When the nights draw in and the country gets colder, Britain will burn. There is a certain inevitability to the trajectory we are now on.
I talk to store owners. Some are wondering if they will be able to keep the lights on in the cost of living crisis. That used to mean 'stay in business' but now it means the bloody lights themselves.
Don't ask how much my store costs to run from a utility point of view. It's a lot. In the winter I hope we'll be full so we'll have enough bodies to keep it warm.
The average bill is going to be £10 a day.
People talk about rent strikes and bill strikes. But that debt will continue to hang over you. Debt is a way the rich keep the poor in line, because those CCJ's and bailiff fees soon mount up and stay with you, trashing your credit score. The state doesn't care about your crippling debt - in fact it makes profit off it, so its all good. Your misery is somebody else's profit.
The cost of living crisis isn't a hundred households, or a thousand. It's not even a million. A million households is a lot, bit its a tiny fraction of the scale of crippling, soul destroying poverty headed down the pipe.
Do you think any country can beggar that great a percentage of its families, its working age adults, its pensioners, its unemployed, its children and emerge unscathed with a funny story about power cuts?
We are about to face civil unrest on an unimaginable scale. Privatised utilities, a morally bankrupt government obsessed with a 1% income tax cut? Knocking 20% off utility bills that by then have risen sixfold? This isn't so much moronic as it is Neronic. 7% for the RMT? Doesn't even cover inflation. Its not even half what inflation is.
And nobody can solve it. Everything is a sticking plaster on a severed arm. Some things may be bigger plasters, but they still can't solve the problem.
Half the population are going to slide down into the muck. Pretty much everyone you interact with on a daily basis. Minimum Wage is £17K. Median salary is £25K. Inflation is 13% and bills are rising £3K.
Do the math.
When Britain hits breaking point it hits burning point. Desperation and an inability to heat their own houses sends people onto the street. Crime rises. Muggings, burglaries, prostitution, drugs. These are the four horsemen of the recession. There is rising anger, fear, desperation - all things the Tories can't put a cost on, can't monetise.
And then our cities burn.
I can't see a way of avoiding it now. Best buckle up.