Protests Erupt Across the United Kingdom as Energy Costs Soar
Jose Nino
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On October 1, 2022, the United Kingdom was marked by enormous protests organized by labor unions and environmental activists. According to a Press TV report, these rallies, titled “Enough is Enough”, protested the country’s rising cost of living and inflation throughout the UK’s most prominent cities.
Inflation in the UK is at a 40-year high.
Traditionally, the British pound has been one of the world’s stronger currencies. However, it’s now beginning to take a pounding against the United States dollar, with investors flocking to the USD after the new Tory government rolled out a fiscal plan that could put the country’s finances in peril while also increasing inflation.
Since Liz Truss assumed the position of Prime Minister on September 6, 2022, the UK has been in a state of political and economic uncertainty. Increased immigration, an economy hobbled by the country’s sanctions war against Russia, and a generalized distrust of the British political class has made UK residents lose trust in their political leaders.
On top of that, Truss has been a fanatic anti-Russia hawk, which further shows how detached she is from the wants and needs of ordinary Britons. The West is an interesting phase of its history where it has over-stretched itself in both economic and geoeconomic senses.
As a result, it must make several tough decisions on domestic and international affairs. Unfortunately, the ideological capture by neoliberals and neoconservatives of Western states has prevented any meaningful reforms — down-sizing of the administrative state and foreign policy retrenchment — from ever taking place. It will perhaps take a nasty economic and political collapse for a genuine political correction to occur.
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