Over the years we have all lamented the decline of our local high streets, noting that the only remaining viable businesses are takeaways, betting shops and charity shops. The energy crisis is set to make things worse unless Britain develops a taste for takeaway salads. High street takeaways are set to see their energy costs go up by as much as 250% which will result in price hikes.

If the aim of any business is to stay in business then this simply isn’t manageable – especially when their customer base is seeing a major hit to their disposable income. This is just one of the many examples we will see more of, with effects rippling throughout the whole economy. Pubs, taxi firms, and all manner of local businesses are looking at a grim future. Internet retail isn’t going to fare much better either. Even if the price of goods stays the same (which it won’t) shipping and packing costs are set to skyrocket.

For poorer households, we’ll see young mums having to think twice about putting the heating or the washing machine on. Life is going to be colder, darker, and dirtier. Politically, this cannot be sustained. Small businesses provide essential flexible employment for mums and young people, The welfare state can’t do all the heavy lifting, nor can the police be expected to keep on top of the crime that goes with times of deep recession.

We also note that services jobs have provided the main supply of jobs for immigrant labour. From car washes to takeaways and delivery drivers, but as household tighten their belts, we can expect immigrants to turn to organised crime within their own ethnic cohorts. That means drugs. At this rate the only people who’ll be able to afford an electric car are the drug dealers.

On that score, we will find the police more ineffectual than ever as local police stations have gradually closed to make way for KFC drive thrus (which will be closing). Police facilities have all be centralised to remote locations leaving coppers spending half their shifts driving to and from their respective bases. Councils will also want to stick their boot in. Last year Bailiffs called in to at least 280,000 homes over council tax debt. We can expect that figure to grow considerably.

Essentially, if welfare organisations and financial planners though Covid was a crisis, they ain’t seen nothing yet. Of all the major crises over the last twenty years, this is the one that will have the most severe and tangible consequences. This is the big one that many of us have anticipated for years, In the wake of Covid lockdowns and twenty years of energy policy neglect, the UK is dangerously exposed. We can also expect a rise in debt defaults, and poorer household forced to install electricity token meters. Some homes will simply spend at least a week of the month without power at all, incurring penalty fees.

It is not yet fully understood how this crisis will affect food prices, but there is set to be a major shortage of sunflower oils used in most food production, and a much bigger food crisis in Africa, resulting in another wave of mass migration. Britain has already filled its hotels and temporary lodgings while the underlying housing crisis continues to bite. This could further contribute to political instability. From the local to the national picture, there is no area of life that won’t feel the impact.

For this, the establishment parties have no answers. Labour wants a “one-off” windfall tax but this can only be done once, and it should be noted we are only at the beginning of a crisis of indeterminate length. Once you’ve hit that nuclear button, you don’t get to do it again and expect those same energy companies to invest in your energy infrastructure. Moreover, a windfall tax is aimed at treating the symptoms. We need a fundamental policy rethink.

These circumstances tend to be the natural feeding grounds for Labour as they pitch their ever more generous welfare offer against greedy and miserly Tories who “don’t care about the poor”. But again, beefing up welfare, necessitating more tax rises, doesn’t make the problem go away. Nor does nationalisation of energy. Regardless of who owns the energy companies, socialism can’t make the wind blow. Paving farmland with solar panels isn’t going to do much for food prices either.

Whether the establishment likes it or not, it is going to have to end its war on fossil fuels. If that means building new coal stations and reopening coal mines then that is what must be done. If that means fracking then so be it. Every aspect of our lives is underpinned by energy, and it must be stable, secure and affordable. There is no room for environmentalist ideology.

On that score, there is no choice to be had among the mainstream parties. There is no fundamental difference between the Tories and Labour. The Tories appear to have declared all out war on the their voter base by reintroducing expensive and useless offshore wind, despite the “green crap” having cost them an outright majority in 2010. Ukip was the main beneficiary of husky-hugging Cameron. The mainstream parties are determined to stick the knife in and twist it.

More disturbingly the Westminster bubble seems to be salivating for more war with Russia. The national interest, and in fact the global interest, is for this war to end as soon as possible. More sanctions will further escalate the conflict, and will result in unanticipated blowback that will only exacerbate the cost of living crisis. The EU may cool off sanctions as it realises its economic fate is tired to Russian gas, but the British establishment wants Ukraine as its proxy to fight to the last Ukrainian. I have never seen the “progressives” this bloodthirsty before. Remainers complained that Britain wouldn’t be “at the top table” but I’m quite glad we aren’t.

Though multiple reports are emerging of the barbaric conduct of the invaders, this is not grounds for escalation. Prolonging the war will only see more of the same. Moreover, worse stories came out of Libya and Syria and nobody gave a tinker’s toss. Are we really willing to plunge all of Europe into darkness and poverty so Ukraine can hang on the the Eastern European equivalent of Doncaster? Putin has proved that he couldn’t blitzkrieg across Europe if he wanted to so talk of stopping Putin “at all costs” is dangerous, thoughtless and stupid rhetoric.

This latest crisis, among many, highlights just how feral our ruling class has gone. There is no end to the misery they will inflict on the British public to serve their own narcissism. Be it saving the planet, welcoming “refugees” or “supporting” Ukraine, no thought whatsoever is given to the everyday needs of the British people who are to endure a virtually unprecedented collapse in living standards.

The danger ahead is that we have no real power in the vote. The system is rigged to ensure our votes do not threaten the incumbents, thus the establishment has no incentive to change course. The social democrat consensus will win out. As bad as that is, it offers no resistance to the the capture of the state by the forces of wokery and environmentalism. Middle class fad politics takes precedence over urgent material needs.

Britain only narrowly avoided widespread civil unrest during lockdown by easing Covid controls. The government had lost its moral authority, and the incoherence of Covid measures led to the public ignoring them. Unlike mainland Europe, we did not see running battles with militarised riot police. Protests were large but generally peaceful, with only a few troublemakers. But that was a situation over which the government had some control. It was in its gift to lift restrictions.

But what happens after a year of mass energy and food poverty, and a winter of no heating? What happens when half a million homes are are keeping an eye out for council bailiffs? What happens when a million or more people slip into serious rent arrears? What happens when we see wave after wave of redundancies and bankruptcies? What happens while crime explodes and the police are too busy pushing diversity agendas? What happens when people have to give up their jobs because they can’t even afford to get to work? We could well be looking at major civil unrest. The anger has to find an outlet if our votes are meaningless. The coming months could see everything fall apart.

Britain weathered the initial departure from the EU far better than most anticipated, and though Covid certainly had a massively disruptive influence, there were winners and losers, and we weathered that storm too. This time, though, there is no relief on the horizon, and few levers the government can pull. They could axe the green taxes and wind subsidies, but if we are to avert a long term depression we need a total change of direction. The green blob must be banished from the Westminster apparatus before they do any more damage. We can’t afford them.