I wrote about the damage union barons would inflict on their members credibility in pursuit of strikes just a short while back. Most of us would genuinely sympathise with anyone looking to maintain their monthly balance sheet and to be able to at least afford what they are used to after all.
However, the strikes and the rhetoric being pumped out has certainly taken us into the realms of two wrongs don’t make a right.
Very regrettably, the wilful blindness of the government in now attempting to supress protests against the issues that are now proving to be an inconvenience for them – rather than facing reality down – are speeding up the disintegration of our political system and system of government.
What is happening could easily prove to be the catalyst that ushers into power a very unsavoury alternative indeed.
Whilst it would be easy to cast that light upon Labour, today’s official opposition in the UK have nothing to offer any of us that the Tories haven’t already stolen and made their own.
Keir Starmer doesn’t focus on real issues that people are facing and just talks about things like the cost of living crisis. He keeps coming up with would-do solutions like destroying the House of Lords or plans to tinker around the edges of our collapsing NHS and call it ‘life and death reform’ instead.
Popular as his ideas might sound, the Labour leader is doing nothing more than promising us that in exchange for us all giving Labour a majority at the next General Election, his equally out-of-touch political party will simply pick up where the Tories left off.
Labour’s promise of change will be no more meaningful than the repackaging of public policy and moving the pieces on the chess board around. This, when we are all crying out for changes to the way everything is run and governed that will be significantly more profound.
The strikes – even though they seem ridiculous when we do the maths regarding the salaries that some of those striking are already earning – are sadly legitimised by the reality that the prices of everything we buy and need for life are now well and truly out of control.
Legislating to stop the strikes or even lessen their impact, will not solve the problem that caused them or gave union members reason enough to vote for them to take place.
What would help immediately, would ideally be this or the next government bringing an immediate halt to big business and financial sector greed, along with rolling out emergency legislation to end the almost universal levels of profiteering that are now at work and having a massive effect on the lives of us all.
Yes, the legislators are there to legislate. But the power to legislate must be used as a power for good on behalf of us all, not just to help the legislators or their friends as all our politicians now do so, instead.
The government, the opposition and all of the politicians combined who hold elected seats today could stand together and bring this whole travesty to an immediate halt for us all.
But they won’t, because they are too scared of facing down all those who have control over money, simply because of the damage it could do to their careers and what it could do, just to them.
What about everyone else? What about US ALL?
Adam Tugwell 