IT SEEMS strange to routinely wish everyone a happy new year while there is so much pain and suffering in the world. 

For many of us, Christmas was a time of celebration. For those enduring the horrors of war, the past week has been a time of mourning and loss. For refugees feeling conflict and human rights abuses, it has been a time of desperation. And for millions of people in this country, it has been a time of immense stress as they struggle to put food on the table, heat their homes and pay their rent. 

None of this should be normal, necessary or acceptable. Over the past decade and a half, we have witnessed a huge drop in living standards, manifesting itself in debt, mental ill-health, foodbanks and thousands of rough sleepers on the streets just to trying to survive. Meanwhile, private corporations are taking home more profit than ever before, hiking up their bills to satisfy the needs of a few over the needs of the many. This is not a cost-of-living crisis. It is a cost-of-greed crisis.