SOCIALISM OR BARBARISM
This week the Labour government have been trailing their plans to continue the Tories’ war on the sick and disabled by restricting disability benefits (known as Personal Independence Payments (PIP)) and increasing the state and social harassment of those who need them.
This comes after Rachel Reeves scrapped plans to close the tax loopholes on the super-rich who spend their time abroad for tax reasons after “after listening to the concerns that have been raised by the non-dom community” (genuine quote!)
We never really left, but we’re back to the cruelty of austerity, blaming and punishing the people least responsible for the state of the country while defending the interests of those who have been looting it with glee through the last 45 years of Thatcherite cross-party consensus.
As part of this push for “growth” Starmer and Reeves have also announced their plan to slash “unnecessary regulation and red tape”, as if Grenfell never happened, allowing building developers free-reign to fire up more shoddy, unsafe death-traps that will fall to pieces in a decade or two if they don’t burn down before then.
They’re also committed to killing us all through global warming, announcing a third runway a Heathrow is literally climate change denial, particularly on top of Labour’s already watered down or cancelled environmental pledges (and a £20 billion giveaway towards fuckin carbon capture – another oil industry scam!)
And don’t forget the slashing of pensioner’s winter-fuel payments so that the cold weather could help reduce the nation’s pension bill yet further.
All this from a government stacked to the hilt with self-interested neoliberals who always have one-eye on the plush privatised utilities director job they’ll land once they leave office, after handing over the country to a Reform government led by Nigel Farage (who now leads in the polls for the first time).
The question has always been socialism or barbarism. But this Labour government is so allergic to any hint of socialism, it has decided that, for the rest of us, barbarism will have to suffice.
HELL BUS OFF-SET
Rachel Reeves explains how to run your household budget in today’s Sun.
It feels like every chancellor and prime minister in living memory has presented some version of this completely inaccurate and misleading comparison between balancing a household budget and running a national economy, and its never met with the derision it deserves by the media. On the contrary it is presented as sound, logical and relatable, despite being demonstratably wrong.
“Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country.” – Margaret Thatcher
“If you have maxed out your credit card, if you put off dealing with the problem, the problem gets worse.” – David Cameron
As Avery Edison said on Twitter, “even pretending to believe these are relevant experiences should actually be disqualifying.”
Anyone in government who refers to the “national credit card” being “maxed out” should, by law, either have to resign or take a compulsory economics course.
I’ve been thinking about doing a sequel to the Mini Daily Mail for a while and I think this might be one of the first pages. I already have the front page ready to go (left) Will let you know if/when I decide to go for it.
2023 ZINE
My 2024 zine for Patreon backers should be ready to send to the printers on Monday, shipping around mid-Feb.
If you’d like a copy, just sign up for £3.50+ a month on my Patreon, and I’ll send you a copy of my 2024 AND 2023 zine. Massive thanks to all who support me on there so far.
Patreon is the only way to get these zines. But you still get the zine even if you sign up and then cancel soon after.
Below are a couple of spreads from the 2024 zine.
HOODIE SALE
I’m extending the sale on the new run of Hell Hoodies until the end of Feb. Order them from my website shop here, for a 15% discount use the code HAVEANEWYEAR (This wasn’t working last time but I’ve fixed it now!)
Also, remember as a subscriber to my mailing list you also get 10% off my posters (not art prints tho soz) if you use the code: DON’T EAT THE POSTER
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Thanks for reading!
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