[Politics] Congratulations to the Duke of Westminster

[Clive Walker]

Not invited?

No. Just think they’re ****s.

 

[portlock seagull]

I bear them no malice. A young couple, it isn’t a Rupert Murdoch scenario.

They made their wealth by owning a swathe of Belgravia from centuries ago.

In recent times he invested £1b of his money in transforming Liverpool city centre. He’d have gained a far higher return in London, Manhattan or Monaco.

Me neither. It’s hereditary wealth. Just like today’s PL footballers can and are already doing. Nepotism exists everywhere too. It’s best not to pay too much attention to what others have and just be grateful / make best of your own life whatever circumstances permit.

 

[Weststander]

Me neither. It’s hereditary wealth. Just like today’s PL footballers can and are already doing. Nepotism exists everywhere too. It’s best not to pay too much attention to what others have and just be grateful / make best of your own life whatever circumstances permit.

For a while now I convinced that something has to be done to shake up the unjust balance of wealth. It's not a purely UK thing, Liechenstein, Swiss and Panama papers revealed a vast number of incredibly wealthy tax fraudsters in German and France for example. Then there are offshore arrangements and billionaires who unlike the DoW deliberately shun all publicity to travel the globe paying bugger all tax.

It's an easy thing to hate on conspicuous wealthy Brits, the low hanging fruit. Harold Wilson's first term targeted everyone on good income or with wealth with crippling taxes. In a very fluid world in 2024, many of those people would move overseas in a repeat.

The wealth tax idea could work well. If every single abode was part of the register, it could stop Russian, Chinese and other wealthy people/entities getting away with it.

 

[Chicken Run]

Of course I'm not.

I'm f*cking fuming!

A long long line of inherited wealth plundered from the population over hundreds of years. We're not talking about some self-made millionaire here.

Fuming you say

 

[dazzer6666]

not really, he probably couldn't pay up without selling up large chunks of the estate. there would be less cash available to invest either way. wealth is held in property, assets, shares, not piled in a vault like Scrooge McDuck. there may be a case for inheritance taxes, but accept that a consequence is less investment.

….which would 100% have been bought by Middle Eastern and/or Chinese ‘investors’

 

[Blue3]

It’s tough for young couples getting married and trying to raise enough to put a deposit on their first home I wish them good luck

 

[A1X]

 

[Hamilton]

Don't be. It's Friday, you have your health. The Duke of Westminster was already wealthy before today, the family have been well known for the wealth for an age, they don't lie in the shadows unlike 10,000's of tax crook millionaires/billionaires across the Western world. Why let their wedding make you angry?

Thankfully I didn’t let it ruin my Friday.

But that said, we all have to be prepared to have a conversation about this. The Dukes of Westminster have to inherited wealth on an industrial scale going back hundreds of years and linked to some of the most appalling conditions for workers and farmers. They have links to the slave trade (albeit eventually voting for its abolition), they have routinely used offshore tax havens to secure the wealth they have accumulated.

The land they inherited, the money they have made, over hundreds of years, it’s not through hard work, but by taking common land and appropriating for their own ends.

These two didn’t do that, but they are sat on the proceeds of wealth that is not theirs, and we need to have an open conversation about that past.

We still live in a world where the aristocracy is sat holding wealth that belongs to all of us.

I have nothing against self made wealthy people. Very often they are creating wealth for others. I do have a problem with stolen wealth.

 

[Paris]

View attachment 183645

'May I ask, what first attracted you...?'

 

[GT49er]

Of course I'm not.

I'm f*cking fuming!

A long long line of inherited wealth plundered from the population over hundreds of years. We're not talking about some self-made millionaire here.

The self-made millionaire is a millionaire because he's taken a lot of money off a lot of people - nothing illegal (probably) but just money making deals which have left the other parties out of pocket.
The self-made millionaire has probably caused a lot more grief to people alive today than the Duke of Westminster has personally!

 

[Weststander]

Thankfully I didn’t let it ruin my Friday.

But that said, we all have to be prepared to have a conversation about this. The Dukes of Westminster have to inherited wealth on an industrial scale going back hundreds of years and linked to some of the most appalling conditions for workers and farmers. They have links to the slave trade (albeit eventually voting for its abolition), they have routinely used offshore tax havens to secure the wealth they have accumulated.

The land they inherited, the money they have made, over hundreds of years, it’s not through hard work, but by taking common land and appropriating for their own ends.

These two didn’t do that, but they are sat on the proceeds of wealth that is not theirs, and we need to have an open conversation about that past.

We still live in a world where the aristocracy is sat holding wealth that belongs to all of us.

I have nothing against self made wealthy people. Very often they are creating wealth for others. I do have a problem with stolen wealth.

That “conversation” in the UK has been running since Marx and Engels, it’s not a taboo. A small minority, it comes in waves, have always been riled by inherited wealth. Aside from you, others are angry about wealth full stop.

If the marxist dream ever cane true, it won’t, Chinese, Russians, middle east and assorted global tax cheats would replace them.

The thing of opening up centuries old ‘injustices’ is being taken to an extreme. Should the 10-gen’s down ancestors of those who worked for a pittance on estates or in service receive reparations? Today they’d be a hotchpotch of millionaires or any status.

I don’t believe the UK state should punish inherited landowners, I don’t believe in marxism.

Wealth tax is my solution.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

The self-made millionaire is a millionaire because he's taken a lot of money off a lot of people - nothing illegal (probably) but just money making deals which have left the other parties out of pocket.
The self-made millionaire has probably caused a lot more grief to people alive today than the Duke of Westminster has personally!

JK Rowling?

 

[Hamilton]

That “conversation” in the UK has been running since Marx and Engels, it’s not a taboo. A small minority, it comes in waves, have always riled by inherited wealth. Aside from you, others are angry about wealth fullstop.

If the marxist dream ever cane true, it won’t, Chinese, Russians, middle east and assorted global tax cheats would replace them.

The thing of opening up centuries old ‘injustices’ is being taken to an extreme. Should the ten gen’s down ancestors of those who worked for a pittance on estates or in service receive reparations? Today they’d be a hotchpotch of millionaires or any status.

I don’t believe the UK state should punish inherited landowners, I don’t believe in marxism.

Wealth tax is my solution.

It’s not about being Marxist, it’s about asking questions about where that inherited wealth came from and who it really belongs to.

It’s not Marxist. It’s about asking whether or not it is right.

 

[Hamilton]

The self-made millionaire is a millionaire because he's taken a lot of money off a lot of people - nothing illegal (probably) but just money making deals which have left the other parties out of pocket.
The self-made millionaire has probably caused a lot more grief to people alive today than the Duke of Westminster has personally!

He?

 

[jcdenton08]

He?

By the way, I’m the Duke of Kidderminster and fantastically RICH!

 

[GT49er]

He?

The one I'm thinking of is. Which self-made multi-millionaire were you thinking of?

 

[Brovion]

I assume that if you were in his position you'd just hand over that money to charity ?

Speaking as me, yes of course I would, I'd be embarrassed to be so rich and I'd want to do everything I could to help the less fortunate - and I'm sure you would as well.

Speaking as him no, of course I wouldn't. I wouldn't care that money to me was just an abstract concept, just figures on a screen. It's mine, my family acquired it over the centuries, no one else has any right to it and I just want to hand it on intact.