I’ve watched this movie in my own country long enough to recognize it in yours. They stand at the podium, all heavy-hearted about the cost of living. It’s their number one priority, they swear. Then they keep handing over the runway so somebody else’s bombers can keep the war going — the same goddamn war that’s jacking up the energy bill and the grocery bill. That’s not a priority. That’s a costume.
Ten unions. 2.3 million working people. They put it in writing: revoke the permission, stop the airstrikes launching from British soil. And the government’s answer is, ‘We did not join offensive action.’ Meanwhile the Americans are loading munitions at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and flying out of Diego Garcia. You don’t need a law degree to know what it means when the bombs take off from your land and the bill lands on your kitchen table.
The union letter does the math for anyone with eyes: £221 on the annual energy bill since the war started. £32.80 a month on food, and climbing. That’s the cost of living crisis. It didn’t fall out of the sky. It was launched.
And who do you think is smiling? The big oil companies. Oil companies don’t make record profits from peace. They make them from the squeeze — ships stuck, supply tight, prices up.
So Burnham and Miliband can call it defence all they want. I call it the same goddamn scam I’ve been watching at home: the people who start the war aren’t the people who pay for it. Families at the checkout are. The unions handed Burnham the receipt, and he’s still standing there pretending his hands are clean.
Eat shit, Prime Minister. Your ‘number one priority’ is a lie with a press release stapled to it. Take your ‘one last chance’ talk and shove it up the missile bay. That war you’re hosting is the bill your people can’t pay. And don’t hand me any more of that horseshit about defence.
Source story: UK unions urge Burnham to revoke US access to RAF bases over Iran war.