Does the UK begrudge success?

If you don’t understand basic economics and then impact of borrowing and quantitative easing on inflation, that’s your problem.

And, as we seem to be discussing the cost of furlough, the furlough scheme was (at most) 7% the cost of the 2008 bank bailout.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/18446461.fact-check-will-furlough-scheme-cost-2008-bank-bailout/

Having lived in Copenhagen I think there would be a lot less resentment if most people could buy or rent somewhere decent to live at sensible money and not necessarily be house sharing in their 30s and upwards( unless by choice) - if your quality of health wasn't determined by either your postcode or whether or not you could afford private and if people stopped implying that they had the levels of lifestyle they have purely by hard work- it definitely is in some cases- but in others it's through luck of having family that have wealth and could help out , very good education or just 'a great break' somewhere along the line and if we had affordable high quality childcare for all from 6 months onwards. In Denmark most couples both work and not a bit of part time either, because that option is there- however it takes a different mindset and at the moment the system here is such that it often doesn't pay for couples with under 5s to both work but then struggle very much on 1 income or 1 income plus a bit of part time secondary income. So we end up with 1 working and then because of the sheer cost of mortgages or private rent in many parts of the country-- getting add on benefits or even worse being just over the limits and getting sod all- I think it's causing some poor short term choices- but understandable ones. - and masses of resentment comes in - understandably

How ironic you talk of stupid people and soundbites then trot out a load of crap about Covid furlough having to be "paid back" and being the cause of inflation.

We aren't paying for Covid "free money" - the nation's finances aren't like a credit card however much the Tories like to pretend it for the feeble minded.

We are paying for years of consistent Conservative policy of wealth redistribution away from the poor to the rich.

I think people don’t realise how big an event the banking collapse and subsequent bailout of 2008 was. It is surprisingly little discussed today, despite the fact that it completely changed how capitalism worked. I kind of suspect that so many of the wealthy and powerful benefited from it that they are not interested in revisiting it.

The reality is that capitalism works by boom and bust. When people overextend, they then suffer the consequences, assets deflate and a new generation has opportunities to become rich.

What should have happened in 2008 was a genuine depression, with the bankers out of work (not just out of a bonus for a year or two) and a collapse in property prices of 50% plus along with a similar fall in equity prices. This would have allowed teachers, local solicitors etc to get on the housing ladder and, in the subsequent recovery, build wealth.

However, what happened is that bankers kept their jobs, equities had a v shaped recovery and the same families who were wealthy stayed wealthy. And taxes rose for the middle classes on 40k per annum to bail out bankers on 200k per annum plus, who continued to frequent the same expensive restaurants and send their children to the same schools.

And then we had QE which continued to prop up assets and ultimately led to inflation , which always harms the worst off the most.

This isn’t how capitalism is meant to work. It was a deliberate policy decision to bail out the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

I think you can trace a lot of ‘resentment’ from this point onwards,

People don't begrudge success. Its the inequality, injustice and their own predicament.

And maybe OP should just hang out with other privately educated people

I notice that some people get very het up by the idea of privilege and really dislike acknowledging they have it. Many people who have experienced all the bad things you describe but didn't get to go to private school and have wealthy parents. Surely you are aware that you therefore have a privilege that they don't?

When we talk about privilege in the U.K., people are normally specifically referring to financial privilege unless other context is given.

OP, you unquestionably grew up with financial privilege. That is what people are referring to when they call you privileged.

You can be privileged and also a victim of abuse. I'd gently suggest that the lack of nuance you describe is actually coming from you; you seem to believe that in order to be labelled privilege, you can't have experienced anything bad. That's not the case, and it's not what other people are assuming when they describe your privilege. They are specifically talking about your financial circumstances.

I'm very sorry you had a hard childhood, and I hope you feel you're in a better place now x

What era re you referencing as I think you'll find the demise of the working classes, middle classes is also causing people to question how the gap between the haves and have nots has grown exponentially and like the UK and the U.S, it will be even worse on the current trajectory.

Apart from congrats to your well earning self and siblings, what else you want to hear. Sorry, darling, how much you suffered at the hands of your parents who gave you , your education.

That is a shameful , disrespectful bragging.

Well no as we are returning to Victorian levels of inequality so understanding the patterns of wealth in the UK is very relevant. Equally, sorry but 1/3 of Land that's it, you e read it correctly 1/3 of UK land is owned by the Landed gentry, The worth of a hereditary title has nearly doubled since the 2007 financial crisis, now standing at more than £16m. I would say there is a distinct relevance if you are discussing the distribution of wealth and the rise of inequality.

Not much resentment in places like Singapore either.

All this.

The 'begrudge success' narrative is far more prevalent in consumerist, exploitation-based economies where there is a widening equality gap. Partly because people are resentful about the gap, and partly because it's absolutely in the interests of those who benefit to draw attention away from the gap by any means possible.

You don't hear either the resentment or the whining-about-the-resentment in for eg the Northern European countries.

Right, so historical land ownership is pretty much irrelevant to the widening in inequality which has taken place over the past 45 years or so.

I'm not sure if you are deliberately missing my point but I'll outline again the fact that historical roots are relevant. Regardless of being wealthy because you are or aren't part of the aristocracy your wealth has only seen a massive incline over the last 40 years, that is not a coincidence, it is due to the political and economical measures put in place. The neo-liberal politics of the 80s was the beginning of the end of the wealth equality that was the best it has ever been post second world war Britain and for the 40 years following the war where a strong correlation between income and working hard did exist.

So are you suggesting that being a top 1 household income is the target then, so we only work hard by definition if you are earning masses amount of money? Is our value intrinsically linked with wealth, What about the wealth of those that work really hard in the NHS, we need Doctors, we need Nurses or firemen and women, Engineers, Architects, we need loads of workers to deliver services who are usually only on minimum wages, is wage stagnation, unaffordable housing 'acceptable' because you made it to the 1 percent? Many people have become wealthy over the last 40 years but not via income or hard work, via windfalls on housing, pensions, being in a certain age demographic so really just pure luck, nothing to do with hard work and the corresponding income from grafting and risk taking.

The roots of the UK’s resentment and bitterness towards success may well lie in the land ownership by the aristocracy but it’s hard to see how this has been a relevant factor since the end of the Second World War.

Again disingenuous, as well you probably know as I am doing no such thing, I am referencing a point another poster made about the sentiment about success being resented in the UK having roots in land ownership and the aristocracy. In the much wider context of Wealth and wealth inequality, despite the aristocracy becoming 'poorer' they have still benefitted hugely, like all wealthy people from the financial deregulation of the 80s, tax cuts, tax loopholes, corporate welfare brought about by political decisions, to say otherwise is propaganda by the wealthy and not born out by statistical data.

Yes they do. I know what you’re saying. Background of abuse (people have gone to prison), homelessness, I dropped out of education at 1st as I was flung out by my abusive parents. Social services didn’t want to know back then.

I worked hard, pulled myself up and went back to uni whilst working full time. I also have disabled children.

We are now in the top 1% of household incomes PAYE wise. My so called life of privilege is probably full of more ACEs than most…

Yet it must all be made up or we secretly went to private school. I didn’t actually go to school most of the time tbh. There are options out there to do better. Depends if you take them or not.

@Goldenbear You are conflating wealth with land ownership. Of the 10 wealthiest land owners in the UK only one is a member of the Aristocracy. Yes people like the Duke of Buccleuh have huge acreages but this is mainly in Scotland where land is not especially valuable (in relative terms) and has few alternative uses.

The UK has an incredible network of public footpaths across private land unlike many countries which have virtually none. People often talk about how some Scandinavian counties have a “right to roam” but this is generally limited to land which is unfenced and without crops or livestock.

Out of interest do you resent not having access to all private property or just that owned by the Aristocracy? I’m not aware of any difference in public access to estates owned by toffs versus that owned by self made people.

What is factual? The Times rich list and five families? A poster pointed out the relevance of the Landed gentry in relation to this attitude and your platitudes are not born out by statistical facts for this country. Nice for you to dismiss others stories of exploitation as irrelevant but you just come across as crass and that you have no intellectual insight on the situation today.

Your proposition that 'land' is up for grabs if only people would imitate such exploitation and celebrate such inequalities is not exactly a progressive method by which to acquire wealth! Is that the way people would like the political and economic systems to be organised in this country - I think you'll find that it has not be a resounding success over the last 40 years and that a majority do not want this.

If you are unable to provide counter arguements it would be better to just not reply than waste everyone's time with more of your drivel.

YABU, your parents struggled to give you the best of everything. Be more grateful?

More relevant to OP, there are lots of children in private schools who are not privileged in other ways. Through my work i know of several children in private school who have Children in Need Plans due to donestic violence, parental mental health, sexual abuse etc. There are special safeguarding courses on spotting issues in wealthy areas as you are less likely to get signs of neglect like inappropriate clothes or malnourishment. State and private schools go along to these.

It’s not disingenuous. It’s factual. It just doesn’t fit in with your ‘everything is the landed gentry’s fault’ narrative. This is precisely the attitude that leads to the leg pulling that OP started the thread about. It’s not 1850 anymore, move on. Immigrants have come along and made mega rich in this country. While the indigenous moaners sit around waiting to get a piece of land.

Where to begin.....see above this is simply untrue and the statistics on wealth do not bear this out! The idea that those complaining are not prepared to work hard is a nonsense and as mythical as Unicorn! Income is not wealth and it is near on impossible to acquire if you don't already have it. In my personal circumstances we are lucky to have a good enough income but despite my DH being a Director in a London Architecture firm, me working in Privacy/data protection, we have a small 2 bed house with one reception room. Luckily being an Architect he could redesign the garage and convert it into a third bedroom much needed as we have two DC! It has a 2 foot by 10 ft yard, no garden. In contrast my parents, one an Economist, the other a teacher (but she wasn't working when they bought the family home) could, through hard work via income, not inherited wealth as their parents were working class, could buy a detached house in South West London! On of our holidays was going around the U.S for 6 weeks, staying in some of the best hotels in the states. Stop peddling the myth that envy and lack of hard work is at the heart of this, it isn't, it's corporate welfare and pure economics!