Deals, Gadgets and Trinkets

### Reader’s letter to The Guardian, 9th August 2024 ###

Dear Editor,

I read Larry Elliot’s article on the current riots in the UK (The Guardian, 8th Aug 2024, link below) and strongly agree that, as well as condemning the riots, governments (everywhere!) need to urgently look at the causes of the dissatisfaction which leads to violence.

In the picture accompanying the article one of the demonstrators is holding a placard with the text: “Can’t afford rent? Blame billionaires … not immigrants”. Indeed, yes, every time I visit London and take the train south from Blackfriars I am astounded by the panorama of developments out along the Thames which are obviously driven by billionaires, by offshore capital and by speculative investment funds.

However, it is not simply a question of making the billionaires pay but rather that we need to focus in on the rapacious business-models which not only make these people obscenely rich but also rip the heart out of our societies … both in the UK and here in Germany.

For example, where, in the past, you could expect to find stable employment or open up a small business which would support your family, now everything is “precarious” with multinational corporations and online giants using their power to maximise profit, resulting in massive disruption of economies, communities and individuals.

Unfortunately it is not only the billionaires and their companies who are to blame because we (each and every one of us) are the ones who generate their wealth: We turn away from local shops and established businesses and clamour to pick up deals, gadgets and trinkets dangled by The Big Players. Evidence of this are the countless delivery trucks which now clog our cities and the boxes which pile up on our doorsteps.

Things will only ever change when governments start to rein in this madness. But we, the voters and consumers, will never agree to having our toys taken away so It does not bode well for the future.

Yours,
Alan Mitcham

Link to original article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/aug/08/labour-riots-violence-economic-social-factors