I sometimes claim that my superpower is knowing the best place to get food in or near every main-line train station in the UK. Much of my adult life has been spent trudging round the country on the railways, and because of that, I’m part of the 35% of the population which supports the RMT strikes.
As a regular passenger, I’m generally in favour of trains being safe. And I’m generally against the people I rely on when I ride them having their pay cut, in real terms. History has shown again and again that strike action is how workers win things like safety and wages. And so, when the railway workers I entrust my life to every time I step onto a train say they need to go on strike to protect these things, I trust them again.
While wages have been stagnant for most people in the country over the last 15 years or so, and are about to be eaten up by soaring inflation, the cumulative wealth of the top ten billionaires in the UK has grown from £48bn in 2009 to £182bn in 2022 – an increase of 281%. There are more billionaires than ever before, and their wealth surged during the pandemic. And it’s not just the oligarchs. Profit levels for the UK’s biggest companies were 73% higher in 2021 than they were in 2019, before Covid struck.
