God Bless The Child That's Got His Own

[smokingboot]

There's this from Martin Lewis;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DgCHblN_x0

He's well respected for knowing his stuff. Could be wrong of course, I hope so.

I cannot believe people may be facing these terrible issues, can't believe that people may have to choose between eating and keeping warm. Grotesque.

On a friend's FB page someone I don't know talks about people taking a stand and not paying; Martin mentions that possibility here. And there's these people: https://dontpay.uk/

One quote from the Dontpay page struck me;

"Mass non-payment is not a new idea, it happened in the UK in the late 80s and 90s, when more than 17 million people refused to pay the Poll Tax – helping bring down the government and reversing its harshest measures."

I remember the poll tax - I was at Edinburgh University at the time it was tried out in Scotland. Some wag managed to sabotage the whole thing by what seems to have been an early computer hack, substituting the names of 500 dead people for living ones every few weeks. Later, when it was being pushed through in England, and I had started work down south, the most memorable protest I saw was comprised of posh ladies, W.I stalwarts, plus the twinset and pearl brigade and yummy mummies pushing prams, all being led by a single embarrassed looking policeman. These were tory heartlanders, Conservative and conservative; they did their sums and were very law-abiding indeed. They were protesting, not because they wouldn't pay but because they couldn't pay.
I knew then that Thatcher was done.

While I can see the parallels, there seem to be major differences to me.

"Even if a fraction of those of us who are paying by direct debit stop our payments, it will be enough to put energy companies in serious trouble, and they know this. We want to bring them to the table and force them to end this crisis."

Are they not more likely to cut their expenses, i.e lay off staff? Who does that help?

I'm no-one to comment on this matter, being as warm and safe as is possible in such times. But there's poverty in Scotland. There's poverty everywhere.

I hope Martin's wrong.