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.

Really? And what about the people who don’t want to protest? You seem to be suggesting that they should be forced to.

How about a daily “two-minute hate” instead? We could show a picture of someone such as Dominic Raab, Grant Shapps, Ian levy or Tom Tugendhat on big screens across the country and everyone could scream abuse at them.

Working hard every day to ensure that the state has enough money to continue to pay your and your family’s benefits, just like I’ve done for decades, and when I can trying to reduce the chance of the Green Party ever getting in and leading to far more deaths every winter.

It's not only households that can't absorb the increases. Businesses can't either. 53% of SMEs are expected to stagnate, shrink or fold in the next twelve months. So either the government's policy is to deliberately engineer closure of SMEs in favour of off-shore multinationals - with the resulting drops in tax income; decimation of the high street; increasing unemployment and a massive hit on disposable income or . . . well, they haven't thought anything through yet again. But less than a year after their campaigns to try to save city centres and high streets - now they're happily walking into exactly that situation - but ten times worse.

The current trajectory is completely unsustainable. But having a Tory government is a lot like being in an abusive relationship. They don't listen. They nod and make the right noises if they think you're going to leave. But the only time they really pay attention is when you force them to do so. And for Tories, that is always by threatening the profits of the wealthy and the income of their donors. That's all they care about. And profits aren't only threatened by staff striking - although that does impact. Profits are also impacted by the optics of striking.

The mainstream parties are completely misjudging the levels of desperation and frustration at their apathy towards the levels of poverty in this country. It's about time their SPADs started to pay attention.

As opposed to the media, filled with pictures of the poor people and immigrants that we are supposed to hate instead?
If there's going to be hate, at least aim it in the right direction.

CanDo92 not everyone joined in the Poll Tax protests but they brought about change, maybe you can afford the new energy charges but there are a hell of a lot of people who can't. The only way this government will change it's policies is by protest or through a general election & getting them voted out. There is movement now to protest, it doesn't have to be a riot, don't forget that this government is taking away our right to protest & wants to take away the right to strike. Do I take it if the Enough is Enough campaign is successful you won't be accepting the energy bills being reduced & will pay the current increased charges?

Well yes, that’ll be people who choose not to work but could, those who have children then walk out on the . Gangs that stab each-other, and so on.

I’d be up for a general strike in principle. I don’t believe that our elected representatives act on our behalf for our benefit anymore.

A reminder of exactly why you keep the general populace as your main priority over individual gain and ambition is sorely needed.

Brilliant idea!!! Can we do Grant Shapps first- I have an almost irrational dislike of him. Just a photo so no harm done and we can get it out.

I’m in favour of giving the bunch of snout-troughing cunts in government a metaphorical kick in the nuts for all sorts of reasons.

I don’t believe it will make one iota of difference to energy prices though.

We need to make friends with Russia - unpalatable though that is - because if we want cheap energy again they need to turn the tap back on. Or else we need to just get used to being chilly. Neither of which are pleasant options.

Why would reinstating a relationship with Russia mean prices are lowered? They’ve seen exactly how much they can charge at this point.

@Cornettoninja because we’ve sanctioned Russia’s oil and gas industry, and ending those sanctions would increase supply to Europe by about 40%. Russia is already supplying gas to its “friends” in the EU (eg Hungary) at a cheaper price than it was prior to the Ukraine invasion. Sanctions were more palatable to the West than either boots on the ground or doing nothing in the face of Russia’s aggression. We are now reaping the whirlwind in the form of 18.6% inflation predicted by January 2023. Most of that is driven by fuel prices.

None of the options are remotely palatable, that’s the problem. But we are dealing with a country that wants to weaponise its natural resources. So we either accept that means less consumption or we come to terms with Russia.

The sanctions against Russia are not likely to end soon the problem is Putin, while he’s still in charge he will keep the hard line, reports say that he is in poor health, if there was a new leader that would be hope for a settlement or at least an end to fighting.

I agree they are not likely to end soon @Crazykatie but until they do, the reduced supply will keep putting upward pressure on energy prices. There isn’t much the UK government - despite being utter turds - can do about geopolitics.

There are a few chunks of light - the diesel price has come down by about 16p locally, presumably because a supply at lower cost has been secured since it was £2-ish.

There isn’t much the UK government - despite being utter turds - can do about geopolitics

See also this thread
www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4616761-i-struggle-to-get-my-head-around-the-size-of-the-chinese-property-collapse-its-global-consequences

I mean I know there will be some posters here who manage to blame Brexit even for that, but there really are bigger factors at play. And across Europe there are similar stresses

The government could invest in more wind turbines & as we are surrounded by the sea harness the energy of the tides. They got rid of most of the gas storage facilities in this country & there are millions of tons of coal still underground that could have been used for power stations.

Trouble is, people can't afford to take unpaid time off to strike. Not with bills so high.

Given the situation with climate change, I’m going for B, people getting used to being chilly.

Help should be reserved for the vulnerable, and the rest of us will have to get on how we can.

They could, and are. We already have some of the world’s largest offshore wind farms in the North Sea.

That then needs to be backed up with new nuclear capacity, leaving gas to fill in the occasional peak demands only.

There really is no simple answer - the only real tool the government has is massive borrowing and subsequent bailouts similar to what happened during covid. However, this isn't a great idea (but in my view it's the least bad) as a result of the impact on the national debt.
I used to work for an energy company so have no love for the fuckers AT ALL, but the profits that eg: British Gas make are spread out over a massive amount of customers - the profit per household before all of this started was under £50 per year. The £7000 that it look like people will have to pay for energy gas would now be "only" £6950, but energy supply companies are likely to be losing money right now, with only the bigger companies likely to survive as they have the reserves needed to sustain year on year losses, as a result of having to sell energy that they bought on the open market but are being forced to sell at a lower rate due to the price cap.
The CEO may make 5 million a year too, but once you spread that over 10 million customers it's an extra 50p each per year.
Nearly everyone is suffering, but I don't think a general strike will help things materially. It's a horrible situation with no easy answers.

I would say that the vast majority of volunteers at the food bank where I volunteer are middle class.

If there was a general strike then which industries would strike?
In 1926 around 1.5 million people were involved, it was not everyone. Back then it was miners, railway and transport workers, dockers, printers, steel workers.
What would the key industries be today? Childcare & Education, Administration, Technical Support, Finance, Telecoms, Shopworkers, Distribution?

Video about the General Strike 1926 for anyone interested... one of many I found on YouTube:

Yep - absolutely this.

Nannynick

add all healthcare workers to your list of strikers

We are around the tenth largest manufacturer on the planet;

We are not that impressive -
InUS$ billions
Japan 1,800
Germany 700
U.K. 245

China 2,100
USA 1,800
Japan1070
Or thereabouts