The rich and the poor

Charity, whilst good for the soul, does not work for a whole society.

That is why the welfare state was introduced. Charity existed during the first half of the last century, but did nothing to prevent poverty and poor health.

Trickle down is a myth I’m afraid.

Planning permission has a time limit too.

The swimming pool removes Sunak's credibility with the average voter but probably not with rabid Tory activities. That said, it would take a revolution to equalise wealth across the population and even then new elites arise to cash in (as they did in the Soviet Union). But Sunak and Truss have both been in governments led by Johnson which have reduced services and failed to invest (aside from HS2!) for the public benefit and wasted money during the pandemic. Things can only get worse if Truss takes power.

It is the difference between the psychic us Brits and Americans. If the Boss drives a RR past a Brit at a bus stop the Brit complains why should he have a car when I have to go by bus. The American says I am going to have one of those A sense of Well Being and contentment are to be much cherished. When you have to surround yourself with all that money can buy are you really happy? How many of your so called friends are there with you simply to live off you by one means or another and how many will stay around if the money dries up. The problem is so many are eager to tell you how great you are that you start to believe your own propaganda. My advice to one and all is Drink from the glass half full and stop listening to the doom mongers.

If billionaires removed their labour, a lot would happen, companies would not have proper finance negotiated, trade deals would not be done and all the successful businesses that exist because the billionaires set them up would not have done so. look at Richard Branson's empire, yes he is very much detached from them now, but they wouldn't exist without his skill and enterprise mny years ago when he was anything but a billionaire.

A company is like a table. It has four legs: Customers, Suppliers, Employees and Investors. Remove any of those legs and it falls over.

Zoejory

I imagine he had no idea we'd be heading into drought and hosepipe bans when they started the build

He won't fill his pool now, if he has any sense. But, it is an indoor pool so no one will know, unless someone at the water authority checks his usage.

Doodledog
It's a bit blinkered to get a pool at a time when people are being threatened with hosepipe bans and metered water.

Particularly when you are hoping to be made Prime Minister!

M0nica

If billionaires removed their labour, a lot would happen, companies would not have proper finance negotiated, trade deals would not be done and all the successful businesses that exist because the billionaires set them up would not have done so. look at Richard Branson's empire, yes he is very much detached from them now, but they wouldn't exist without his skill and enterprise mny years ago when he was anything but a billionaire.

A company is like a table. It has four legs: Customers, Suppliers, Employees and Investors. Remove any of those legs and it falls over.

Branson did not operate in a vacuum. His first venture was a student magazine, co-founded with Nik Powell with who he went on to found Virgin Records. There is no doubt that he was a skilfull entrepreneur but as his businesses grew he would have required skilfull, maybe even visionary staff to help expand his business. I doubt very much whether he alone negotiated all his finance deals - he would have had a team preparing all the documentation required.

You only need to look at haute couture houses such as Yves St Laurent and Christian Dior to see how those businesses have not only after the deaths of their founders but expanded under continuing management.

Wealth "trickling down " is a myth ,how many new BILLIONARES are there in the UK over the past 2 years never mind the 10 austerity years before that?
Wealth ,at that level is pocketed ,put in overseas accounts or like Ecclestons daughters rubbed in our faces while more children are being raised by using foodbanks etc ?

How many bosses of energy companies are taking huge wages AND bonuses on top while the rest of us panic about paying the hugely over inflated bills that feed their greed ?

According to that newspaper report, it was estimated (earlier in the year) that heating the pool would cost £13,000 a year. That is one heck of a lot of energy.

Meanwhile, we are being prepared for possible energy shortages over winter, and plans to close things like large railway stations, libraries and other public buildings for days at a time, should these shortages arise, are being considered.

I sincerely hope that if there are energy shortages, Sunak will have the moral decency to refrain from heating that pool. It would be crass of him, as someone who has played a large part in the devastating economic crisis that is developing, to squander energy like that, while those who can't afford to even heat their homes won't even be able to go spend the day keeping warm in the libraries!

I can already imagine the cartoons that would appear in the newspapers.
Sunak will be luxuriating in a steaming-hot pool, while hoards of wretched, shivering souls are hammering on the locked doors of a library, begging to be allowed in.
If I were any good at art, I'd draw it myself!

Dinahmo In effect you are agreeing with me.

Quote - that you quoted from my previous post.
A company is like a table. It has four legs: Customers, Suppliers, Employees and Investors. Remove any of those legs and it falls over.

I am not defending billionaires and their excesses, but if they suddenly stopped doing any business whether financial or other, it would have a far greater effect on the world economy than people realise.

I’m not convinced by your argument monica although too hot and lazy to expand my argument further?

Agree Wwm2.

Better redistribution of wealth is needed. That's as much as I feel like contributing.

Two of my closest friends are in the “premier division rich list”,
we will be their guests next weekend at one of their many homes.
They are huge philanthropists, employ thousands of people across a number of companies and are the most gentle, kind people I know.

Without their wealth,knowledge and altruism our City would be a lot worse off.

They have made a lot of poor people a lot wealthier.

Sago Exactly.

Sago

Two of my closest friends are in the “premier division rich list”,
we will be their guests next weekend at one of their many homes.
They are huge philanthropists, employ thousands of people across a number of companies and are the most gentle, kind people I know.

Without their wealth,knowledge and altruism our City would be a lot worse off.

They have made a lot of poor people a lot wealthier.

Not all premier division rich are like that.

My daughter has a friend whose father is on the list and he certainly hasn't created jobs or made other people wealthy.

It doesn't justify an inequality gap which prevents people at the bottom of the pile being able to earn their own living without charity. Everybody deserves the opportunity for self respect.

M0nica

Dinahmo In effect you are agreeing with me.

Quote - that you quoted from my previous post.
A company is like a table. It has four legs: Customers, Suppliers, Employees and Investors. Remove any of those legs and it falls over.

I am not defending billionaires and their excesses, but if they suddenly stopped doing any business whether financial or other, it would have a far greater effect on the world economy than people realise.

A fairer distribution of wealth would also have a huge effect.

Callistemon21

Planning permission has a time limit too.

I understand that so long as you have made a start on the work, however minor a start, the time limit for planning permission is removed.

The extremely experienced builder I use (in the game for 50+ years) told me that. I trust him to be correct, though I haven't checked it out.

M0nica

Dinahmo In effect you are agreeing with me.

Quote - that you quoted from my previous post.
A company is like a table. It has four legs: Customers, Suppliers, Employees and Investors. Remove any of those legs and it falls over.

I am not defending billionaires and their excesses, but if they suddenly stopped doing any business whether financial or other, it would have a far greater effect on the world economy than people realise.

My contention is that a company can continue without its billionaire founder.

MaizieD You are right. Work must start before the planning permission expires.

Sago your friends do sound like very decent folk, but isn't it mad that it takes the generosity and kindness of two people to compensate for the failings of this government despite our country being one of the richest in the world.

Sago, your friends are wonderful. Would that everyone was the same. I know some very wealthy employers who are still paying longserving loyal employees minimum wage.

Many wealthy people keep their giving private and do not like parading it. Many more people give money to all kinds of courses than anybody ever realises.

No one realised how generous george Michael was until he died. Many peoples charitable giving is kept quiet even then.

But is it right they should accumulate so much money in the first place?

Maybe poor people would like the warm glow which comes from being able to give.

The UK now has 177 billionaires, according to the new Sunday Times Rich List. The combined wealth of the UK's billionaires stands at £653bn. the richest 250 people in the UK this year are worth £710bn.

If they paid 10% of their wealth in extra tax, they could fund the entire schools budget (£53.8bn) and more.

If these people are so generous, I'm sure they wouldn't mind paying a bit extra.

I don't mind Rishi having his fancy swimming pool. What I do object to is him telling us that he knows how the rest of us live.