As soon as Rishi Sunak’s win was announced on Monday, FTSE index went up 50 points.  The pound might not have gone up yet to pre-Truss levels, but it hasn’t gone down, remaining at around $1.16.  Financial markets want “fiscal prudence” (their code for “austerity”) and as far as they’re concerned, Sunak’s re-arrival proclaims it.

    Indeed, Rishi is Richie; “for” and “of” the rich and everyone knows it.  So yes, he may be the first south Asian PM and the youngest in recent history, but so what?  It wouldn’t matter if he’d fallen from Mars instead of Earl’s Court via Southampton.  He will do the job he was put there for.  His economic fix is a fix for big business and finance (or so they very much hope!) in the context of the worsening capitalist economic crisis - and it will screw the rest of us, for sure.

    And by the way, Sunak’s own side of the class divide shows its own genius!  They ought really to have had a few reservations when it comes to his economic brain...  After all, he is and was an enthusiastic Brexiteer, even if this “brexitism” has proven to fall short of the 18th century standards of Jacob Rees-Mogg - who felt he had to resign!

    In the meantime, Sunak has bought a large number of Tory MPs a 2-year “stay of execution” by the Labour Party, whose 30-point lead might shrink in the meantime, but is unlikely to disappear.  No wonder so many of them backed him!  These so-called Red Wall MPs now have a breathing space, during which they can arrange to switch allegiance to Labour in time for the next election - as one of their fellows already did in January.

     This puts in a nutshell the real so-called “democratic deficit” of the current system.  Because no, it’s not that Sunak wasn’t elected by Tory members, nor even that there wasn’t a general election - which, by the way, is perfectly within the “constitutional rules” of the “mother of all” parliaments.  No, it’s the fact that the electorate never has any other choice than between two brands of precisely the same unhealthy product: you can cast your ballot for Coca-Cola or Pepsi!

    That’s what this poorly-acted, drawn-out WestEnders melodrama is really all about; lucrative B-Grade political careers at all costs, while upholding the precise same degenerate, destructive, mad and illogical capitalist system, which relies entirely on the production of profit through the increasingly ruthless exploitation of labour - whether at home or abroad.  Not to mention the fanning of the flames of war, anti-immigrant xenophobia and racism, to divide working class ranks, while climate catastrophe looms overhead.

    The very fact that the 4th PM in as many years has been hastily pushed into Downing Street surely proves the point; that it’s a fundamental change in the system that’s needed, from top to bottom.  How can anyone disagree with that?

Last week, official CPI inflation for September showed a rise back to more than 10%, where it had been in July - the highest level in 40 years.  But behind this, real inflation was even higher. Food prices are up by 17% and basics even more: bread by almost 40%; tea by 45% and pasta, by 60%!

     Compare this to average pay, which, between July and August (the most recent data), rose by just 5.4%. And this “average” even included the highest paid executives’ pay!  In the public sector, pay rose just 2.2%.  But given how low wages were even before the pandemic, these "rises" barely conceal the huge fall in standards of living for the whole of the working class.

     What's more, there’s been talk of benefits and/or pensions not increasing with inflation but by the average pay level.  This could mean a working couple with three children on universal credit could lose nearly £1,000, while pensioners could lose about £500 - but that’s only, of course, if all the current pay strikes fail to beat inflation!

    It was already the case that 1 in 4 children in Britain were living in poverty at the beginning of the year.  Now, 1 in 7 people skip meals.  Teachers bring food to school for their pupils.  Students shower at college, as their parents can’t afford to turn on the boiler to heat water.

    All this to say that the economic crisis is dire and urgent action is needed!  And in fact action is precisely what’s taking place; although if you follow official media you’d never know it.  There has been a blackout of working class news.  But the fight is still on!

    Railway workers are due to strike again on the 5 and 7 November and are renewing their strike mandates for another 6 months.  Postal workers are escalating action - with 16 strike days in November/December announced so far.  Next week university staff will be on strike; teachers, nurses and civil servants are due to come out within weeks.

    So, what if all of these strikes converged into one big simultaneous - and indefinite - strike?  This would not only win the pay rises above inflation which everyone needs - but could begin to lay the basis for building the new revolutionary working class political party...  which everyone certainly needs!