With tens of millions facing severe hardship, if not outright destitution, this winter, Britain today resembles nothing so much as a tinderbox awaiting a spark. Everywhere you look, the landscape is one of ever-worsening neglect and decay: real wages plummeting at record rates, the health service on its knees, beaches and beauty spots encrusted in shit. After more than four decades of Thatcherite hegemony, both major Westminster parties in its thrall, the end result is a society held together (but only just) with gaffer tape.

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, or Ofgem — one of many useless government agencies captured by the industries they’re supposed to regulate — added to the misery last week with its latest energy price cap hike. From October 1, the price cap (if we can still call it that) will rise to £3,549 a year for the average household dual-fuel bill. Forecasts for next year are even bleaker: one, from market consultancy firm Auxilione, predicted that bills would hit £5,632 a year from January, before climbing even further to £7,700 from April.

The debate of recent weeks about the rights and wrongs of refusing to pay your energy bill seems almost quaint now. The reality is that, with prices at these levels, people simply won’t be paying regardless of any niceties; Citizens Advice has estimated that from January, 13 million — equivalent to nearly one in four UK households — will be unable to afford their energy. The 4 million largely poorer households on prepayment meters, which very often serve to trap people in fuel poverty, face energy costs of £714 a month by January.