Today’s data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) offer a horrific glimpse of a winter of poverty, hunger and cold for millions of the poorest people in Britain. The ONS reports that:

Electricity prices rose 18 per cent year on year, up from 12.6 per cent in July. Gas inflation soared to 27.7 per cent year on year in August, up from 12.9 per cent in July…

…Food inflation continued to move upwards, reaching a record 14.5 per cent on the year, up from 13.7 per cent in July. This was largely due to a rise in cereals and breads, particularly breakfast cereals and pizzas. Bread and cereals rose to 17.4 per cent on the year, up from 15.9 per cent in July.
Meat prices increased once again, reaching 17.1 per cent year on year, up from 16.3 per cent in July.

It adds that Retail Price Index inflation fell to 4.8 per cent.

The striking thing is the lack of comment on these figures. The attack on Gordon Brown is coming from the Blairite right and has more to do with electability and presentation than political content. Fiona Mc Taggart and David Cairns, the minister no one had ever heard of who resigned today, are not picking a fight with Brown because he is leading the Labour Party too far to the left. The most audible critics at the moment are as neo-liberal as the cabinet mainstream. The fact that the people on the lowest incomes are seeing these rapidly eroded every time they buy a loaf of bread is just not part of the debate.

Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England is commendably honest. He is saying “the expected peak in inflation later this year is now likely to be significantly higher than anticipated”. That means things are going to get worse.

Labour is now an accomplice in the war against the poor. The pay cuts imposed through below inflation pay rises are well understood. What has escaped our attention is what is happening to people who are surviving on state benefits. Expect record numbers of pensioner deaths and the courts to be clogged with villains who’ve been nicking food from Tescos. That has started already.

In the meantime here’s a perky pop song to take your mind off things. The music starts at1.23.