I’m so bored with the USA: Rebel Rebel

 

“Where’d you wanna go?

What can I do for you?”

 

 

Is this the week of the rebels?

 

We have the ongoing denial of climate change, pro-Palestine anti-Israel chants at Glastonbury, Labour backbenchers putting the government in their place, , and the rise of Zohran Mamdani in the US.

As we all roast in the heat, a quick look at climate change and its deniers.

Whilst Fortescue more than 200 international scientists and governments, including fossil-fuel-rich Russia, USA and Saudi Arabia have signed off a report that finds that that humans activities like burning fossil fuels are to blame for the recent hotter climate, Richrd Tice, Reform’s deputy leader dismissed scientific consensus on man-made climate as “garbage”, saying: “There’s no evidence that man-made CO2 is going to change climate change. Given that it’s gone on for millions of years, it will go on for millions of years.”

Just think. Dickie could be deputy PM!!!

 

Richrd Tice, Reform’s deputy leader dismissed scientific consensus on man-made climate as “garbage”

 

 

Now we turn to Glastonbury, which, alongside many of the artists performing there I find immensely irritating.

Popular music has, from the days of Woodie Guthrie, Billie Holliday, Bob Dylan onward, long been a source of protest. This weekend both took it a bit too far in their condemnation of Israel and their “activities” in Gaza. Having said that many in the crowd clearly felt the same.

CMAT and the Libertines shouted “Free Palestine” during their sets – as did Gary Lineker at the end of his talk – while Joy Crookes, TV on the Radio, Sorry and Paloma Faith all had Palestinian flags or keffiyeh scarves on stage.

During her set early Sunday afternoon, the musician Nadine Shah performed in front of a backdrop showing the destruction in Gaza. She told the crowd, many of whom were waving Palestinian flags: “I just don’t like seeing people being killed.”

I suspect that for both Kneecap and Bob Vylan this might turn-out to be the defining moments in their careers. Looking back to those heady punk days of 1976, in December of that year four lads and their entourage went on the “Today” programme. What followed was hysteria defined by the headline “The filth and the fury”. Yes, the band continued, I might say limped-on, but it was never the same after that. Prior to their implosion in 1978, the band played barely a handful of gigs in the UK after that TV show.

Perhaps the most thoughtful response and condemnation of these comments came from the health secretary, Wes Streeting: “….I’d also say to the Israeli embassy, get your own house in order in terms of the conduct of your own citizens and the settlers in the West Bank. So, you know, I think there’s a serious point there by the Israeli embassy I take seriously. I wish they’d take the violence of their own citizens towards Palestinians more seriously.”

One-year ago, Keir Starmer walked into Downing Street with a promise: the country had voted “for change. For national renewal. And a return of politics to public service.”

Unfortunately, a year on he seems to have completely forgotten this, and last week saw the governments third U-turn in as many week, as they postpone their proposed welfare bill. Unfortunately, the latter looks less like a full U-turn than a partial climbdown designed to avert open rebellion.

The welfare bill which centred around axing to funds for disabled people, was and still is, unsellable. Polling from More in Common finds 44% of Britons think that welfare reforms are too harsh and only 10% too lenient. A majority think this is purely cost-cutting, not motivated by support for vulnerable people.

 

‘The welfare bill which centred around axing to funds for disabled people, was and still is, unsellable’

 

 

The PM seems determined to press, and whilst existing personal independence payment (“Pip”) claimants have a stay of execution from the proposed new, tighter assessments, around 430,000 new Pip claimants who would qualify under current rules still face being excluded when tougher criteria arrive in November 2026.

Also, the health element of universal credit will no longer be frozen for current recipients, but new claimants will be placed on a reduced rate unless they meet a higher threshold. All Pip awards are periodically reassessed, implying that all recipients could eventually face the new scheme.

All this can be summarised thus: a two-tier benefit system for people with identical conditions, meaning their support could differ by £6,560 p.a., according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

This is frighteningly similar to the actions of Iain Duncan Smith who pioneered a slow, procedural tightening of welfare, hitting new claimants first, then reassessing the rest. In opposition Labour opposed this ploy, todays they are doing the same.

The government clearly need to raise money, but picking on those that can’t hit back is the Tory way. Its time Labour remembered who it is and started asking more of those with the broadest shoulders.

‘Its time Labour remembered who it is and started asking more of those with the broadest shoulders’

 

The bill has taken on a life of its own, as such there is the risk that this becomes the governments defining moment with this becoming the narrative of the Tory-centric media.

Again, this is an example of the government failing to handle the media. It’s clear that the majority of the media is anti-Labour, but, today, the press is less important. The internet, through sites such as X, allows for direct communication with voters, this is where labour must improve.

Whilst I am the first admit disappointment with the Starmer government, they have successes to shout about:

 

• Free school meals, when rolled out to all on universal credit, will lift 100,000 children out of poverty, saving parents £500 per child each year.
• The national living wage rose by 7%.
• Investment post-austerity means £20bn to expand the schools building programme over the next decade.
• NHS waiting lists are falling.
• This week the PM announced £150 off energy bills for an extra 2.7m households.
• Better borrowing rules will allow for huge capital investment, especially on green energy and nuclear reactors
• Chancellor Reeves raised £40bn in tax from businesses and the rich which is far more than Blair and Brown’s first year., and in more difficult circumstances

 

Labour needs to remember what happened to the LibDems and their coalition with the Tories in 2010. They became tarred with the austerity brush, and in the 2015 general election they went from 23% of the vote and 57 seats to 7.9% and 8 seats.

Last week saw another of the governments “get tough, Reform beating policies” dragged through the mud, as Albania’s PM, Edi Rama, said of our plan to send refused asylum seekers to “return hubs” in third countries: “It’s one of those things that 10 years ago would simply not have not been imaginable … that Britain would look for places to dump immigrants.”

But it was in keeping with the shift in public discourse in Britain since Brexit, in which the “totally unacceptable, totally ridiculous, totally shameful” had become normalised, he said.

“The fact that today it’s not just imaginable, it’s happening, is not because of Keir Starmer or [Rishi] Sunak doing something outrageous; it’s because of the country being in a very dark place.”

Starmer’s visit in May was aimed at putting bilateral relations on a new footing. While in Tirana, the Labour leader said talks were under way “with a number of countries” to set up the hubs. But, Rama said in a joint press conference that Albania would not be participating in the scheme.

 

‘it’s because of the country being in a very dark place’

 

Before ending it wouldn’t be fair to miss the latest updates from Trump’s America.

His “big, beautiful” finance bill passed its first procedural hurdle in a 51 to 49 vote, with two Republican senators voting against it.

The megabill would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump’s main legislative achievement during his first term, cut other taxes and boost spending on the military and border security. Nonpartisan analysts estimate that a version of Trump’s tax-cut and spending bill would add trillions to the $36.2-tn US government debt.

Elon Musk, Trump donor and former buddy, said: “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk wrote above a comment from a green energy expert who pointed out that the bill raises taxes on new wind and solar projects.

“Utterly insane and destructive,” Musk added. “It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”

Some lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving healthcare through Medicaid. Meanwhile, conservatives worried about the nation’s debt are pushing for steeper cuts.

Interesting, as Congress debates these Medicaid cuts, more than 700 rural hospitals face the risk of complete closure. Also, 100 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies over the past 5-yrs because the business line ranks among the least profitable

Source: American Prospect, 19th June 2025

 

‘100 rural hospitals have stopped delivering babies over the past 5-yrs because the business line ranks among the least profitable’

 

The nonpartisan congressional budget office has said that under the House-passed version of the bill, some 10.9 million more people would go without healthcare and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid.

Inequality in the US is amongst the highest of any developed country. As John Burn-Murdoch of the FT wrote the U.S. as “a poor society with some very rich people.”

For all those MAGA voters in the rust belt who voted for Trump, he isn’t the answer he symbolises the problem. However, their might now be an answer, Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist running for mayor of NYC.

Mamdani offered principles and plans that speak directly to our need to tackle inequality head-on. A rent freeze for stabilized tenants, fast and free buses for all, and universal childcare from six months to five years are all proposals that meet the moment. We can tax the rich, he pledges, to make New York liveable for all.

New Yorkers backed that vision. Over 50,000 volunteers knocked on north of 1.5 million doors after Mamdani’s campaign launched last October. Volunteers on one side, $25 million of billionaire and corporate cash on the other.

Speaking at a thinktank in Washington on Thursday, Democratic senator Elissa Slotkin, a relative moderate who represents battleground state Michigan and is viewed as a rising star in the party, said New Yorkers made two demands crystal clear.

“People, just like in November, are still really focused on costs and the economy and their own kitchen-table math – and they’re looking for a new generation of leadership”. Of Mamdani’s campaign, Slotkin added: “We may disagree on some key issues but understanding that people are concerned about their family budget – that is a unifying thing for our coalition.”

Whilst this might just be a big city phenomena, there are signs that times may have changed, Mamdani’s pro-Palestinian views did not prevent his decisive victory – nor were they central to his campaign. Instead,

he kept a laser-focus on affordability, with policy goals including a rent freeze, free buses and universal childcare.

King Donald reacted predictably, argued that a Mamdani victory was “inconceivable” because he perceived the candidate to be “a pure communist”.

He added: “Let’s say this – if he does get in, I’m going to be president, and he’s going to have to do the right thing, or they’re not getting any money. He’s got to do the right thing or they’re not getting any money.”

 

 

‘Are you listening Prime Minister? Mamdani sounds like you party used to’

 

 

According to the city’s comptroller, last year over $100bn flowed to the city from the federal government through different entities and programs.

In response, Mamdani said he was inspired by the US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr, who once remarked: “Call it democracy or call it democratic socialism. There has to be a better distribution of wealth for all of God’s children in this country.”

Are you listening Prime Minister? Mamdani sounds like you party used to.

 

 

“I don’t believe illusions ’cause too much is real

So stop your cheap comment, ’cause we know what we feel”

 

 

‘As you might guess with a title of Rebel, Rebel, this piece is about Rebels!

We start with climate change, given the weather globally, not just in the UK, how can anyone be in denial?

Next up we have those naughty boys, Kneecap and Bob Vylan, both of whom have the establishment and hard-right foaming at the mouth.

Their crime, if there was one, was that they took it too far. However, the fact that packed crowds and other artists have similar sentiments, shows what people feel about Israel’s actions.

I suspect both  Kneecap and Bob Vylan end-up being too hot to handle, and this might be the high point of their careers.

The government too, has fallen foul of rebels over its proposed welfare cuts. The PM clearly thinks he can kick the can down the road, and this will go away. As such, he is mistaken and, once again, not listening, or listening selectively.

Really this is simply more confirmation of my article “Personality Crisis”. He, his advisers, and other senior ministers are sadly out-of-touch. Or, as the Albanian PM said, perhaps they represent what is post-Brexit Britain?

We finish with a brief look at Zohran Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist running for mayor of NYC. He appears to be a breath of fresh air, and just what we need, rather than the stale halitosis of Nigel Farage.

Lyrically, unsurprisingly we open with Bowie and “Rebel, Rebel”, and as I suspect both Kneecap and Bob Vylan will end in similar vein to the Sex Pistols, we end with “Pretty Vacant”.

Perhaps there are signs that enjoyment may return!

Philip.’

@coldwarsteve
 

 

 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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