The rich and the poor

I can't get terribly angry about rich people being rich, not even when they're in government, and I think The Mail linking Mr. Sunak's pool with the closure of a local swimming baths is a false dichotomy.

What I do get angry about is people in government, rich or otherwise, failing to do more to help the less well off in their country, and that makes me very angry indeed.

Yes I agree, Sunak can have a million swimming pools if that is what floats his boat, but in doing so I would insist on fair distribution done through the tax system.

If billionaires withdrew their labour today, not a single person would notice, but if essential workers did so, the whole country would collapse.

Fairer distribution is the way to go

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This is my favourite swimming pool story ?

V3ra

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This is my favourite swimming pool story ?

Wasn't that lovely and just what you would expect.

When I lived in a Devon village, the big house used to do just that every summer, particularly during 1976..

The house was later raided and the owner was subsequently found guilty of police corruption ( nothing new is there?), and was imprisoned for years.

?. They were very pleasant people though and always gave generously to stuff in the village.

Redistribution?

The poor are always with us and always will be. So will the rich. What is the connection between someone getting a pool if they can afford it? Jealousy?

nanna8

The poor are always with us and always will be. So will the rich. What is the connection between someone getting a pool if they can afford it? Jealousy?

That sounds a bit “All things bright and beautiful” too Victorian - know your place!

nanna8

The poor are always with us and always will be. So will the rich. What is the connection between someone getting a pool if they can afford it? Jealousy?

I think it's the problem that the rich used to have social consciences (they were worried about getting into heaven) and so they donated to charitable causes and built libraries, museums and concert halls. Now the rich don't care, squirm out of paying their taxes and indulge themselves. And the poor don't like it
In the words of Mick Lynch "We refuse to be poor anymore"

I don't think it is jealousy nanna8; I think that the gulf between the very rich and the very poor is now so wide that ordinary families can see that no matter how hard they work, no matter how much they cut back and economize, they can't keep their heads above water any more and are spiralling into poverty through no fault of their own. They're not rashly wasting their money on gambling, drugs and booze; they're trying to feed their families and heat their homes. And it's becoming impossible for them to do even that.

He is a politician. He was the chancellor for a political party that bleeds the poor. His wife dodges paying tax in the country she lives in while taking money from the British tax payer.

Of course what he does matters.

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

I don't mind anyone spending their own money how they like, whether I approve of their purchases or not; but I firmly believe that before money becomes 'ours' to spend it should be taxed in such a way that everyone who works does so for a genuinely living wage, and everyone who can't work is supported to live a dignified and decent life (and this includes people who perhaps could still work but have retired after years of paying contributions).

A situation in which someone who has been, and may again be, responsible for distributing resources has a private pool when people working 40 hour weeks are unable to feed themselves or their children can't be right, however you look at it though. It's different from a random millionaire doing so - most rich people have no say over how taxation works. Sunak did/does/will, and should therefore be judged accordingly, IMO.

It doesn’t bother that Sunak is having a swimming pool built, but it does bother me that the gap between rich and poor is getting wider and wider. Much more so in recent years.

Quite. Nothing to do with anyone if someone chooses to have a pool or whatever. You wouldn’t think twice about it if he had bought a fancy car. Who is to say that this bloke, who I don’t know personally, isn’t a very charitable person in private, as it should be ?

It's one rule for us, another (no) rule for the rich and famous. It will always be the same.

Katie bloody Price and the likes of her can do what they like, go where they like (despite having been banned from driving), buy what they like - despite being bankrupt - and the rest of us have to just plod on, regardless.

People with a lot of money are entitled to spend it how they like.

People in government who can't see that building yourself a swimming pool while a drought is in progress and while local children can't have a swim because the local council have had to close their pool, are a little bit tactless (I'm being diplomatic...)

Thinking that charity is the way to solve problems for rich countries like the UK or Australia in the 21st century is wrong headed, IMO. The "well off" can turn off their charitable impulses any time they like and so its the responsibility of governments to make sure public services are provided for everyone.

I agree with most of your post volver. However I suspect that the planning permission and workmen were obtained ages ago, and no reasonable person would say oh dear, I can’t have the pool built now, despite planning permission and plans for building pool put in place ages ago, I might upset people because we have a hot spell.

Remember we have been asked to be mindful of how much water we use, we’re not like France where over a hundred villages are having their drinking water delivered in tankers. There are no standpipes in the streets here yet.

It's nothing to do with jealously nanna8. It's not even really about the pool or as you say a car.

Mr Sunak might well be a very charitable person, I don't know, but he's been a part of a government which has systematically, over the last twelve years reduced the public services which are available for those who need them most. Those in charge have least need for those services (as demonstrated by the private pool complex) and have no shame or hesitation in worsening the situation for those who, despite their best efforts, have few choices.

It's wonderful to be charitable but also pay your taxes, don't try to avoid them. Use your position of power raise standards for those in need rather than to take away the things that make life safe, healthy and uplifting for everyone in society.

Glorianny so true what you say. So many people feel powerless now.
It's a sad difficult life for many, and I can't see it improving unless those with power decide to care about others and put it into action.

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

maddyone Northend in Oxfordshire is having water delivered in tankers and bottles as the local reservoir can't provide.
www.energylivenews.com/2022/08/11/village-becomes-uks-first-area-to-run-out-of-water/

Oh okay, I didn’t know that RP1. It’s the first one I’ve heard of. I live in the south too.

When I lived in a Devon village, the big house used to do just that every summer, particularly during 1976..
Now I'm curious!! ?

I'm of the Peter Mandelson philosophy, I'm relaxed about it - but as long as those who do make money through their efforts pay their taxes. Many give generously to charity too.

They are providing work for others and the wealth trickles down through society in that way.

maddyone

I agree with most of your post volver. However I suspect that the planning permission and workmen were obtained ages ago, and no reasonable person would say oh dear, I can’t have the pool built now, despite planning permission and plans for building pool put in place ages ago, I might upset people because we have a hot spell.

Remember we have been asked to be mindful of how much water we use, we’re not like France where over a hundred villages are having their drinking water delivered in tankers. There are no standpipes in the streets here yet.

He may not fill it with water until the drought is over, of course.

If he and others cancelled the proposed work then the business might falter or fail and people might lose their jobs.

I'm sure that it has taken time for the planning permission etc to be set up and there is no way that Sunak could have known that we were going to face a drought, so I agree with maddyone and Zoejory. But unfortunately it goes with the job - if you are going to stand on stage and tell people you know how hard their lives are and that you are going to fix it, then you have to be credible. And I suppose most people who are choosing between food and having a shower will be a bit incredulous to see a private swimming pool being built for the man who until recently was in charge of our finances.

There is no issue in principle with the members of the government being rich, that's not the issue. But they need to be aware of their privilege, and I'm not sure most of them are.