
Sorry to pick on your post but what other solution do you imagine? Petitions? Protests? General election?

What changed is that Labour became a party that was anti-strike and anti-worker. Without a decent opposition, the Tories have destroyed everything and social media is so full of bots and paid-for posts that people are fooled into thinking it's all inevitable.
Politicians and tv activists have subsumed all the nonsense culture wars from the US rather than focusing on real issues like poverty and workers.

@AlexandriasWindmill there is some shift I think. The enough is enough campaign is gathering a bit of ground and Mick Lynch has been brilliant at really showing up the gaslighting politicians.

it’s completely nuts and the current government are wholly to blame

(for the rising cost of energy)

I want a general strike to protest against this shitty governments abject failure

I just don’t accept though that we all sit at home and accept fuel poverty while corporations make billions

Fck the daily mail too - people are dying and kids are going hungry.*

You’ve identified three targets for your ire. The government, the Daily Mail and the ‘corporations making billions’ (which? All of them?).

How do you propose that the government should control what the Daily Mail publish? How should they prevent businesses from ‘making billions’? You’re suggesting a general strike to force the government’s hand. You will need to set out precisely what you want them to do after this general strike forces their capitulation, right?

Bold fail because of the asterisk in the ‘f*ck the daily Mail’ quote from the OP.

So you think a strike will help everyone LOL
I have recently been to Australia and France
Prices of fuel food gas electric have shot up exactly the same as they have here
There is a recent thing here that wen a person has a problem then do not think " righty I have a problem what am I going to do to help myself"
They say
" I have a problem what is the govt going to do"

Yy Mick Lynch has held a mirror up to all the politicians who have forgotten why they were elected - to serve their constituents - not big business or their buddies.

@Iamthewombat well we could start by re-nationalising energy and water companies. Use corporate profits to stop water leaks and waste and bring down costs.

But that is a policy which could be reversed if we abandoned ‘net zero’, as the Germans have done as soon as it inconvenienced them.

@justaladyLOL and I was just in France too and food costs haven’t spiralled there as they have here. France is ultimately a socialist country at heart.

and a government is elected to protect its citizens and not pillage the country so kids are living in poverty and people are dying

How much will it cost to renationalise energy companies?
How will a renationalised company buy cheaper energy in an international market?

This thread will be inundated by 'posters' saying it's not possible or is uncontrollable. As though we all just suddenly appeared in the last two years and have forgotten nationalised industries or the poll tax or the bedroom tax.
They work on the basis that repeating the 'inevitable' lies will work. But it won't. You can't sustain that level of gaslighting when no-one can afford gas

There is a recent thing here that wen a person has a problem then do not think " righty I have a problem what am I going to do to help myself"
They say
" I have a problem what is the govt going to do"

This is exactly how the tories, starting with Thatcher, have destroyed the country. It relies on some bullshit idea that everyone is equal (which they aren’t as the tories have destroyed social mobility) and that everyone has the means to help themselves. It’s the worst failings of capitalism gone mad.

We could maybe go for government that has the interest of society and the entire electorate at heart instead of an elite few.
We could go back to trying to make our community and society a fair one with opportunity and a basic standard of living by keeping things that we still consider basic human rights a national interest rather than profit driven.
We could value people for their merit and contribution rather than met worth.

I'd better get my tits to work before I start quoting Scargill 😁

@AlexandriasWindmill yes, industrial scale gaslighting!

@JustTheOneSwan and yes, exactly!

Yeah, why can’t we all just love each other?

@Iamthewombat seriously? 45 million predicted to be in fuel poverty this autumn and that’s all you can say? What do you suggest as an alternative then?

When you are unable to engage in rational debate it may be time to step back from the keyboard. Anyone who disagrees with you is, we are to understand, a gaslighter and needs single inverted commas around the word ‘poster’. Why is that? Are you suggesting that anyone who disagrees with you isn’t a real poster? What are they? A Russian-sponsored AI engine?

What would want to achieve specifically with a general strike?

You've talked about fuel costs in France being capped- are you wanting energy companies to be renationalised? Where will the money come to buy out the shareholders?

You'd like water to be renationalised, but there is the same issue

Or, would the objective be to ensure that every family has access to food and utilities when the big price hikes come?

The UK has always believed in collective responsibility. It's why we have an NHS and it's why certain types of Tories and most multi-nationals hate that we have an NHS.
They'll also witter on about a 'free' market when our country artificially supports big businesses all the time - which is contrary to the principles of a free market.
Truss is yet another candidate in thrall to serving multi-nationals and ransacking our resources. If she becomes leader, the Tories will be showing they completely misunderstood ALL of the issues with Boris and the rampant cronyism and toadying.

There can't be a "general" strike - unless you are asking people just to walk out of work and be liable to be sacked?