The Times They Are A-Changin’: Big Fucks Small 

 

 

“The party blessed me with its future
And I protect it with fire”  

 

 

The term Big Fucks Small is often used in this, and past columns, to highlight how our pursuit of neoliberalism since 1980 has allowed the minority to benefit at the expense of everyone else. 

 

On that note my editor questioned PM Burnham’s “assault on the disposable BBQ industry when the fossil fuel industry is seemingly tickling his tummy.” 

A fair point, and one that perhaps falls under the heading of speed and political expediency. 

Stopping wildfires is a must, and discouraging the sale of disposable BBQ will help. Equally, taking on the fossil fuel industry will only, at best, provide longer-term results. 

Politically, the fossil fuel is well represented by lobbyists, and along with right-wing parties and their media, have been at pains to explain how the “possible” climate crisis is everyone else’s fault. 

In addition, the Iran war has highlighted the need to energy independence with the right seeing the North Sea as the solution. 

At this point we enter the realm of theory and practise. In theory, the reserves in our territorial waters of the North Sea are ours, in practise they are owned by several businesses, some overseas, and their shareholders. 

Just one more example of Big Fucks Small. 

Populism is another example of this; everything centres around a leader who professes to be for the people, when in actuality it’s all about them and their inner-circle. 

 

‘a leader who professes to be for the people, when in actuality it’s all about them and their inner-circle’

 

Populists are singular; single leader, usually a single cause which centres around peoples grievances and provides them with a scapegoat. 

Our own little populist popinjay is Nigel Farage, who’s focus was the EU, and is now immigrants. 

Recently, he was called to account by the parliamentary commissioner for standards accusations he failed to declare gifts and donations has resumed after the Reform UK leader’s re-election as the MP for Clacton. 

In a fit of pique, Farage resigned as an MP, calling a by-election to “pitch the people against the establishment”, unfortunately the establishment, namely the other major parties refused to play, reducing the vote to a mockery, albeit one that cost the taxpayer £250,000. 

Whether Farage assumed or was advised that the enquiry would go away with his resignation we will never know. But, after his re-election, the investigation had restarted. 

Until the revelations about his finances surfaced Farage was seemingly ever-present in the media. More recently he has appeared to be in hiding, but did resurface saying there would be an election in 2027 caused by a debt crisis. 

If we assume this will be public debt not private, it is conceivable that his populism could be the cause. 

 

‘Our own little populist popinjay is Nigel Farage, who’s focus was the EU, and is now immigrants’

 

The country’s debt we are told is at the behest of the bond markets (“markets”).   

Markets tend to regard Populist Politics as a threat, due to the fact that they trade on destabilisation, which undermines stability and raise questions about competency.  

His by-election victory was a farce, and overall polls suggest that his and Reform’s moment has passed. 

What hasn’t passed is the resentments that drove Reforms popularity still remain unaddressed. 

If the traditional parties can resume the role of the grown-ups in the room, and begin to address these issues, the country can once again boast of sound government, which, in-turn will put the country’s  finances on a stronger footing. 

 

‘polls suggest that his and Reform’s moment has passed’

 

However, no article based on big fucks small would be complete without mention of our water industry. There is no finer example of how the few had made out at the expense of everyone else. 

Despite the presence of and a toothless but independent regulator, Ofwat, the water companies still do as they wish. Most recently, more than a dozen firms were given the green light to raise bills even higher, a move PM Burnham has said show the water companies treating their customers as a “bottomless source of funding.”  

He continues, saying the companies must not be allowed to treat bill payers like a “blank cheque”, and was “angry” that households “have been asked to pay more for years, yet serious pollution incidents are at record levels and the pipes are still leaking.” 

This followed Ofwat’s approval for 13 companies to spend £3.4bn more than planned, including to support new homes and datacentres. It said the companies had asked to spend £4.3bn on top of what had been agreed in 2024 owing to unforeseen costs, and it had allowed £3.4bn. 

The new spending will come on top of the £104bn programme of investment approved by the regulator that had already meant water bills will rise by 36% over the second half of the decade. 

The Ofwat proposals immediately sparked further calls for nationalisation of the industry and for Burnham to reject Ofwat’s approval for the extra spending, with the PM repeating his promise that the government would study “how we can give the public more control and help keep bills as low as possible”. 

Clive Lewis, a Labour MP summed-up the situation saying: “I’ll bet you these projects will never see a large chunk of that money. We pay for the system through our bills. Yet almost third of them go to returns for investors and creditors”. 

 

‘no article based on big fucks small would be complete without mention of our water industry’

 

Tim Farron, the LibDem environment spokesperson, said Ofwat was “merely a rubber stamp for failure”, and that hard-working families are “being forced to cough up another £3.4bn to fix a broken water network that greedy executives have neglected for decades”. 

The water industry is a wonderful example of how neoliberalism has failed the majority. 

The industry was privatised between 1989–1991. Since then, the resultant water and sewerage companies have paid out an estimated £65 billion to £85 billion (in nominal and inflation-adjusted terms) in shareholder dividends,  

In addition, when the provers were privatised their debt was wiped out, now it is in excess of  £70 billion. 

Rarely has so much been gained by the few at the expense of their customers. 

 

 

“Bills pile up sky high
Send that boy off to die” 

 

 

This was an unscripted piece inspired by your comments yesterday, regarding disposable BBQs and fossil fuel companies, which, given my esoteric though process led me to consider big fucks small.

Which, as an expression, sums-up how the UK especially has functioned since 1980. Neoliberalism has proven to be little more than fuck you economics, the ultimate survival of the richest.

Unsurprisingly this has caused grievances, which largely explain the success of populism, which trades on representing the people, but, economically just exploits them.

Trump is an example of this, enriching himself, his nearest and dearest, and courtiers, while raining economic chaos on the majority with incoherent policies and wars.

On a final note, in a podcast interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the UK “the Islamic republic of Britain”, and described the country as the “first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon”.

I understand this to be technically incorrect as Pakistan already has this capability.

Israel itself maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity— neither confirming nor denying having nuclear weapons—and is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Are they the first national socialist country to have nuclear weapons?

Lyrically, we start with “Sleep Now in the Fire” by Rage Against the Machine, and end with “Inner City Blues” by Marvin Gaye

Try not to roast!

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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