ARE we supposed to look at the disastrous economic system that our governments have created over the last decades and support it? Fight for it? Defend it? Or should we rather look at what our politicians have done and want to tear it down brick by brick?

Any notion that our politicians have managed the economy competently was blown to smithereens this week when the OECD - the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - found that Britain’s economy will grind to a halt next year, posting zero growth. We’re the worst of all major industrialised nations - except Russia. That’s how bad our governments have been - how woefully inept the Johnson government is today.

Yet we’re supposed to find railway workers wicked for fighting tooth and nail against this disaster? The breakthrough for Scottish train drivers in their fight over pay is a victory for all ordinary people, beaten down by consecutive British governments which have lined the pockets of MPs and donors, while making average workers shoulder the burden.

Our democracy has been hijacked by bankers abetted by politicians. In 2020-21, the financial sector spent £17.6m lobbying politicians. According to the campaign group Positive Money - comprised of economists demanding a fairer banking system - of the MPs who worked for the finance sector, the average hourly wage was £2738.

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