Patriotic rock star who puts his peers to shame
When I head off to Silverstone tomorrow to watch my first British Grand Prix and cheer on our F1 champion Lewis hamilton, I’ll be listening to ed Sheeran’s latest album.
I hope it’s as good as his others, which I love — along with millions of other folk. In fact, what’s not to love about ed?
One of the world’s biggest stars, he’s worth £160 million aged 28, and last year alone earned £88 million.
he married his childhood sweetheart in secret last year, and they live in a £1 million Suffolk home near where they both grew up. With his mop of ginger hair, geeky glasses and hoodie, ed looks as though he’s just fallen out of the local Oxfam shop.
What a contrast to oh- so flashy hamilton with his vast, show- off diamond earrings. Yes he’s the first and only black British F1 champion. Yes he’s a formidable driver and his brilliance has deservedly earned him a £187 million fortune at 32.
But far from embracing his home town, he described Stevenage as ‘the slums’. he also sacked his dad from his management team — the same dad who sacrificed so much to keep his son’s motor racing dream alive.
Yet it is not these things that truly mark out hamilton from ed Sheeran. nor the fact that, despite squiring some of the world’s most beautiful women, he refuses to commit to any of them.
It’s that once he hit the big time, he left this country for the tax haven of Monaco to lessen — quite legally — the amount he had to pay.
For his part, Sheeran stayed in the country he loves with the woman he loves and paid an enormous £5.29 million in taxes in 2017 — more than both Amazon and Starbucks. It’s a contribution equivalent to 13,225 hospital beds, or the salaries of more than 100 fully qualified nurses.
And what has petrolhead hamilton contributed? Since he is a tax exile, none of us know. Although he’s certainly helped the fashion industry — evidently paying thousands to be ‘re-styled’ as a circus clown.
Two young Brits, both superstars, both with very different values.
Values which explain why we all adore ed Sheeran but find it very difficult to like Lewis hamilton.