Liz Truss is now the new Prime Minister. Johnson, Sunak or Truss: it will make very little difference. The entire conservative party is now in the grip of an extremist element that seeks to carry out the wishes of their funders, a horrific mix of right wing ideologues, greedy billionaires and Russian oligarchs. (Watch this from Peter Oborne)

The conservative party and their funders care not a jot for the health and welfare of the British people. They are slowly and deliberating destroying the NHS in order to bring in an American system that maximises profits for companies but means ordinary people cannot afford adequate health care and consequently become homeless and destitute. It is deliberate.

For this Government the energy crisis is essentially a profit generating opportunity, so warmth and comfort of citizens or action on the climate crisis are totally ignored. Had the UK invested more in renewables, grid interconnection, energy storage, home insulation and higher standards of energy efficiency in everything from lighting to public transport, we would not be in the mess that we are in today.

Our rivers and coasts are polluted with sewage, phosphates and much else. Water privatization has made huge profits for offshore companies and shareholders, but with devastating costs to the ecology of our rivers and coasts, and to human health and wellbeing. We could have done things so very differently.

Health care, energy infrastructure, water and sewage systems should all be in the public realm, owned for objectives other than profit, such as the health and wellbeing of people and of ecosystems.

Many, many voices are calling out for a change in direction. Few of them are within parliament. The conservatives are wedded to this destructive agenda and Labour and LibDems in general offer some ideas that are essentially tinkering around at the edges, rather than a radical restructuring of the British economy.

My book ‘System Change Now!’ seeks to paint a picture of a better system, for the UK and for the world as a whole. Next week I start a book launch tour where I will be speaking about the book and the kinds of changes that might reverse a whole matrix of interlinked crises: climate, ecological, social, economic and political. There are currently five events lined up in Hereford, one in Kington and several others in the process of being set up in surrounding towns and villages. See the dates and venues here.