Yet another supply shortage is biting. Army tanker drivers remain on stand-by to deliver fuel to service stations which are running dry.

    Despite an escalating situation at the start of the week, with key workers unable to get to work in vital services like the NHS, ministers appeared on TV to tell the public to "calm down" and stop panic-buying! They repeated ad nauseam that there was no shortage! But of course there is - at the point where fuel is needed. The government’s complacency has caused fury among exasperated workers who have to use vehicles for their jobs. Clearly these inept ministers are out of touch. Which is nothing new. But contrary to what news reporters say, this isn’t the same as a run on toilet paper. If fuel runs out, for whatever reason, immediate emergency measures are required.

    Instead, the government stays in denial. Bland ministers like George Eustice were pushed forward to face questions they could not answer. He just said “no”, when asked if priority could be given to NHS staff.

    At the weekend, Transport Secretary Shapps even blamed the whole problem on “coronavirus"! He and his fellow Tory MPs are turning themselves inside out to avoid admitting that Brexit has anything to do with the current crisis.

    A more frank explanation came from German Social Democrat leader Olaf Scholz, when interviewed by Channel 4. Asked if Germany could help by sending drivers over, Scholz replied that free movement of labour was prevented by Brexit, so sorry, but no... 

    Poor wages and lousy working conditions obviously contribute to HGV driver shortages; roadside facilities and truck-stops are notoriously bad, compared to those in the EU. As many as 16,000 EU drivers went home just before the Brexit deadline and another 10,000 have gone since. Now, 20 months into the pandemic, road haulage associations say the driver-deficit is up to 100,000.

    The government's response is compared to throwing “a thimbleful of water on a bonfire”. Willing applicants can’t even find the “fast track” licencing the government says it’s created. It has offered 5,000 "temporary" visas to lure EU drivers back and another 5,500 temporary visas for “poultry workers" to dress turkeys, apparently, so that Xmas won’t be “cancelled”. But they’d have to leave by Xmas Eve!

    All this would qualify as hilarious satire if it wasn’t just one small aspect of the triple whammy of chronic economic crisis, Brexit and the pandemic - for which the working class is expected to pick up the tab. And as supplies shrink, prices grow. This general supply-chaos, which isn't just limited to Britain, is yet another symptom of an incurably sick capitalist system. It has to go!

It's no surprise that Labour Party conference was overshadowed by infighting. The media may have been partly to blame; this is what makes their headlines. But by prioritising rule changes (to guarantee his position) over burning social questions, leader Keir Starmer brought it on himself. What goes around, comes around. After all, he gagged Corbyn’s “left”.

    So now there’s a row over Unite the union’s proposal for a £15 minimum wage (£600/w) - which caused Andy McDonald to resign from the shadow cabinet. Of course £15 isn’t what the Labour leadership proposes. They say it’s too high and propose £10, though £15/hr is still below the“average wage” (ONS Earnings Survey), which is £15.98/hr... 

    On the opening day of the conference in Brighton on Sunday, deputy leader Angela Rayner - who has the job of bringing back working class votes - announced the Party's "New Deal for Working People", which a Labour government would sign into law within 100 days.

    Among other things, it would end zero-hour contracts, end "bogus" self-employment, end “fire and rehire” and pay all workers sick pay from day one. But how can workers afford to wait?

    In fact Labour’s real message came on Monday, when Rachel Reeves explained how responsible she’ll be towards the capitalist class - “rebuilding the high street”(!) and cancelling business rates...

    Sharon Graham, new General Secretary of Unite, didn’t attend. She said that people had had enough of the "political tail wagging the industrial dog”. She claims to have distanced herself from the Labour Party and wants Unite to win more rights for workers... 

     Of course, whether it’s the former care-worker Rayner, or Graham claiming that picket lines are more her style, the Labour Party and Unite are merely trying to shore up falling votes on the one hand and falling membership numbers on the other.

    Rayner promised that “When Labour is in government… working people will have a seat at the Cabinet table and their voices will be heard”. But as workers know very well, bosses only listen to them when their feet do the talking.