No matter how hard I tried yesterday, I couldn’t write anything. Not on the blog, not for other writing projects I’m involved in. I’m tired for a lot of the time because some of the drugs I’m on cause sleep disturbance and are, quite possibly, the cause of exhausting nightly nightmares. But yesterday was far, far worse and I have concluded that it was far, far worse because of the actions of the chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Hunt. A day of lying, gaslighting from politicians who have broken Britain, temporarily broke me, too.
I hope Hunt will never recover from his budget yesterday. Here is a man who lied that he was cutting taxes when because of his actions last year he was still increasing them. A cheap, cynical populist who threw a few scraps at the better off but spent much of his budget setting political traps for Labour, if it wins the next general election. As the country caves inwards, amid rising poverty, especially food poverty, where the NHS is catastrophically underfunded, where many schools are falling apart, where people everywhere struggle with the cost of living crisis, Hunt showboats.
“I am cutting National Insurance,” says C … Hunt, but he’s also freezing income tax and NI thresholds which actually mean people are paying more. It’s an almighty scam, a confidence man at work; he’s taking more of our money and he’s literally lying to us by saying he is taking less.
There was nothing for crumbling services, such as social care. In fact, the opposite is the case. Over 14 years of bad government, the Conservatives have given us the highest tax burden in modern times and the worst public services. Aren’t we entitled to ask this: where’s the money gone? But we know that already. They’ve given a lot of it to themselves.
Hunt cracks down on non doms, but only after Rishi Sunak’s wife has squirreled her money away – she’s worth three quarters of a billion quid by the way, and we, the British taxpayer continue to pay her family firm, Infosys, hundreds of millions of pounds by way of government contracts. That’ll be the Sunak who pissed away countless billions during Covid, handed out contracts to Tory business pals and enabled vast fraud of the system, writing off yet more billions. And yesterday, Hunt gave private landlords a financial boost which will benefit people like, well, Jeremy Hunt who owns seven luxury flats which he rents out. (When pressed on Sky News, Hunt squirmed and said he wasn’t going to accept the extra money, looking every inch the man who had been caught. Bastards every one.)
I’ve had one of those ‘why do I bother?’ moments. Like many of you, I like to do what I can to help the community, like picking up litter and rubbish where we live, donating money to charities and volunteering at a food bank twice a week. And, just fleetingly, I thought, ‘Fuck it. I’ll just live my own life and let everyone else live theirs.’ Fleetingly, irrationally, I quickly came back to what’s left of my senses, regained my calm and resolved to carry on, knowing that I would be helping to fill the space abandoned by Sunak, Hunt and all the other parasitical vermin who run, and many instances own, the country. If I stand aside, along with volunteers in all other sectors, people die. That’s the simple truth.
I’m tired again today, after yet another disturbed night of broken sleep, lying wide awake in the middle of the night then getting up exhausted in the morning. It’s only caffeine that keeps me going and, indeed, writing.
We can’t go on like this. Either we do something about it and change our country or we give up and allow evolution, as in Darwin’s version, taking its natural course, with all the death and disease that will cause. It feels like we are at a tipping point now where we choose between living in a civilised society or one where we simply give up on the vulnerable. Because, make no mistake, that’s what Sunak and Hunt are taking us.
I’m off to the food bank today to help feed the world, or at least this part of Melchester. That always brings me back to earth with a big bang. Of course, I can’t walk away, but I do wish Sunak and Hunt would. Sunak claims to be a devout Hindu. As an atheist, I only wish there was a hell for him to go to. And I really, really mean that.
