I was lucky. Last week, I was cycling downhill when I hit a pothole. The front wheel folded into an infinity symbol. I went over the handlebars and, with no time to put my hands out, landed on my face. My helmet and glasses took most of the impact. I emerged, remarkably, with just a few cuts and bruises.
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Austerity – which leaves our potholes, alongside many other gaps in public provision, unfilled – does not save money. On the contrary, it costs us a fortune. What the rich might save in taxes, the rest must pay over and over again.
False economies abound. For example, the government may at last be persuaded to remove the Tories’ vicious, Malthusian two-child benefit cap. But what many people have failed to grasp is that behind it stands another brick wall: the household benefits cap. If families now receive money for a third child, it could push them past the household limit, and they’ll be scarcely better off than before. This household cap has extreme and perverse consequences. It ensures that rents, even in the social sector, are almost everywhere unaffordable to the families affected, most of which are headed by lone parents. The result is that they are thrown into temporary accommodation, which local authorities must provide at far greater expense: roughly £2.3bn a year. Being forced into temporary accommodation also curtails adults’ employment opportunities and children’s performance at school, and generates great suffering, which can translate into physical and mental health problems, which of course means further economic impacts.
In 2019, a parliamentary committee called on the government to “conduct a full cost benefit analysis of the benefit cap”. The government rejected the call, but said it would explore the possibility in future. I checked with the Department for Work and Pensions – it still hasn’t happened.
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Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.
HOUSEHOLD energy debt has soared to £4.43 billion, leaving hundreds of thousands trapped in arrears, new figures revealed today.
Figures from Ofgem show that energy debt has more than tripled since the end of 2020, when the figure stood at £1.45bn.
The regulator reported that there are currently 1,133,683 electricity customers and 926,545 gas customers in debt without any repayment arrangement in place.
The debt is leaving households facing up to an extra £145 a year on their bills to cover the collective shortfall.
End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said: “Energy debt is now driving people into dangerous financial positions as we approach the fifth winter of the energy bills crisis.
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A new analysis by think tank Common Wealth shows that 24 per cent of the average energy bill went towards pre-tax profits by the energy industry.
Robert Palmer, deputy director of Uplift, said: “Yet again while shareholders are celebrating rising prices and huge profits, people are facing stark choices of how to ration their energy.
“Only by supporting struggling households now, improving energy efficiency and getting us off expensive gas through homegrown renewable energy will ministers be able to get a grip on the situation.”
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.Zionist Keir ‘Kid Starver’ Starmer. Image thanks to The Skwawkbox.
Keir Starmer explains that he feels no shame or guilt benefitting personally from gifts from the rich and powerful while insisting on policies of severe austerity causing suffering and death.
[Daily Record] EXCLUSIVE: SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.
The UK Labour Government has been challenged to go “much further” than scrapping the two-child cap on benefits if it wants to reduce number of kids living in poverty.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman has today written to Keir Starmer to insist getting rid of the hated Tory welfare policy should be the “bare minimum – not the height of ambitions”.
It comes amid rising speculation the Prime Minister may use next week’s UK Labour conference in Liverpool to confirm the two-child cap will finally be ended.
Anti-poverty campaigners and charities have long warned the policy punishes larger families and pushes more youngsters into a life of poverty as a result.
The SNP Government has already commited to mitigating the impact of the welfare cap in Scotland from next March.
In her letter, Blackman said: “Independent analysis shows that if the UK government matched SNP action across the UK, it could lift 2.3million families out of poverty overnight, including a further 96,000 in Scotland.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Attempts by Labour’s dominant faction to fix Conference may yet backfire, however.
“A motion to scrap the two-child benefit cap has been blocked from being discussed at Labour’s Annual Party Conference at the end of the month,” reports Left Foot Forward. “The motion, submitted by Open Labour, Compass and Momentum, was rejected by the Labour Conference Arrangements Committee.”
The CAC says that this is because it does not meet the required criteria, including covering “more than one subject” and “does not relate to a new issue not substantially covered in the NPF report.”
The organisations supporting the motion reject this and say the CAC has blocked the motion on tenuous procedural grounds. “Not allowing this motion to be debated is a senseless act,” they responded, adding that blocking the motion is “indicative of the hyper-factional culture at the top of the Labour Party that is stifling progress that will genuinely help people in need in Britain.”
The blocking of the motion by Labour’s CAC seems all the more absurd, given that the Government seems to be rethinking the issue. Partly to breathe new life into her flagging Deputy Leadership campaign, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday branded the controversial two child benefit cap as ”spiteful”. The apparent U-turn comes just months after several Labour MPs were suspended from the Party for voting for it to be scrapped. Some – including former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP – have yet to have the whip restored.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership all feel a small part of Scunthorpe.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
At least hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets across France on September 18, 2025 to protest proposed austerity measures. (Photo by Sébastien Delogu/X)
“We’re in a situation of injustice,” one protester said. “Workers can no longer feed themselves, students no longer have future prospects.”
Echoing demonstrations against French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms two years ago, hundreds of thousands of people joined protests across France on Thursday, outraged by the government’s proposed austerity measures.
While the CGT trade union—one of several labor groups that pushed for the mass mobilization—put the count at over 1 million, French authorities, whose figures are usually much lower than unions, said more than 500,000 demonstrated nationwide, including 55,000 in Paris.
Thursday’s demonstrations followed last week’s ”Block Everything” protests, which coincided with French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s first full day in office. Macron picked Lecornu, his ally and a former defense minister, for the post after François Bayrou lost a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly over the budget plan.
Although “Lecornu quickly scrapped one of the most unpopular proposals—eliminating two public holidays—he has not ruled out the rest,” Euronewsnoted Thursday. “These include an overhaul of unemployment benefits, delinking pensions from inflation, and raising out-of-pocket medical costs.”
🇫🇷 French protesters are staging a day of nationwide disruption in a show of anger over President Emmanuel Macron's budget policies, with mass protests expected, transport chaos and clashes between police and demonstrators. ➡️ https://t.co/xumHsTIQNPpic.twitter.com/z7lGloK8c0
A protester named Alexandre toldEuronews that “right now, we have a government that doesn’t listen to us and is even the opposite of what the population needs. A government that robs fellow citizens, and it’s important for everyone to mobilise, for the people of France who want to be dignified and who also want to give others their dignity throughout the world.”
“We’re in a situation of injustice,” he added. “Workers can no longer feed themselves, students no longer have future prospects.”
Hospital staff, railway workers, students, and teachers were among those who poured into the streets across France—including major actions in cities such as Lyon, Marseille, and Paris—rallying behind the message: “Strikes, Blockades, Macron Get Out!”
The Public Service Ministry said that nearly 11% of France’s 2.5 million state employees were on strike. According toLe Monde, “Around 1 in 6 teachers walked out of primary and secondary schools, 9 out of 10 pharmacies were shuttered, and severe disruption occurred on the Paris metro network, where only the three driverless automated lines are working normally.”
Plus de 120 000 personnes ici à Marseille. 2 caractéristiques : des cortèges très féminisés et beaucoup de jeunes. Un formidable accueil chaleureux. Un slogan partout : Grèves, Blocages, Macron dégage ! pic.twitter.com/o9zTskz8aJ
Protesters want the government to not only kill the proposed austerity measures but also spend more on public services and impose higher taxes on the wealthy. Sophie Binet, the head of the CGT union, said that “the anger is huge, and so is the determination. My message to Mr. Lecornu today is this: It’s the streets that must decide the budget.”
Multiple elected officials with La France Insoumise (LFI), a party founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon that is now part of the Nouveau Front Populaire alliance, shared social media posts about them joining the protests.
“The mobilization of youth continues,” said Claire Lejeune, an LFI member of the National Assembly, after speaking with secondary school students in Essonne who “no longer want this policy that is wrecking their future.”
Citing “the dismantling of public education,” “war policy,” and “ecological inaction,” Lejeune said: “They are absolutely right; in the country, no one wants Lecornu or Macron anymore. I was in support of this peaceful mobilization, alongside the unions and teachers, and faced with a completely disproportionate police setup.”
La mobilisation de la jeunesse continue ce #18septembre !
Les lycéennes et lycéens du lycée Corot ne veulent plus de cette politique qui saccage leur avenir: ni de Parcoursup, ni de la casse de l'école publique, ni de la politique de guerre, ni de l'inaction écologique. Et ils… pic.twitter.com/J26KuL3qAj
Approximately 80,000 police and gendarmes were deployed for the protests. Early Thursday, LFI’s Clémence Guetté, a vice president in the National Assembly, shared footage of officers kicking and shoving a woman.
“Everywhere this morning, the repression strikes and hits without distinction or restraint,” she wrote. “The images reaching us are shameful. Here in Marseille. To everyone, be careful. France no longer has a government: Macron is the only one responsible.”
After the 1 million estimate began circulating, Guetté called the mass action “immense, everywhere, impressive,” and declared: “The people are in the streets! We are going to win.”
As Al Jazeerareported: “Across the country, Palestinian flags were visible as some protesters also stood in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s war on the strip. Protesters blocked the Eurolinks arms factory in Marseille, which is believed to supply equipment to Israel, while holding a large banner that read: ‘Shut down the genocidal factory.‘”
Plus que jamais solidaires du peuple palestinien.
Plus que jamais mobilisés pour obtenir des actes : Sanctions. Embargo sur les armes. Levée du blocus de Gaza.
Ceux qui se taisent ou se paient de mots face au génocide seront jugés par l’Histoire. pic.twitter.com/QOyK9PDVmx
Noting the solidarity with the Palestinian people on Thursday, LFI’s Sarah Legrain called for sanctions, an arms embargo, and lifting Israel’s blockade of Gaza, where civilians are starving to death.
Later Thursday, Legrain celebrated the massive turnout and pledged that “we will keep the pressure up until Macron leaves!”
