2017 was a bad year, with more people on zero hours contracts, and other exploitative working arrangements; people in full time work who are reliant on food banks; the continuing creeping privatisation of the NHS, and other scandals.
What I want you to do in 2018 is complain, in writing.
If you are middle class, then dust off that degree certificate, and put it to some use. Articulate. Decide what it is that you don’t like, identify whose responsibility you think it is, and write to them, on expensive paper.
Keep writing to them, until they give up.
If you are working class, then you don’t need to dust anything off, because any letter you write will come with a complementary thunderbolt. You have the capacity to scare the hell out of the ruling elite, at your fingertips.
The complainer’s handbook is Whitaker’s Almanack. You can find it in your local library (if it’s still open, of course.) You can buy it from Waterstones, but it costs £90. It contains, among other things, the address of every government department, every local council, and every other organisation that might be considered to be an emanation of the state.
If you are living with a disability and need more access or support, complain. If you are being discriminated against, complain. If you are on low pay, or unemployed, complain. If your housing needs are not being met, complain. If you are worried about environmental issues, complain. If your transport needs are not being met, complain. If your health needs are not being met, complain. If you can’t get access to education, complain. If you work in the arts and can’t get funding, complain. If there is a humanitarian crisis that you think requires our effort, complain. If there are other people in your community who are experiencing injustice and who can’t advocate on their own behalf, complain.
Complain, complain, complain. In writing.
In the era of paper-based offices, desks would usually have two trays on them, “In” and “Out”. Let’s make 2018 the year of the tray labelled, “Oh, Bloody Hell.”
iamhyperlexic 