A new wave of British protests over the out-of-control rises in energy costs and the overall cost of living are coming, fresh on the heels of the UK pension plan meltdown of last week.
On the day the government’s £150bn energy price guarantee comes into effect, which allows average household bills to hit £2,500 a year, up from £1,971, people are expected to torch bills in Birmingham, Bradford, Brighton and London.
Those wielding lighters include the backers of Don’t Pay UK, a grassroots movement that has received almost 200,000 pledges from householders prepared to cancel their direct debits unless the government does more to protect the poorest families.
The protests are being coordinated between multiple community organisations and trade unions in a bid to maximise impact. They come as night-time temperatures dip into single figures and families debate whether firing up the heating is affordable.
With winter fast approaching, the need for stable energy prices is becoming ever more urgent. At the same time, a mass protest against utility bills puts utility companies in a financial straitjacket—and could potentially make the cost of living problem even worse by pushing some of them into insolvency. To say that “something” must be done is the mother of all understatements.
Liz Truss has her work cut out for her if she is to survive as Britain’s Prime Minister. Economic protests have brought down British governments before, and may very well do so again.
Why do I think the people pictured protesting above will also show up to protest against fracking for natural gas in the UK? Somehow I think they don't understand that the world is rapidly running out of free lunches.
Having picketed just a bit in my lifetime, I have noticed the first to protest are always those that even later protestors would prefer to have nothing to do with. But forest fires need a spark to get started.
You might very well be right about the protestors. There's a certain hypocrisy in using a service then protesting the cost.
At the same time, the magnitude of the price hikes being bandied about are pretty significant, and that is going to hit the poorest the hardest--and energy in the UK is hardly a deregulated market.
Both the UK and Europe have in the ground enough natural gas and even oil to get through the winter and 2023 at least. But the governments are reluctant to tap it.
I don't say the protesters are right, but they're not entirely wrong, either.
Why do I think the people pictured protesting above will also show up to protest against fracking for natural gas in the UK? Somehow I think they don't understand that the world is rapidly running out of free lunches.
Having picketed just a bit in my lifetime, I have noticed the first to protest are always those that even later protestors would prefer to have nothing to do with. But forest fires need a spark to get started.
You might very well be right about the protestors. There's a certain hypocrisy in using a service then protesting the cost.
At the same time, the magnitude of the price hikes being bandied about are pretty significant, and that is going to hit the poorest the hardest--and energy in the UK is hardly a deregulated market.
Both the UK and Europe have in the ground enough natural gas and even oil to get through the winter and 2023 at least. But the governments are reluctant to tap it.
I don't say the protesters are right, but they're not entirely wrong, either.