LONDON (Realist English). The cost of living crisis in Britain will not end in the near future. According to the Office of National Statistics, inflation reached 10.4% year-on-year, which came as a shock to politicians, writes a British publicist, author of the book “Post-Capitalism. A Guide to Our Future” by Paul Mason.
According to him, the situation in the country is aggravated by a sharp rise in prices for basic foodstuffs, energy carriers, which have increased due to the increase in world prices for oil and gas. Another factor is the “dispersed” nature of the modern workforce.
«Where does British mass political consciousness go next? It currently focuses on deep disillusionment with the recently revolving Conservative administrations. The last prime minister but one, Boris Johnson, was, at least, an entertainer. His successor, Liz Truss, almost crashed the financial system. Her successor, Rishi Sunak, while trying to appear boringly technocratic, looks completely out of touch with ordinary people.
Sunak paid personally for the local electricity grid near his mansion in Yorkshire to be upgraded, so that it could heat his private swimming pool. This at a time when many council-run pools are reducing their hours of opening due to rising heating costs, emphasizes the British author.
In his opinion, Many Britons feel an implicit social contract has been broken:
“Their expectation was that real wages would always rise, even if that entailed working harder and soaking up more managerial pressure. In periods of downturn, such as the heavy austerity imposed between 2010 and 2013, at least borrowing costs were minimal. But now these burdens and living costs are worsening, while wages just cannot grow quickly enough to match.”
