The people who have everything also run everything.

That should read tall, not small.
Add to that, those who live long healthy lives, and those who
Die very young.
Imagine a life of poverty in Guinea or Madagascar or many other places in our world, and be relieved you are in the UK.

That's sad, ginny.
I bet he could earn a fortune with an agent to look after his finances.

Talk about stating the obvious on here... as in it’s unfair that one person is more intelligent than another!
Yes, and it’s unfair that some are goodlooking, talented at football,music, art,etc etc.
It’s also unfair that some have loving parents, and others have cruel spiteful ones, some are too tiny, while others are small.I could go on, but you get the drift.
It’s life and we all have to make the best of it. Most people do exactly that.

Tillybelle - that is an excellent analysis of the current situation, with some real insights.

One of my GC is on the "autism spectrum", he is gifted and excels in certain subjects, in inter personal skills he is just not interested/able.

Everyone has a gift/craft/ability.

We cannot all be "movers and shakers" - but we all can/should be valued as members of society.

Indeed, *MissA. I've recently met a man who's art literally made me gasp. He earns nothing from it as he doesn't have the backing/intelligence to take it forward and with his disability someone might take advantage of him. He's surviving. Lovely, caring man who has £24 to live on once his bills are paid. That's not really living is it?

GrannyGravy may I add the most important occupation of all:
Farmer.

Without farmers the world's population would starve.
Farmers can be those who left school and learned all they need to know on the job.
Or have degrees.

All are under-valued.

The people I know with learning disabilities are clever in all sorts of wonderful ways, some of them.

They can do things nobody else probably could.

Clever is as Clever does!!

I know people with doctorates who have no "common sense"

But is he or she " clever"

In my world, the person/profession I value most is the man I have on speed dial who can mend my "white goods"

Roll on those better minds G.

Of course one is ..... as your username suggests .....perhaps substitute ‘better one’s circumstances’. My phrasing maybe nit picked but better minds will argue the actual points in the post.

to better oneself.....what a ghastly concept. One is already more than enough.

I would like to stay and discuss, but I'm in the middle of putting silicone around the edge of my kitchen floor because I'm too poor to pay anyone to do it for me.

Not because I'm thick; because I was quite lazy at school, and nobody cared that I'm actually quite sharp.
I didn't go to college because my mum was widowed and we needed my wages.

Now I'm a single parent because my daughter died.

Excuse me - diy time!

way out for so many poor people ..???

I take " clever" to mean a person who comes to my house and fixes a shower.

some of us though have had to deal with major problems in the family that have held us back.
I know of a few at least where circumstances have curtailed goals and ambitions because tragic family events have meant teens looking after parents and siblings.

Also once you become disabled and ill in this country you really get to experience the inequality.

As well as hard work, good connections you do need some luck too.

I totally disagree.
With all due respect, of course.

Ginny42 I hadn't seen your post before I posted. I guess it comes down to you are clever or not -" you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink"

Well said GG13! Two of the biggest mistakes made in the last 50 years firstly abolition of grammar schools which was the way out for so many poor people and secondly the obsession with sending 50% of school leavers to university.

The last stunt led to so many ill-suited to academic education thinking that they would sail through life with a degree in an obscure subject. It also devalued all the trades and apprenticeships which was the previous route to bettering yourself.

Which goes back to my argument that being born clever gives you an unfair advantage over those with less intelligence.

I am putting on my tin hat, whilst pointing out the obvious.

The world is made up of:-
Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers, MPs, Civil Servants, Waiters, Builders, Plumbers, Electricians, Shop owners/workers, Chefs, Bankers, Cleaners, Gardeners, Rubbish Collectors, Police, Fire Brigade, Bankers, Estate Agents, Sports men & women, Entertainers and Homemakers.

All worthy occupations, different pay grades, different level of education needed for different occupations.

We cannot all be Bankers, we cannot all be cleaners the world needs all occupations to function.

Lessismore I understand 'clever' to mean having a sharp intelligence and the ability to learn and apply knowledge.

Having the ability to study to a higher level, I think being 'clever' also implies a sense of original and critical thought; the ability to study the work of others, to identify and question concepts and conduct empirical research.

They cream of the rest of us because we all let them, get away with it..... read ‘ The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist’...
It’s the book that made me an atheist , and a cynic. I thank every day for its publication .... I was only 14... but I ‘got it’ from that day onward ! Wake up Britain ... before they take it all!