The pain is set to get worse – and while bosses across the board from energy companies to food companies are blaming the war in the Ukraine I blame the Tories and Margaret Thatcher, along with politicians in all of the other parties.
Ronald Kers, whose 2 Sisters food firm employs 14,000 people and specialises in poultry and chilled foods, said he was already paying 50% more for chicken from farms.With Russia and Ukraine producing a third of the world’s wheat, much of it used for animal feed, there are fears the conflict will have lasting consequences for supermarket prices.The leading UK flour producer GR Wright & Sons has also warned it is “absolutely certain” to raise its prices as the war worsens the cost of living crisis. The rising price of energy, oil and gas are also driving up food production and transport costs which will inevitably be passed on to consumers. (The Herald)
It’s true that when Thatcher left office in 1990 production in the UK was higher than it was when she took office in 1979 if adjusted for inflation but Thatcher destroyed industry and agriculture in the UK, and in Scotland, to pursue a policy of controlling inflation, using oil money, to fund a recession, two recessions really. At the same time
Unemployment raged through Scotland like a cancer and small towns and their residents developed poverty’s sickly pallor. Only the drug industry thrived and Scotland’s very heart seemed broken.(Daily Record)
Thatcher in 1981 said: ”My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with – an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, live within your means, put by a nest egg for a rainy day, pay your bills on time.”
That is still the Tory mantra of today, they don’t care about you and I, they only care about profit, stealing our money, and rewarding their friends. Nothing has changed in my lifetime when it comes to the Tories and the ineptitude of Labour, the Liberals and the other parties. It is absolutely depressing that three generations later we are facing the same issue, rising costs, increased deprivation, ill-health, broken communities, some of which have never healed from the devastation of the 1980’s.
“Thatcher had no compassion, no idea of the poverty we faced”.
That is Johnson and Sunak today, Starmer and Sturgeon may as well be the new Neil Kinnoch for all the use he was when Labour Leader during Thatcher’s rein of terror that still haunts us even now. Mr Kers said that if the war continued for months it could fundamentally alter the UK food market, with the country importing less and producing more at home. That’s the key isn’t it? Tory and Labour Policy over the years has seen the UK become not only the sweat shop of Europe with low paid and insecure employment, predominantly based on the service industry, but we stopped making the things we really need, like food.
It’s easy to blame the war in the Ukraine for all of our ills, the Tories will exploit this as far as they can to take people’s minds off of the shit show that has been their governance since 2010, while Starmer and Sturgeon will blame the Tories,rightly so, while also ignoring their own failings like zero opposition at Westminster and a total failure to move Scotland one centimetre closer to independence.
United Nations has condemned the British government’s “punitive, mean-spirited and often callous” treatment of the country’s poorest and most vulnerable
In 2018, before Covid and before the Ukraine war, the UN stated that successive governments (Tory and Labour) had overseen a systematic dismantling of the social safety net, suggesting the introduction of universal credit and significant reductions to support had undermined the capacity of benefits to relieve poverty. “British compassion for those who are suffering has been replaced by a punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous approach,”
That continues to this very day when you go to the shops and can’t afford what you did 6 months ago, or when you are telling the kids they now have a house coat and a hot water bottle to replace central heating as it is too frightening to switch it on. What was Sunak and Johnsons response to this crisis, a £200 loan that you will pay back via your energy bills to help you pay for your energy bills and they called it a grant.
We let those bastards do this to us year on year, through ignorance, through fear, through laziness and political illiteracy, we don’t learn from our recent past we repeat it. Even yesterday Professor James Mitchell said of the SNP Government at Holyrood “the centralisation by the Scottish Government ran counter to the hopes and expectations for devolution when it began in 1999”.
The result was “insularly British with a Holyrood cherry on top”.
Rather than build something different we have allowed the political parties to build a mini Westminster in Scotland with even less accountability than the shit hole that is supposed to be the mother of all parliaments. We didn’t have enough balls in 2014 to vote for something better, and today the SNP and Nicola Sturgeon don’t have the balls to act in the face of what will become another Thatcher like 80’s human tragedy and like then it is the poorest and the most vulnerable who will pay a very heavy price.
The War in the Ukraine is not to blame, Putin is not to blame, we are to blame, because we have sat on our arse and allowed those scumbag politicians in the Tory Party and the useless politicians in the other parties turn Scotland into an even worse basket case that it has been most of my life. Independence will not be the answer to all of our woes but it would be a start, the sad reality is though I have absolutely no faith in the SNP or Sturgeon to deliver the opportunity to vote for it and even if they did I have zero faith in Scottish voters actually voting yes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.
grumpyscottishman.wordpress.com 
So very true.
Spot on Bruce, great article.
Scotland’s needs to take responsibility otherwise the 20s will be the 80s revisited: T2 Trainspotting in other words.
Duncanio
Totally, we are all to blame and we are repeating the same mistakes that we have been my whole life and you have to wonder when will people wake up and get a grip. We are sliding into the dark hole that was the mid 70’s through the 80’s and 90’s of serious deprivation, more than our usually high disgusting record. The Tories will do everything they can to drive down living standards and costs to business and will be happy for people to starve and the SNP and Sturgeon will do nothing other than blame Alex Salmond for everything. I despair about Scotland now I really do.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
‘UK gas and electricity distribution companies have higher profit margins than any other sector’ – Financial Times – 14/3/22
Yet again (as if it were needed) of the greed and callousness of the UK Establishment. Yet again the SNP happy to go along with this. Yet again, Scotland subsidising rUK. Maybe the real world hardship of energy costs will open the eyes of those who somehow think supporting the SNP in any way is good for Scotland. Maybe not if there isn’t a strong alternative to them.
Yet again, just as with oil, one of Scotland’s greatest assets (energy) may be squandered through a lack of widespread awareness of it’s value. Thomas Jefferson wrote that a well-informed electorate is a prerequisite to democracy. Others can see what the key economic facts are, so why are those politicians that say they want independence not focusing on them since it’s clear that a strong economy is the foundation upon which a strong nation can be based. The voters clearly agree with this.
75% would back independence if convinced it would be good for economy –
https://archive.ph/f4OsG#selection-1539.3-1539.4
It’s also clear just why the UK is so desperate for Scotland to remain in the UK.
8 ways an independent Scotland could spell U.K. economic disaster –
https://archive.ph/cRmnU
Ian
Excellent points and thanks for the links for myself and others to look at. If you ever want to do a guest blog you would be more than welcome 🙂 The SNP have failed us all since Salmond left and the only alternative now is to back Alba / ISP as there is no way on this planet the new British SNP are going to deliver anything other than a Tartan Tory agenda based on the failed economic narrative of Thatcher, whom Sturgeon admired. You just can’t make it up anymore and we are to blame for a lot of it due to ignorance and keeping voting for these clowns. The SNP have been bought and sold for the scraps, like 1707 betrayed again.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Thanks for the offer but the issues have largely been addressed by others such as Common Weal and various bloggers, especially since 2014. The information is there to be used by those that should be leading the political push for independence, but I just don’t see it. Yes it’s a fight against the entire UK Establishment and most importantly of a totally UK biased media, but even when pro-independence politicians are seen and heard (albeit not on the msm), if I were a neutral and listened to the latest Alba update, I’d say that nothing of substance was said. Neal Hanvey mentions “making the case for independence”, as if it’s something that only others haven’t done, yet he doesn’t do so either. Repeatedly stating that “we need to be independent” just won’t cut it with those looking for a solid and substantive economic case for independence.
https://www.albaparty.org/weekly-update-11-3
Voters are being treated like children. The case for independence and the equally important case for leaving the UK are in my view, and with plenty of evidence from others over the years, overwhelmingly positive for both. But unless the political push for independence grows up and becomes serious about it, I don’t see much changing in the years ahead. As the energy crisis shows, in the long term the health of the economy usually trumps other issues, yet you wouldn’t know that from listening to pro-independence politicians. If they don’t make the economic case, then they’ll likely achieve nothing and Scotland will simply continue to decline economically and therefore socially as part of the inevitable and continued economic and social decline of the UK. The saddest part is that a clear majority of voter support is there to back a sound case for independence, particularly with regards to the economy. All that’s needed is for a political party to make that case. As the 90’s saying went – ‘it’s the economy stupid’.
The UK continues to do it’s bit for independence by endlessly showing just how inept/corrupt/indifferent it is. That clearly shows why Scotland needs to leave the UK. What is needed now is evidence that Scotland’s politicians are capable of being more like our northern European neighbours than our nearest neighbour. Provide the necessary information and then it’s down to the voters.
Ian
I agree, none of the parties are really making any in roads at all and I have time for many in Alba but they need to figure out a way to get the message across even though they are squeezed by the Sturgeon funded MSM. Most of the answers are there if people would bother to look and I have no sympathy for no voters who moan about the current crap state of Scotland and the UK. We have never had a worse set of Governments in my lifetime and yet people still prefer to vote No, they bang on about the economy but fail to accept any arguments about the workings of the UK one and the harm it deliberately does to Scotland. I just don’t think I will see independence in my lifetime now at all as the politicians are mostly charlatans and low quality happy to take the scraps from the British table. Scotland is destined to be led by donkeys like 1707 forever, I think it must be in our DNA.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
The SNP are doing very nicely thank you. All that lovely short money for the party and salaries that the benchwarmers wouldn’t have a hope in hell of getting out in the real world. Sturgeon herself will be off to pastures new, to a UN job where the appointment is recommended by the UK PM. The rest of us? Who cares eh? We’re REALLY lucky we’ve got time on our side.
Never, ever thought I’d hate any party/politicians more than Thatcher’s Tories or Blair’s New Labour, but that’s where I am now.
Dave
I’m in the same boat, I despise the British SNP now I really do, they have betrayed us all and Sturgeon has been front and centre from the start. More interested in surrounding herself with no marks, trying to destroy an innocent man via nasty comments, an unbelievable memory for forgetting things and being absolutely shit at her job. They have betrayed us all and are bad as the Tories and Labour, the Scottish version bough and sold as you say. These people wouldn’t work if they had to get back into the real world and I hope many of them do sooner than later.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Another great article Bruce. All so true and painful to admit to and realise just what a state Scotland is in. We gave Sturgeon and her treacherous gang of crooks our all, walked miles delivering leaflets in the true believe this was our time. We were all on a high. Who could believe it, this was it, look out Westminster here we go, good riddance. Then slowly but surely all our dreams we eradicated, dissipated right in front of our noses. Yet we still have the sheep bleating their undying love and adoration for this she her self serving egotistical F.M. I will go to my grave still a slave to the English. Thanks all the Facebook SNP Nikki worshippers, thanks for the betrayal of our country. Saor Alba.
Lara
Totally agree with you, the sense of betrayal is difficult to swallow. Sturgeon the Thatcher admirer, following policies of the Tories like building Ferries overseas and ensuring we remain a part of the union. Betrayal doesn’t even cover it anymore does it and too many ignorant voters in Scotland are equally to blame for not bothering to understand what is done in their name by these charlatans.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
Reblogged this on Ramblings of a now 60+ Female.
Those parasites were enabled by the politicians to fleece the UK. Why didn’t we challenge the UK government in court when it stole the UK’s assets and sold them at bargain basement prices to their friends? Our own, home-grown oligarchs could teach those Russian oligarchs a thing or two!
Every government now is the same: they take decisions that harm the people, and they do it knowingly and deliberately, or they simply don’t have the spine to stand up to those who see every detriment as another opportunity to make a killing. Some of the global companies that pay almost no tax have at their disposal more wealth than the UK economy has or even bigger economies, and it has all be enabled by compliant, corrupt politicians.
Even in matters of obvious harm being the result of decisions taken, they plough on, and that applies to both the lack of movement on independence and on the trans issue. Are they psychopaths? Do they enjoy seeing people suffer and put in harm’s way? You’d actually think so, wouldn’t you?
President Zelenskyy of Ukraine insisted on joining NATO when it should have been obvious to the world and his dog that Putin would make them pay. Nah, just plough on, and look what’s happened. Why was it so difficult for him to settle for neutrality? Now, they’re changing street names in his honour. I think it will be red faces all round when the virtue signallers discover the reality behind the Ukraine-Russian war.
No way am I supporting Putin. What he has done is reprehensible in anyone’s language, and no way does he have any right to invade another state, but it could have been avoided with some deft footwork on behalf of the Ukrainian leadership. All that death and destruction! Politicians everywhere should be working for their people and their welfare, not putting them in danger and in harm’s way, or robbing them blind so that they can line their own pockets and those of their likeminded parasitical pals.
lorncal
It’s all just a game to these clowns. People starve but not them, people are killed but not them. I am sick of all of them now and become more cynical by the day by our politicians and too many of our fellow ignorant Scots. I would give up if it wasn’t for people like yourself who read the blog and encourage me to keep going and holding anyone to account in any small way that I can. We can’t make it up though, Scotland is door mat, it’s in our DNA I think now because the case for independence is clear, the answers are there and even if they weren’t who doesn’t want to live in an actual democracy and not the excuse we have for one and governed by posh boys and girls from the ruling elite that we have been for hundred’s of years and we accept it. If I wasn’t at my age now I would never have returned to Scotland and would get out asap as it’s just a joke of a colony now.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce
“I have absolutely no faith in the SNP or Sturgeon to deliver the opportunity to vote for it and even if they did I have zero faith in Scottish voters actually voting yes, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”
With the 2014 franchise in place, even if a referendum was called, the addition of about 500,000 mainly No voting English settlers and the loss of about 600,000 mainly Yes voting Scots will mean the prospect of success dropping from low to none.
The longer Sturgeon delays the referendum, the more likely No will win. Is this part of her secret plan?
AW
I agree, I don’t think I will see independence in my lifetimes in any shape or form. Sturgeon and the SNP are a devolution party now and the Hanlon article a couple of months ago, no matter what he says, was all about testing the water for Sturgeon and the SNP on devolution because they are cowards and have lost their nerve. A referendum as we know is pure folly now with the amount of people who have moved here from down south, it has to be a plebiscite election and I expect to see Alba / ISP campaign on that front, if they don’t then I will leave Alba and I will give up the ghost and get on with my life.
Thanks for commenting.
Bruce