After the melodrama which has been playing out since Labour's electoral collapse on 7 May, the King's Speech on 13 May fell flat as a pancake.
You'd think that Starmer might at least have added one or two "radical", ear-catching policies, to show that he really did "get it" as he'd claimed in his own post-disaster speech. Or to prove that after all, he wasn't "the worst prime minister in British history"! But perhaps he understood it was already too late.
The bookies are taking bets on who will replace him. Andy Burnham was the favourite - but now it seems Wes Streeting is odds on... Of course, changing prime ministers is an all-too-familiar game in British politics. During the Conservatives' last b years in office they sent 3 different PMs in to bat for them, only to find themselves being bowled out by snake-oil salesman Nigel Farage...
That said, who can possibly be looking forward to this distasteful beauty contest with its narcissistic self-promotion, grand-standing and noxious hot air? And who really thinks that "change" is going to come by way of a new prime minister, a new cabinet, or even a new government? When in power they're all reduced to dancing to the tune of the capitalists and their markets, to keep this decrepit economic system going for a bit longer.
England's forgotten republic
"Change" say all the politicians, nevertheless, and point fingers at each other for not producing it, as if it could be pulled out of a hat! But history teaches us that it's only a revolution which can change the social and political basis of society. And it's a good 386 years since this country had one. At the time, it overthrew the monarchy, kicked out the bishops and the Lords, chopped off the King's head and declared a secular republic!
But as usual the English were a bit ahead of themselves. Society wasn't yet advanced enough to for this new system - so by 1680, the feudal and religious trappings had been restored to the state apparatus. Although not in full. Parliament now ruled and a King or Queen was thenceforth to remain a figurehead.
Today, we're still stuck in the rut which was dug 4 centuries ago (happy "ground hog day" to all!) and so the class system, retained in simplified form under capitalism, is still celebrated every year with the spectacle of a doddering feudal remnant introducing the latest programme of legislation - as if it was actually "his" government!
Of course, it's a con. No matter which party wins an election, its bills for legislation are pre-ordained to maintain the capitalist economy's fundamentals. So no matter what, the working class will stay in its place, and the poor will remain poor. Or, in fact, get poorer, thanks to the latest crisis caused by the King's pal, Donald, his pal, Benjamin - and with the surreptitious help of soon-to-be-former PM, "Sir" Keir.
This sick system needs overthrowing
One symptom of the bankruptcy of the politics which emanate from this antiquated and failing system is the way that workers' sick pay is under attack. Stay off work just a few days and Inhuman Resources are immediately on your back!
Labour's Secretary to the Treasury, sitting uncomfortably in a BBC studio, was asked why no "Welfare Reform Bill" had been announced by the King. So he explained that welfare would be cut in other ways. For instance, by clamping down on those who "claim" to be unable to work. He added that the government will make sure that "it never pays to be sick" One wonders if he could hear what he was saying.
As the improvements in conditions it has won in the past are taken away, one by one, the working class here in Britain certainly needs urgent change. But so do workers everywhere else in the world - and in some places, far more so.
If there is to be any progress for humanity into the future, it will be necessary to harness all of the world's resources for the benefit of all of its population. That would require the setting up of a central "world government" in order to plan production on an international scale, according to need. There'd be no space for profits. This is the only way that we'll be able to say goodbye to the class system and workers' exploitation for good!
For this to happen there will need to be a revolution: as Marx called it - "the engine of history" to pull us forward. It will require the energy and participation of all those who produce everything we need and who operate the cogs and wheels of this society. We will need everyone's talents to build an entirely new social and economic system. And not for the sake of the "British people", nor under any national flag, but for the sake of the whole of our rich and diverse human race - the one and only race which exists on this planet.