The Blame Games

I’ve been hearing people on social media say that the current energy crisis invokes memories of The Hunger Games, which, I understand, is a major dystopian story that enjoyed massive interest in both book and film form. For now it’s a gap in my popular culture but before I go to fill this gap, I’d like to turn your attention to an emerging potential bestseller as long as someone writes it. The Blame Games.

In an op-ed for The Mail on Sunday, outgoing British PM Boris Johnson blamed the cost-of-living crisis in the country singularly on Vladimir Putin. I know, he’s neither the first nor the last politician to blame their internal social and economic problems on the Russian president but he’s taken that round of the blame game a step further, you must admit.

"It was Putin's invasion of Ukraine that spooked the energy markets. It is Putin's war that is costing British consumers,” Johnson wrote, apparently, adding "That is why your energy bill is doubling. I am afraid Putin knows it. He likes it. And he wants us to buckle."

We must admit Johnson has a gift for the dramatic, which conveniently masks the fact it was his government that made all the decisions that led to this crisis. Judging by the reactions of Twitter users to the Sky News tweet with the news, few are buying the argument, which, however, won’t help with electricity bills.

And while the Russian president currently makes the most convenient target for blame-laying as I’ve said on numerous occasions, the games are spreading, possibly to avoid a boomerang effect. Norway has become the next target.