Divide between the entitled rich and the rest is now a chasm
FOR deluded fools who believe they might be in for a prosperous year, here’s some advice.
Ring up The Chase or put your grandad’s pocket watch on eBay because with the energy and tax rises coming down the line there’s a good chance you’ll be humming Buddy Can You Spare A Dime? by Easter.
Some will hum a different tune, of course. Major shareholders in the energy firms will amass billions out of rising prices and the NI tax hike won’t hurt too many millionaire Cabinet ministers or company bosses.
In fact, according to the High Pay Centre, by 9am yesterday the average chief executive of a FTSE 100 company had already been paid the average British worker’s salary for 2022. And he’s probably still skiing in the Alps.
There’s always been a gap between the rich and the rest, but it feels like it’s becoming a chasm. And the main difference between the top 1% and everyone else is their expectation to be treated differently.
Think back to the Mirror’s revelations of how Downing Street held festive knees-ups after barring the rest of us from having a cuppa with a lonely old relative. They were angered that it was even a story – as though it was a given that they were free to act differently.
Look at the Establishment attitude
to the loaded heiress Ghislaine Maxwell being convicted of facilitating and participating in the sexual abuse of children.
Her brother went on BBC Radio’s Today show to denigrate the jury’s verdict and tug on our heartstrings. Others sought to evoke sympathy for her by writing in newspapers about this charming woman who had been manipulated by the monster Jeffrey Epstein.
If the paedophile-enabler had been a single mum on benefits, not a well-connected socialite, what are the chances of the BBC inviting her brother on to its flagship news show to plead her innocence?
In the same case, we’ve seen Prince Andrew’s lawyers attempt to hide behind a silencing deal between Epstein and the woman who accuses him of sexual abuse (which he denies)
to e scap e answering questions. And his family goes along with this stonewalling without being called out. Well they’re royal, ain’t they?
Which brings us to the honours they dish out, most of which are bought. Sure, little people are thrown the odd bangle to disguise the charade, but the major gongs are status symbols the amoral rich seek out to show they are a cut above the rest.
Last week, I named 20-year-old Folajimi Olubunmi-Adewole, who died in the Thames trying to rescue a drowning woman, as my Man of the Year. He didn’t make the New Year’s Honours list.
Tony Blair was knighted though, despite the Chilcot report stating he knowingly misled the country into a war which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and 182 Britons.
A petition to cancel his knighthood is climbing towards the one million that marched through London begging him to rethink his illegal invasion.
But the man who has now made £50million since leaving office will once again ignore it because that’s what the very rich do.
That’s the power their wealth has bought.
Chew on that in a couple of months when people you know are choosing whether to go further into debt with Scottish Power, or eat.