Britain: “Merry belated Christmas everyone – and welcome to a catastrophic New Year!”

If you thought that 2024 was disturbed, it will be seen as nothing compared to what we are about to experience in 2025.

The inauguration of Donald Trump as the President of the United States of America is, on the one hand, an expression of the crisis we face; on the other, the opening of a new disturbed era in world politics, world economics and world relations, the likes of which we have never experienced in our lifetimes.

If Joe Biden is rapidly becoming the ghost of Christmas past, then Trump is certainly the ghost of Christmas future.

Pandora’s Box

Even before his formal inauguration, the President-elect is already threatening to wreak havoc by threatening to annex Greenland, seize the Panama Canal, and force Canada into becoming US’s 51st state, while mocking Trudeau as “governor” – and all before breakfast.

He has considered declaring a national economic emergency to impose tariffs on allies and adversaries. In particular, he has threatened Mexico and Canada with high tariffs, but has now included Denmark, if it resists his territorial ambitions.

This provoked the European Commission to confirm that their mutual defence clause would apply to Greenland in the hypothetical event of military aggression against it, despite the island territory not being part of the EU.

Trump has the world leaders shaking in their boots with all these threats flying around. And that is his intention. It is part of his strategy to make America great again – at the expense of the rest of the world.

Even if he introduces 10 percent of what he says, it will shake the world economy to its foundations, threatening to push it into a new world slump, with all the consequences that means.

As one commentator claimed: “It opens a Pandora’s Box of crises that would likely not be contained…”

And Britain will not escape this calamity in the making.

‘Special relationship’

The so-called ‘special relationship’ between the US and Britain has always been the relationship between a master and servant. It will certainly not save Britain!

Trump has already attacked the Starmer government for its failure to open up the North Sea and get rid of the “windmills”. Into this pantomime has come Elon Musk, acting as Trump’s second in command, who is dabbling in British politics and has developed a special hatred for Keir Starmer, the man with the cemetery smile.

Musk’s attacks on Starmer have become more scathing by the day, entertaining his 211 million followers on X by accusing the British prime minister of covering up sex crimes.

His actions alone threaten to destabilise the government. He has described Jess Phillips as a “wicked witch” and has gone as far as to call for the overthrow of the Starmer government, asking his followers if “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”.

America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 6, 2025

In response, and careful not to offend Trump, the disgruntled Starmer said that in his “book a line has been crossed”. It was like being savaged by a dead sheep.

Musk has openly backed Reform – but when Farage had the effrontery to disagree with him, he urged that the party replace him as leader. He has even endorsed Tommy Robinson with a straight face as a “prisoner of conscience”.

It means that Uncle Sam across the Atlantic is going to make Starmer’s life a misery.

Crisis of liberalism

Without this, Starmer was already facing an unprecedented collapse in his popularity. And it is not destined to improve, given the developing crisis of British capitalism.

With tariffs on the horizon, the ‘special relationship’ is a sick joke. The situation will only deteriorate. As a result, the Starmer government, which has lost public support, will only go from bad to worse. On this trajectory, this government of crisis will face a wipeout at the next election.

With the Tories licking their wounds, having suffered the worst defeat in their history, Reform will attempt to fill the political vacuum with their so-called anti-establishment politics.

Asked what Farage had in common with Corbyn, he replied “anti-establishment”, obviously.

With the Tories licking their wounds, having suffered the worst defeat in their history, Reform will attempt to fill the political vacuum with their so-called anti-establishment politics / Image: Gage Skidmore, flickr

“A sense that the giant corporations now dominate the world that we live in, that politics is very much in the pocket of big corporations”, he said, adding that his politics and Corbyn’s had a “crossover”.

Such is the discontent, there has never been such a vacuum!

The feeling of disenchantment and anger is palpable. There is already profound bitterness at the Starmer government, even after six months in office. Above all there is anger against the establishment, the pillar of big business, and all it stands for.

However, the ‘left’ in Britain is floundering, incapable of connecting with the real mood of bitterness and anger. Soaked in liberalism, these reformists feel downhearted and despondent in the wake of what is happening.

This was reflected in the Guardian by Owen Jones who fretted about the situation in Europe and America, and ended with: “A grim reckoning awaits us.”

The working class is crying out for a real bold alternative that will shatter the status quo. Deep down they are not interested in reforming this rotten system, but doing away with it.

All those who simply talk of taxing the rich and such reforms, without touching the basis of capitalism, are simply regarded as part of the status quo.

What we are experiencing is a crisis of liberalism. People have lost trust in bourgeois democracy and its institutions.

Buckle up

At bottom, the resentment against the establishment is fuelled by the collapse in living standards. The last decade has seen the greatest fall in real wages since the Napoleonic Wars! No wonder people are angry.

The demagogues like Farage are trying to mimic Trump. They are trying to appeal to this anti-establishment feeling, and so can get an echo. With help from Musk’s money they can make an impact.

However, as supporters of capitalism, their ‘anti-establishment’ views are simply hot air; simply demagogy.

The only real answer to these reactionary demagogues – and all those who defend the status quo – is a bold revolutionary programme, linking our day to day problems with the need to overthrow the capitalist system.

Such a programme would expropriate the ruling class, taking over their monopolies and banks, and planning the economy, under workers control and management, in the interests of the majority – with no compensation for the billionaires!

Anything less will not cut it.

To all our readers: Buckle up! We are in for one of a hell of a ride!