I seem to have many ideas for My Other Blog but I am not particularly good at finding the time to research and write up these ideas, but you will get the one on climate change – one day! However, this is a morning’s work, with no research or further reading apart from do read, if you can, the entirety of the speech given recently by Emily Maitlis at the Edinburgh festival.
Here’s the thing, we are I think, in a situation where we are all frogs being slowly boiled. Maitlis is saying it’s just journalists, but I see it as all of us. Or if you feel differently to me, just take it that I feel like a frog being boiled! And this of course, refers to that fable where the frog put into tepid water doesn’t notice the water being slowly heated up until it is too late. That’s where I am and tbh, we all are.
Yes, I’ve just read the speech Emily Maitlis gave in Edinburgh a few days ago. For those of you who don’t know her you might recall she interviewed Prince Andrew, the non-sweating friend of Jeremy Epstein. She is in fact a well-known journalist who used to host Newsnight but free of the shackles of BBC, on which she has much to say, she reveals her thoughts on the way populism is being used and how it undermines the media so that nothing the main-stream media says is trusted. She looks at the BBC very closely but doesn’t withhold criticising herself and how easily it is to get sucked into the false notion of impartiality when you’re in the straight-jacket of offering both sides of the argument, even when giving both sides of the argument is obviously nuts. She doesn’t use that word, but I do. One example she gives is how her producers would take under 5 minutes to find 50 economists who feared the consequences of Brexit and 5 hours to find just one economist who did not. But then when they present the programme you have one of each. And that, Maitlis tells us, is ‘balance’.
Maitlis has much more to say, and especially notable is her view of populism and how that worked so well for Trump and, indeed, Brexit. There is a total disconnect she argues with the reality of the absolute failure of Brexit (and don’t forget I would have accepted Brexit if it had been managed better). Over the pond there is another populist disconnect around Trump and his followers and the people who are being elected who will work to bring him back to power. How does he do it? Because she argues, there are the ‘pure people’, Trump and his voters, and the ‘corrupt elite’, the Democrats and anyone, including any in the US media, who dare to question anything, ‘well, that’s, of course, fake’!
Currently, here in the UK we are going through a huge cost of living crisis with big increases in food bills and horrendous charges for our energy use that seem to be endless as these charges will continue to rise into next year. And what is the government doing? Very little, because, you know, it’s electing a new leader and anyway, it’s August and everyone is on holiday. Our actual still-a-Prime Minister-would-you-believe-it, is absent gallivanting off to his various holidays. And then we have two contestants who are vying with each other to say the most outrageous thing that might attract the vote of the Conservative party members. Actually, I do a disservice to Rishi Sunak who is making some sensible statements around the rise in energy prices, meanwhile Liz Truss who apparently is a shoe-in for the job of PM, seems to say the first thing that comes into her head. Did everyone see that comment she made about France? Disgraceful. But nothing much is said by Truss about either climate change or the rise in energy prices. In fact you get the feeling that she doesn’t really approve of any more ‘handouts’. Really? That will have to change as something needs to be done.
And it’s all normal, because you know, what can we do? We are accepting the anxiety, the dread, the horror of these expected bills, and I am not exaggerating when I use that last word.
And as for climate change, forget it, and yet it was quite clear from those first two hot days in July, and then the more recent four days of excessive heat, that our housing stock and infrastructure is totally unprepared for the hot summers that are coming our way from now on. For starters, I have become obsessed with saving water: all the washing up and veggie rinsing water goes out of the window on the garden, and in the bathroom, I collect our hand and face washing water to flush the loo. When the water butts are empty, I also have a large bucket to collect water from our shower, which again goes on the garden. But really, what am I doing about the water companies that are losing huge amounts of water every day? Nothing. And why have water, of all things, owned by private companies? The last thing they seem to do is invest in more reservoirs and improve their pipelines. By the way, they will always give you an answer that they are investing but the first consideration of private companies is always and has to be, their share-holders. We have to re-nationalise water.
Back to the energy bills. For those of you outside the UK, we have something called an energy price cap for householders. It has gone up from nearly £2,000 to £3,549-a-year. It is expected to go up again in January to £4,649 a year and in April to £5,341 a year. These sums are impossible for a large number of the population to be able to afford.
There is a lot in the media about why this is happening, and btw it can’t all be laid on the consequences of the war in Ukraine and Putin as consumer demand went up hugely this year after all the lockdowns. And there is a great deal of fairly helpful advice about cutting our energy bills, but, really, they won’t cut the bills that much. What you will have is anxious, poorer and older people turning their heating off during the winter. And in the winter we are a cold damp country, people need their heating. It’s horrifying to think of how things are going to be if there is no help from the government, as it doesn’t stop with the private citizen as small businesses have no cap. Independent shops will close, councils urged to keep libraries open may have to think twice, and think about this, care homes and housing associations are not under the cap. I live in a housing association group of apartments, which fortunately doesn’t have communal heating. Thank goodness we moved as the place we lived in before was full of heaters and communal lighting. The energy prices will rocket up and be passed on to people like us in everyone’s service charge.
Back to Maitlis. She argues that there is so much to be horrified by, particularly with the way the government has behaved. The media, journalists included, self-censor themselves and the balances and checks, that a free and independent media provides begin to lessen and the move rightwards continues. And journalists in particular must not fall into the trap of being ‘impartial’ and always giving both sides of the argument, when there really is no argument.
Do read her speech. This piece from me is a morning’s polemic just to draw your attention to it. And to say, we too must open our eyes to what is truly going on. How long are we going to accept this state of affairs? It’s made me think I need to do more.
Penny Kocher, 29th August 2022
Further reading:
Emily Maitlis, We have to stop normalising the absurd. The full transcript of Emily Maitlis’s MacTaggart Lecture. Prospect Magazine, August 25 2022
All this was predicted in the 70’s. My husband and I practiced ergonomics as best we could. My house is built of mostly reclaimed wood, and my refrigerator is older than my daughter. But everyone else seemed to go on their merry way here in the US. Inflation has been with us since Nixon took us off the gold/silver standard. It’s being pumped up now for some reason.
Biden seems to have got a grip on things, though. And while you do have the deluded, that recent legislation on the climate was great and I’ve just read that there will probably be a huge upsurge in industries around alternative and renewable energy. That’s so positive.
But watch out for those oil companies! Currently we’re watching Big Oil v The World – I’m at a loss to state how much they blocked responses to global warming decades ago. As in they are out and out liars and deceivers and the world is consequently much the worse as a result. Grim watching but essential.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0cgql8f/big-oil-v-the-world
Thanks for your comment.
The biggest worry is what else are they slipping by us under the cover of the crisis?
There is so much anxiety for everyone to absorb and the current “shower” couldnt care less!
I have worried for a long time about the similarities of the 30’s and fascism and I truly believe its where we are again.
If the Conservatives get in again , yes, that is the road, they’re on. They might not call it fascism but those Acts they passed recently (see my last blog) will be the first of many more, and it is all about power rather than the good of the country. Challenging times.
I’ve just skim-read EM’s speech, will read it properly later, and these are just thoughts off the top of my head.
I really can’t believe/understand the number of people who say they would still vote Conservative if there was a general election next week. And ditto for those who still defend Brexit. How bad do things have to get to make them change their minds?
If Truss becomes PM, how will her proposed 5% cut on vat help the poorest in society? How can you “tighten your belt” when you’re already depending on food banks, and free school meals to feed your children? Or going without meals yourself?
I agree water should either be re-nationalised or be put in the hands of a non-profit making organisation. As should gas, electric, and a national bus service imo.
Let’s be honest, is anything working well in the UK today? The NHS is falling apart, we’re moving more and more towards private health care. Woe betide anyone who can’t afford their meds or treatment. Waiting lists are huge. Staff are leaving in droves and who can blame them, the stress of the last two/three years must have been horrendous. Not nearly enough places are available for training new nurses/doctors. It was obvious even before 12+ years ago that we had an ageing population, but has anyone been looking for a way to cope with that long-term?
One of my favourite pubs (they have the BEST burgers) is already only opening four days a week with reduced hours on those days. It somehow survived throughout COVID (still sold food but it had to be collected at the door) but the owner (it’s an independent) has no savings left, has drastically reduced the menu, and is freely admitting she can’t see how she’ll survive if nothing is done about the huge increases in gas/electricity.
Jacqui I am totally with you on the decline of just about everything here in the UK and I lay the blame wholly on the Conservative party. It began with George Osborne and austerity, treating the economy as though it was household and cutting, cutting, cutting. Nations are not households and investment in services and infrastructure pays future dividends. Now we are seeing what cutting the budgets actually means. If another politician says we give X amount of money to …. and fill in the blank with any service that you named in your comment above. It’s meaningless. And cutting taxes is just about the worst remedy ever for this current crisis, which won’t begin to help poorer people.
There are so many awful scenarios right there with this huge rise in energy prices – imagine schools having to cut their days down to four!
What we need is a strong independent press (still possible) who will investigate and say exactly what is happening and a strong Labour opposition (hmm) who gives the population an alternative to this dysfunctional right-leaning set of second-raters of what was once a party that I didn’t like but still respected. If the Conservatives get in again that will be the end of the post-war Welfare State – which is what this current lot want.
But we have to keep alert and also positive that good will prevail. Also join others. I am currently looking at groups to join.
All the best and thanks for your comment
I agree with what has been said and like you Penny I often think ‘I should do more’. But what? As an individual citizen I have never felt more powerless. I’m probably not going to vote in the next General Election because I don’t feel I have anyone I can vote for in my constituency.
I watched a programme about how people have been ripped off by fraudulent investments. A Judge led an enquiry that severely criticised the regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (known by Private Eye as the Fundamentally Complicit Authority). According to the judge, board members should have resigned or been replaced and the CEO Andrew Bailey should taken responsibility. Instead he was promoted to Governor of the Bank of England. You couldn’t make it up! The Post Office IT debacle is another example of where no-one is held accountable for horrendous mismanagement which bordered on criminality. I realise I’ve drifted away from the cost of living issue in my little rant ! To understand how we have got where we are with our governments over the last 25 years I can recommend ‘Chums How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK’ a new book by Simon Kuper. It’s a quick, fascinating read described by Matthew Syed as ‘exquisite and depressing in equal measure’.
Actually, I’ll try and get that book from the library as it’s one I haven’t read. I agree with the title and wow, the damage they’ve wreaked on this country!
Lynda, I wonder, can I persuade you to vote? It is such precious thing to have, the vote. It is something we all take for granted and yet it isn’t as safe and as secure as we would think. The Tories have begun to tighten the screw on who can vote although it is as nothing to what is happening in the States, where it seems it is also difficult to actually cast a vote. I couldn’t be more left-wing if you tried and I get more left-wing as I age. But I shall vote Lib Dem in the next GE as they are the party that might get our awful Tory MP out. It makes sense to vote for someone who can at the very least eat into her majority and might even oust her. So that Lib-Dem candidate gets my vote.
And I also feel useless on my own, but I am aiming to join more groups and have started looking around in Lewes for things to join. It is important not to feel isolated and frustrated as this ghastly government continues to make life so challenging for so many people. Thanks for the comment.
I really don’t take the right to vote lightly. I always told my girls about the women who fought and died to get it for us. I was a Lib Dem member for several years and a local councillor for 4, 2010 – 2014. I’ve done more than my share of leafleting and door knocking often for others who were too lazy to do it for themselves, and to the point of exhaustion. I certainly could not do that now! My problem with the LDs is their record in Parliament where they allowed the Tories to run rings around them. Vince Cable , my erstwhile hero, sold out Royal Mail and was asleep on watch with the PO scandal. Clegg seemed to hero worship & trust Cameron who then sold him out over the alternative vote question. What else would you expect? – so naive. Then he showed his true colours by being the apparently acceptable face of Zuckerberg. If I sound bitter it’s because I am. The zeal of the proselyte collapses when you see the feet of clay. I vote LD locally for my former colleague but I’m not at all happy with the way they are running the local council ; more than one judicial review has found against the administration. What a mess we are in!
Very interesting blog, Penny thank you.
I agree with Emily Maitlis on impartiality in the media. Another of my gripes is main stream news programmes reviewing the newspapers – as though those newspapers were impartial! And I agree with Lynda’s recommendation of Chums – excellent! Well worth reading.
I agree, we’re on the precipice of collapse of public services/infrastructure but the trouble started way before George Osborne’s austerity; the first mention of cuts came in ’76 after the Labour Party went to the IMF. Then, Thatcher was elected in ’79 and selling off public assets began in gay abandon: council housing, British Telecoms, Railways, water: (in 1980, investment in the water was a third of what it was1970. RWA’s (Regional Water Authorities) ability to borrow money necessary for capital projects/repairs etc was curtailed and after several attempts, they eventually privatised water in 1987/8… And we all what that’s ‘washed up’ !!
Then, along comes … Tony Blair Labour who added to the list: tutition fees, out sourcing in the NHS and public sector etc.. And did absolutely nothing about the housing crisis. Remember, Thatcher said, ‘Blair was her greatest achievement.’
I’m very angry at the Labour Party and feel my time and donations were stolen/squandered from 2010-2020 (Btw have you read The Forde Report? Defnitely worth reading.) The LP is purging of left wing members particularly left wing Jewish members accusing them of antisemitism (for their criticism of Isreal’s treatment of Palestinians)
I agree with you, voting is precious. Unfortunately, in my constituency the chance of any candidate other than the Tory winning is all but impossible. (Even in 1997 they retained a very substantial majority). Consquently, I likely wont vote – but will turn out and write something choice on the voting slip and I will go and support a couple of good, left wing candidates to help get them elected.
You say you’re thinking of joining things, I have signed up to Enough is Enough. Mick Lynch is a breath of fresh air.
Enjoy Somerset and stay dry!
Mary
I think the extreme weather is finally catching the attention of the naysayers. Of course some of them will never admit they were wrong. In our country, the wealthy will continue to protect their assets, climate be damned. They somehow think their money will save them.
As for inflation, it’s hitting hard everywhere. Here in the States, the government has only minimal tools to make any kind of a dent in it. Of course so many uneducated voters don’t understand the free market economy and blames our current administration. Biden did release oil from the reserves to bring the cost of gasoline down, but sadly it hasn’t seemed to have affected the cost of anything else. There seems to be a lot of corporate greed in play here, in my opinion.
I do appreciate the bill that was just passed giving lots of funding to modifying our infrastructure for electric vehicles etc.
And the overturning of Roe v Wade may have inadvertently given the liberals an edge in upcoming Congressional elections in November. The majority of American favor abortion access, and are really pissed. We may see some conservatives booted out. The laws some individual states have passed in regard to abortion are horrifically Draconian. There has been a case of a 10 year old girl who was raped and got pregnant having to go out of state to have her pregnancy terminated. That’s just so wrong.
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com