… there existed an international organisation that could protect the world against the scourge of war, that acted in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, that settled international disputes by peaceful means.

Wait … there’s been one around since 1945, called the UN. But its solemn Charter, from which we nicked the verbiage above, is just fantasy. The real world under capitalism is better described by a nasty piece of work, Stephen Miller, who seems to have a big say in US policy at present:

“talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world … governed by strength … by force …by power.”

Yep, under capitalism. might is right.

The ONS recently reported that there had been small increases in life expectancy in the UK since the 2019–21 period. However, it also revealed that in 2022–24 there had been decreases in healthy life expectancy (HLE) since the previous period.

HLE is the number of years that people can expect to spend in ‘good’ general health. In the more recent period, HLE at birth was 60.7 years for males and 60.9 years for females. The reductions here are 1.8 and 2.5 years, respectively.

So the chances are that at least a fifth of a person’s life will not be spent in decent health, a situation which is deteriorating. That’s life and health under capitalism!

‘We aim to kill 50,000 Russians a month’, Ukraine’s new defence minister has said. This is an almost 50% increase on 2025 when around 35,000 per month were killed. Since the war began there have been around 1.2 million Russians casualties (killed, wounded and missing). Ukrainians have suffered fewer losses – estimates vary from 500,000 to 600,000 casualties. Another 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers are absent without official leave.

In the cold light of day, all this seems pretty unbelievable. But war and the devastation it causes is a constant feature of the capitalist world, where governments are prepared to sacrifice their populations in support of the economic interests of the tiny minority who own or control the vast majority of the wealth.

Driven to despair by capitalism? UK workers can always call the Samaritans, a help-line run by unpaid volunteers. Sadly, those volunteers also face capitalism’s cruelties, in the form of money-saving cut-backs, office closures and a requirement to work in isolation at home.

‘Having sacked volunteers who dared voice concerns about the proposed closure of half of its branches, the Samaritans’ HQ has slapped them with serious misconduct charges and imposed lifetime bans…’ Whistleblowers speak anonymously, fearing reprisals: ‘Leadership have used the concerns and complaints process like the thought police. They are on career paths, some of them very well paid… most of them will never have had to talk a caller down from suicide…’ (Private Eye, 5 February 2026).