LAST week’s unprecedented events in Westminster were the latest unprecedented week of the past five unprecedented years in Westminster. And we here sit, watch, engage (or not) and wonder when the time will come that we can become interested observers, rather than tied to London’s decisions.
Liz Truss crashed the British economy into capitalism’s rocks and inevitably lost her job in the process, but not before sacrificing her “best friends”. Why she engaged in this kamikaze crusade is not particularly clear. It was clearly not for the benefit of those inconveniences, the working people, or even the benefit of that gambling casino called “the market” which reacted really badly to the affair. God knows it was was not ideology, Truss epitomises Groucho Marx’s assertion: “Those are my principals, and if you don’t like them, well... I have others.”
The short reign of Truss and her Trussonomics, really just seemed like ego and self-promotion. She found a weird message that worked to install her in Downing Street and she went with it, to hell with the consequences. And going to hell is exactly what the economy did. We thought the Cash for Ash Scheme was bad – Kwarteng’s mini budget cost the British economy trillions, which may take a full generation to recover, if at all. Her hubris did benefit some of the cowboys working as ‘hedge fund managers’. Billions upon billions of pounds and dollars were made by hedge funds who “shorted” bets against sterling. And as Liz Truss delivered a budget that crashed the currency these bets earned a lot of billionaires more billions. Some of those who benefited from hedge funds reside on the benches in Westminster. They bet against their own economy, to fill their own pockets. The individuals involved couldn’t spell public interest, as they scoff the very idea.
The entire affair is lacking in reason, explanation or morality. Liz Truss was forced out the door after the carnage, pocketing her pension of £115,000 per annum, with a short cheerio. And we now are expected to engage with Rishi Sunak.
Post-Brexit Britain is a country having a political nervous breakdown. And working people on our two islands are the collateral damage.
Meanwhile, working families, already devastated by rising costs, and wages losing their value saw interest rates and costs of mortgages rising. If owning a home before Truss came to power seemed a distant aspiration for young families, this week, for many people, it is something from a fairytale. For other families their mortgages went through the roof and their wages simply cannot stretch.
I remember the days of boom and bust. This generation has known only bust, Brexit and bust. And now it seems austerity is back – as a result of their bookies’ debts. Far from taking back control England has lost control of its economy, its reputation and even itself.
Calls for a general election matter little. Firstly, the Tories are impervious to such reason. But more, we here on the Falls Road or Shankill Road will never vote for change in Westminster. We can only vote for change in the administrations on this island.
