The Sex Pistols finally got their wish… we have anarchy in the UK.
That’s anarchy as in an absence of government, as opposed to a state of disorder. But the latter is on the way unless someone, somewhere gets a grip on the running of Westminster.
I mean, in what world can energy companies inflict crippling price hikes that could push two-thirds of UK families into fuel poverty, while the government simply vanishes? The one we are living in, apparently.
While we all stare at our bills going up by 80% just as winter bites, with many folk in despair about how to feed their kids and heat their homes, the leadership of Westminster has simply vanished.
The “caretaker” prime minister clearly checked out weeks ago, and his two wannabe replacements are busy touring the country trying to see who can plunge further to the murky depths of the right wing, playing to a gallery of Tory grandees who would rather see people freeze than profits.
They are part of the tribe that has been busy taking to social media, mouthing off about growing up in houses without central heating, where there was ice on the inside of the windows, and coats on the bed to keep warm. Granted, they did exist. I lived in one. Which is why I don’t want anyone else to.
Time for our leaders to step up and intervene
We keep hearing mealy-mouthed promises about help that might be coming to tackle the energy crisis when the chosen one is anointed next Monday. “Very top of their in tray” is the mantra from the Tories, as if stopping the oncoming catastrophe is on the same level as ordering new letterheads for the stationery.
All people really want is for someone to do the blindingly obviously right thing to save everyone from disaster – and, in some cases, tragedy.
We need our UK leaders to step in, freeze the energy hikes immediately, pay for it by taxing the obscene profits of the energy giants, and prevent this country becoming a basket case. Instead there is mumbling, bumbling and a dereliction of duty.
Our glorious leaders are quite happy for our pockets to be emptied to line the coffers of global conglomerates
It seems our glorious leaders are quite happy for our pockets to be emptied to line the coffers of global conglomerates.
Back to broken Britain
Back to the Sex Pistols for a minute. They turned up on the box at the weekend, in Top of the Pops: The Story of 1977, which took us back to the glory days of Johnny Rotten in full snarl.
Outside the Top of the Pops studios was a “broken Britain”, riven by social unrest, a rising tide of disputes leaving rubbish uncollected in the streets, soaring interest rates, grinding poverty, and a population feeling the country was on the brink of collapse. Sound familiar?
They do say people who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. I just didn’t think it would only take 45 years see us teetering on the brink of anarchy in the UK again.
Scott Begbie is entertainment editor for The Press & Journal and Evening Express
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