David Beckham

I find it really unsavoury that the ones who proclaim "morality" are the ones that are really rather awful and dish the dirt. Shit happens in life and no one has the right to judge. Are you in that marriage? Umm no. Is it really any of your business?

I see the Beckhams paid £7.9 million pounds tax in 2015 which seems a reasonable amount and rather more than some large corporations.

A friend of mine used to work for him (He was one of those rare beings who hardly knew who David Beckham was and certainly wasn't dazzled by his fame) He found him very pleasant and normal.

Personally I think that firing off a few bad tempered PRIVATE emails is nothing like a bad as hacking someone's emails and trying to make money out of them.

Totally with you all the way Deedaa

I have never had the luxury of choosing whether or not to choose how much tax to pay on my earnings. What I wouldn't give to have to pay £7.9 million in tax

Which incidentally is only relevant if it was the full amount that he/they should have paid and not the amount he/they managed to get away with paying. Very different.

I have never "claimed morality" at all. . Quite the contrary. Nor have I advertised any charity work I have done or expected anything in return for it.

And for the record, I haven't told anyone "to get over themselves either" .

It's actually irrelevant how much tax they paid in 2015 ( although I do wonder how you know that?). What is known is that his K was blocked by HMRC because he was part of a tax evaision scheme - or was it called aggressive tax avoidance- either way he was not wanting to pay his full dues. And the fact that big corporations don't pay their fair share is shameful and does nothing to lessen DB's culpability. His 'bad tempered' emails ( or foul mouthed rants) were about his not getting his K despite all his charity work. That's what ( along with the f-ing and cs) made them so incredibly distasteful.. And it's not a competition as to which is worse that or the hacking. They can both be unacceptable in different ways.

Choosing to choose? Silly woman.

I haven't read the press reports ,no idea what was in his emails, not interested , knew nothing of his tax dodging, when was he charged or are enquiries ongoing?

Why are you even commenting on this thread then, Annie?

This is known as Tall Poppy Syndrome.

It is a speciality of the British.

Why not Ana? is it not open to all members of the forum?

I am curious , when did HMRC announce this dodgy tax business and when did thry make a public statement that they decided to block a knighthood?

You found Ana's curiosity amusing Merlotgran?

They can't due to dodging it themselves.. Well actually lets say, paying as much as you have to. If Im a "tall Poppy" then Im a gracious proud one, its what makes me English.

Plus I put all my income back into our economy. I don't have a house I'm building in poland or any other country

Tall Poppy Syndrome is when someone becomes famous and then is knocked down by everyone else.

stillalive no we are not in that marriage but when you sell your life to OK, Hello,Esquire etc and encourage people to "follow"your every waking moment on twitter, fakebook whatsapp then you are asking for people to comment on your life and have to take the good with the bad.

In a word, yes (his halo has slipped).

Actually, for me he never had one (a halo), agree grasshopper.

Sorry, grannypiper, this tablet has a mind of it's own!

Why not a furore about the theft of private emails? Is that not a crime?
Couldn't care less about what he has or hasn't said in private emails but I am against theft and making money from theft.

I never thought he had a halo either.
I remember reading about this tax avoidance scheme about a year ago. The footballers involved blamed their financial advisers for persuading them to invest some of their wealth in companies which for some reason were able to offer a tax free deal. I think one was a film company. As a sort of pension for their retirement.
But it was bad advice - they lost their money when HMRC looked into it.
Not saying it was right though.

Sadly for me the halo has slipped. I've always quite liked the Beckhams but this needy snobbish desire for a knighthood has made me look at them in a new light.
You can't buy class no matter how much money you have. Unfortunately that's already been shown with other 'knights of the realm'
Having said that there are more important things to worry about.

Have thought long and hard about participating here but I regularly praise GN for constructive, helpful and informative threads. This thread is GN at its level WORST. The vicious nastiness and rude personal replies are simply not worthy of people whose main common trait is being a grandparent. I only hope no prospective newcomers have chosen today for a look-in.

I've always quite liked the Beckhams. But the bottom line is that our 'heroes', or whatever we want to call them, are just human beings and therefore not perfect. I don't think David has done anything terrible, and remember how the press manipulate and twist everything. Even so, it does seem possible that DB's ambition has outweighed his judgement.

People who have actually worked with Victoria Beckham virtually always talk about how hard working and professional she is. She also has a good sense of humour if you ever hear her interviewed. I think she gets an unfair press because she has one of those faces which doesn't fall naturally into a smile (which is a trait I share so I sympathise with that).
I have never been impressed by Unicef Ambassadors. They seem to often promote some dubious behaviour (like international adoption often over the heads of people working with or related to those children).