People forget that wages have not been increased in real terms for years. There are a few exceptions. Lorry drivers are probably one. But the great bulk of workers, not least in the public sector, have been expected to 'sacrifice' for a decade.
Meanwhile, uber-rich cnuts have become even more uber-rich and the wealth gap has grown massively.
The bottom line is that the great majority of workers in this country are seriously underpaid.
Evidence? 1. Many people draw UC (benefits from the state) to supplement their wages. 2. People claim they would be 'better off' on benefits. Given that benefits are at the starvation level, this proves, if true, that wages are far too low. It certainly is not the case that benefits are too high.
Give people this treatment for too long and they start kicking off, which is what we are seeing. Now on top of all that we have real-term tax rises, not least the freeze on personal allowances, which is quite subtle but will claw more and more as the years go by. If inflation remains high, I suspect it will even lead to people on state pensions (and nothing more) paying income tax in a few more years.
No wonder people are pissed off.