The Critical Commentator

The Gas Cooker Spencer Gore (1878-1914) Photo Credit: Tate [CC BY-NC-ND] All governments are struggling to find solutions. But there is a sense of urgent engagement in the EU that has been lacking in the UK. European governments are scrambling to find ways to protect households and businesses and the Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency is weighing calling an emergency energy summit to discuss bloc-wide price caps.  Many countries have already taken action. Spain has capped gas prices for a year, halved VAT on energy bills and slashed another tax on electricity to 0.5% and is taxing energy companies more, transferring the money to needy customers. Italy this month approved a new energy aid package worth 17bn euros, on top of 35bn euros earmarked since January for cost of living subsidies, and also aims to tax companies profiting from higher energy prices. Low income earners are getting a 200 euro extra payout. France has forced the state-owned electricity uti...

  The Lazy Girl Henry Nelson O'Neil (1817-1880) Photo Credit: Tunbridge Wells Borough Council [CC BY-NC] An audio clip, featuring potential prime minister Liz Truss has appeared, which criticises the British work ethic. ... In the recording, which dates from Truss's days as chief secretary to the Treasury, she put Britain's low productivity down to "working culture": she believed "more graft" was needed. ... She might also come clean about her enthusiasm for Chinese working practices, which she compared favourably with British ones in her recorded conversation. The working norm in China is known as "996" - 9am to 9pm six days a week. I doubt a 72-hour working week would go down a storm with the Red Wall. *   Nor would it solve the productivity problem, the causes of which are multiple, as are the potential solutions. Getting people to work longer hours is not among them. In Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany - the richest big cou...

  An operation for Stone in the Head Jan van Hemmeson (c.1500 -c.1575) Photo Credit: Wellcome Collection [Public Domain] . The first item on the shopping list. A pair of knee-high socks that cost £380. That's right. Nearly £400 for a pair of socks. Cost of living crisis? What crisis? But these are not ordinary socks. They are laddered, but not by the wearer. Dior's seamstresses are used to adding intricate details to the French house's ready-to-wear collections but the hot accessory in its Autumn/winter collection has been deliberately snagged. The long black socks are made of distressed pointelle cotton with large holes... The lofty price hasn't put real-life customers off. The socks are sold out on the brand's website. (The Times, 2022) Perhaps Dior's seamstresses could add another dimension to their hole ridden socks? Offer to make small holes in their customers' heads to match those in their knee-high socks. At a price, of course. Pre-Distressed Fashion ...

  The eight public pay review boards, we are constantly told, are independent of government and they have just recommended below inflation pay increases for 45 per cent of all public sector staff. The eight boards, which cover 2.5m public sector staff , announced their pay recommendations the day before inflation hit 9.4 per cent. Although it was recommended that NHS cleaners and porters receive a 9.3 per cent rise, most staff were recommended no more than 5 per cent. Particularly hard done by was one of Truss's favourite groups of public sector employees, the armed forces, who have their own pay review board. They face having to take the "offer" of a 3.5 per cent rise on the chin as it is illegal for a non-civilian member of the armed forces to join a trade union, let alone strike. The extent of the eight pay review bodies' independence can be gauged by the fact that their chairs are appointed by the prime minister! Ministerial sway extends to the other members of th...

  The Smiling Amazon Alexander Christie (1901-1946) Photo Credit: Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums [CC BY-NC] Hundreds of Amazon employees have stopped work at the online retailer's  warehouse in Tilbury in Essex in response to a pay rise of only 35p - about 3% - compared with inflation that is now forecast to hit 13% later this year... It is understood workers at the facility earn a minimum of £11.10 an hour, with those employed for at least three years on a minimum of £11.35. They are calling for £2-an-hour raise but both groups are being offered the 35p deal... Amazon does not recognise trade unions in its UK warehouses, or in most other countries, but the GMB said it would support members on site who had faced disciplinary procedures. The UK action comes after Amazon workers in New York voted to form a union in April as they seek and an hourly wage of $30 (£24), up from a minimum of just over $18 per hour offered by the company... Amazon's current starting rate of £10.50...