Many vulnerable households refrain from using heating due to the high cost of energy, according to the End Fuel Poverty coalition

Nearly 5,000 people died in the UK last winter due to living in cold and damp homes as they could not afford the rising energy costs, the latest report from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition has claimed.

The surge in excess deaths underscores the need to upgrade the UK’s housing stock and implement measures to bring down energy bills, the coalition has warned.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition includes Greenpeace, WWF, Green Alliance, Save the Children, and Age UK, among others.

Meanwhile, a study by the Warm This Winter campaign noted that excess winter deaths climb when the temperature in the UK drops below four degrees Celsius.

According to Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, as many as 8.3 million adults in the UK are living in poorly insulated, cold, damp homes and, as temperatures drop, conditions go from being uncomfortable to “downright dangerous.”

“While households struggle, ministers are sitting on their hands and leaving matters of life and death to chance. Instead of taking action on energy bills, they have allowed energy firms to restart using the courts to force households onto prepayment meters and have now ruled out reform to energy tariffs to help those most in need,” he told Euronews on Friday.

Meanwhile, with energy bills set to remain far above pre-pandemic levels this year and beyond, such health dangers are expected to persist this winter following a series of cold snaps, experts warn.

The coalition criticized the British government for a lack of “meaningful” action to help households struggling with elevated energy tariffs. Experts noted that officials “would rather play politics with a ridiculous Oil & Gas Licensing Bill that will do nothing to improve energy security or lower bills.”

“We are very concerned at the level of disinterest shown by the government in the welfare of older people at a time when the temperature is dropping well below freezing,” Jan Shortt, General Secretary of the National Pensioners’ Convention, which is part of the Warm This Winter campaign, said.

The coalition’s report also censured the UK government for its refusal to set up a “help to repay” scheme for those in energy debt and also for its unwillingness to implement a proposed emergency energy tariff aimed at bringing down energy bills for vulnerable households.

Every week, more U.S. cities are calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, where Palestinians face daily lethal assaults from the Isn'treal occupation army. According to a list compiled by Newsweek magazine, city council and other cease-fire resolutions have been passed in Oakland, Richmond and San Francisco, in California, as well as Ann Arbor, Detroit, Dearborn, Hamtramck, and Ypsilanti in Michigan; Akron, Ohio; Albany, New York, Atlanta, Georgia; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Providence, Rhode Island; Wilmington, Delaware; and others.

Image too large. Click link to view Protesters celebrate after Oakland, California, City Council unanimously passes ceasefire resolution, Nov. 27, 2023.

As of early January 2024, 179 labor organizations have also called for an end to the slaughter in Gaza, where over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated twice as many wounded, mostly civilians, including thousands of children.

Among the labor groups supporting a cease-fire or otherwise backing the besieged Palestinians are national unions including Alphabet Workers Union (Google employees), American Federation of Teachers, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, American Postal Workers Union, IUPAT (Painters), National Education Association, National Nurses United, Starbucks Workers United, United Auto Workers, and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE).

Labor-affiliated organizations backing a cease-fire include the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Coalition of Labor Union Women and Jobs with Justice. Many state and local unions, as well as local and regional labor councils, have issued support for a cease-fire. Many are demanding that the Biden administration end its strong backing for the Isn'treal offensive.

Tariq Habash, a Palestinian-American and senior official in the Department of Education, resigned recently from his position because the Biden administration “has put millions of innocent lives in danger, most immediately the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza who remain under continuous assault and ethnic cleansing by the Isn'treal government.”

Image too large. Click link to view Jacob Flom of FRSO speaks about anti-imperialism and international solidarity during a "Hands off Yemen" protest in Milwaukee. | Fight Back! News/staff

Milwaukee, WI – On Saturday, January 13, hosted an emergency protest in front of City Hall following the U.S. and UK airstrikes on Sanaa, Yemen.

Sara Onitsuka, the chair of Milwaukee Anti-war Committee, spoke to the courageousness of Yemen’s efforts in blocking ships heading towards the Zionist entity in response to the genocide against the Palestinian people. Onitsuka explained that despite Yemen experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world at the hands of Saudi Arabia and the U.S., they are still taking their streets in the millions and standing in solidarity for the self-determination of their Palestinian brethren. Further, Onitsuka believes that U.S. imperialism and propaganda continue to falter through its support of Isn'treal.

Onitsuka stated, “The U.S.’s legitimacy on a world scale will sink just like those ships in the Red Sea.”

Robby Knapp from Students for a Democratic Society of UW-Milwaukee expressed the organization’s commitment to defending and expanding student rights globally. However, this cannot be achieved as the U.S. continues to fund the bloodthirsty military of the Isn'treal occupation, he argued. Knapp ended his speech with a list of demands of the present organizations, amongst them that “the City of Milwaukee and its common council draft a resolution both condemning the illegal attack against Yemen and calling for the end of the genocide in Palestine.”

Jacob Flom from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization closed speeches by touching on the endeavors of the organization in fighting against U.S. military interventions for the past 40 years. He explained how Palestine has flipped the world’s order on its head. Flom finished by urging attendees to read up on capitalism and U.S. imperialism, stay active and involved in the community, and continue building strong organizations to oppose the status quo.

Despite the short notice, freezing temperatures, and several inches of snow, 30 people took to the corners surrounding City Hall, holding up signs and chanting in support of Yemen and Palestine.

The protest was organized by Students for a Democratic Society of UW-Milwaukee (SDS UWM), Milwaukee Anti-War Committee (MAC), and Wisconsin Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).

On January 14, one day after the emergency protest, UWM SDS, MAC, and FRSO drafted a resolution titled, “Hands off Yemen! Free Palestine!” and are proposing that the Milwaukee Common Council take action by doing the bare minimum and adopting this resolution.

To read the full statement, check out @sds_uwm, @MKEantiwarcommittee, or @FRSO_WI on Instagram.

Atomic Heart’s “sublime utopian world” was accused of glorifying the USSR

‘Atomic Heart’, a video game set in an alternate 1950s Soviet Union, topped the charts on the Steam digital sales platform upon its release on Tuesday. The title briefly held the number one spot despite not being available to Russian users of the service.

Developed by the Cyprus-based studio Mundfish, ‘Atomic Heart’ managed to briefly dethrone ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ as the top-selling title on Steam, which is the biggest digital distribution platform for PC gaming. The new release soon slipped to a still-formidable second place in the charts, yielding to the overwhelming popularity of the Harry Potter franchise.

‘Atomic Heart’ is a first-person shooter that puts the player in the shoes of a KGB agent “in a mad and sublime utopian world” of an alternate history USSR, shown as a technological wonder of robotics, albeit with a dark conspiracy brewing. The game’s unique retrofuturistic Soviet dystopia aesthetic has been cited as one of its main draws, although the style has also opened the game up to political controversy.

Ukrainian YouTuber 'Harenko' claimed that ‘Atomic Heart’ glorifies the Soviet Union and the KGB, and called on Western players to boycott it. However, multiple American content creators discarded that notion, citing the subversive nature of ‘Atomic Heart’ as a commentary on Cold War propaganda. Some also criticized developer Mundfish – many of whose staff are Russian – for not taking a stance on the conflict in Ukraine. The developers tweeted in January that they “do not comment on politics or religion” and are a “global team.”

YouTube game critic Luke Stephens argued on Friday that boycott calls appeared to mean that “a lot of people are simply engaging in McCarthyism, dismissing this studio, because it has Russians working within it.” He added that this kind of logic was “a slippery slope.”

The game’s success on Steam cannot be attributed to Russian users, as the digital storefront suspended sales in the country in response to Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine. By EarthWeb estimates, there are around 11.5 million Russian users on the platform. Instead, ‘Atomic Heart’ is available for purchase in the country via a service called VK Play.

‘Atomic Heart’ was positively received by critics, with review aggregator Open Critic currently listing it as 74/100 and its Metacritic score standing at 75/100.