Wherever there is a crisis there is somebody, somewhere making money out of it.

And whenever there is an event of an overwhelming magnitude that commands everyone’s attention there are people who will use it as a distraction to further their own ends or justify their inaction.

Today the Russian invasion, and the war, in Ukraine is rightly at the forefront for everybody’s mind and people are looking to do what they can to help, big or small.

But like the covid pandemic, there are issues that were a problem beforehand which are still a problem and will still be a problem afterwards.

READ MORE: Glasgow is demolition city as our heritage disappears

In all likelihood they will be more of a problem.

One of them, the biggest of them, is the cost of living crisis.

The cost of food, energy, clothing, broadband, transport and pretty much everything you need to spend money on has been increasing.

Energy prices have been rising and are set to rocket from April onwards.

They will rise even further, later in the year making the Government’s £200 loan as much use as a chocolate fireguard, assuming you can still afford to light the fire.

Yes, there is a risk that the war in Ukraine will impact on gas prices as Russia and Ukraine are big exporters.

And yes, the economic sanctions imposed by the western countries will have some impact here as well as in Russia.

READ MORE: Cost of living crisis? They just don’t get it

But to accept it as inevitable and that people just have to pay more would be wrong.

What was the reason for the rising prices before Vladimir Putin unleashed his wrath on Ukraine?

If anyone uses the war and the horror being endured by those people in an attempt to explain their own failures, they should be shut down immediately.

Governments do not need to be powerless in the face of this cost of living crisis.

It is a matter of whose side are they on and in whose interests do they act.

What our governments can do at a domestic level is ensure that they are taking every opportunity to ease the burden on people’s income.

For people who rely on benefits, whether they are in work or out of work, they need to be at a level that allows their needs to be met.

The way that energy prices are rising, the gas and electric bill will wipe out the monthly benefit payment of many families.

There are other ways the government can intervene.

They can look at reducing or scrapping VAT on certain items that can help mitigate the rising cost of food in the shops.

Or fuel duty can be altered to help with the rising cost of petrol at the pumps.

But it is clear that the biggest threat to people’s finance is coming from the massive hike in gas and electric bills, that is only just beginning.

We are encouraged to accept this is inevitable and it is to do with global forces that are outside of the government’s sphere of influence.

This is only the case because governments over time have allowed it to be outwith their direct control.

This is not only affecting homes in Scotland or Britain. It is across Europe and further afield too.

This is shaping up to be the biggest cost of living crisis is decades, far worse than the 2008 financial crash and closer to the aftermath of the second world war.

The projections for poverty are beyond alarming they are potentially catastrophic.

So, instead of people in positions of power telling us that we have to expect some pain and to blame it on the war in Ukraine is at best disingenuous and at worst downright lying to get them off the hook.

Faced with the prospect of millions more in poverty and the real threat of high numbers of people starving themselves or freezing to death next winter, government has to act.

There has to be an international approach to the energy crisis.

Prime Ministers and Presidents and ministers and officials love the chance to get together and have an international summit where they get to say how they would save the world.

Where are the summits to get a grip on the oil producers and gas wholesalers who are forcing energy firms to pay astronomical sums?

Let’s be honest, Rishi Sunak’s £200 loan and £150 off council tax is buttons in the face of bills that could, on average, top £3000 a year within the year.

Every time you pay your gas and electric bill, somebody is getting rich from it.

It may be a Texan billionaire, a Russian oligarch or an Arab sheik. It may be a Wall Street wolf or a city spiv.

Our governments have allowed a situation where the earth’s natural resources are in the hands of a few private corporate interests.

They have been used to make some very rich people even richer and whenever there is a crisis their wealth is being protected.

And as always it is the poorest who pays.