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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel really angry that Petra Eccleston is buying a £98 million pound housewhile while people are starving?

233 replies

mightybright · 18/06/2011 09:29

I am completely judging her for buying a £98,000,000 second home, her first cost £56,000,000.

I'm not jealous, it just makes me feel quite sick that people are dying of starvation and that amount of money would go a long way towards making the world a better place IMO, aibu?

OP posts:
SardineQueen · 18/06/2011 18:13

"And when you compare us to women in India and how we all look, I'm not really sure we do, India has enough poorly distributed wealth of it's own."

I didn't do that Hmm

I said that to a starving child in an indian slum we all look fabulously eye-poppingly wealthy. Not too keen on people mis-representing what I have posted TBH.

SardineQueen · 18/06/2011 18:16

Who is saying that anyone should have sympathy with her?

My point, along with many others, is that the thread OP and a few people who agreed were putting forward an illogical argument, which also seemed to be prompted by the fact that the person is a young woman. If the OP had extended her argument to others of extreme wealth and talked in general terms, fine. Saying that this woman specifically makes her sick, with others posting comments like "silly little girl" shows up a motivation for the disgust that goes beyond the actual cash IMO.

Original poster
mightybright · 18/06/2011 18:19

SardineQueen - Not too keen on people mis-representing what I have posted TBH

Me neither Sardinequeen.....

OP posts:
Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 18:31

Most people on this thread are probably in the top small percentage of people in the world in terms of wealth and amenities. Petra Ecclestone represents more of the same. It may be more: but it is also the same.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 18:37

"And when you compare us to women in India and how we all look, I'm not really sure we do"

To more than 3/4 of India's population we will look eye poppingly wealthy. If you are really interested: the economic growth generated by the middle classes and their spending is not translating into social mobility for the lowest classes as would be expected but this has little to do with tax and redistribution. It has everything to do with the structure of society.

The resolution would be rather more complicated than Petra Ecclestone not buying a house.

thaigreencurry · 18/06/2011 18:41

Oh God this one has really kicked off hasn't it?

Okay I take back the "silly girl" comment I can understand how that could be interpreted as sexist although it was intended to be more ageist than sexist. I was thinking of Paris Hilton and the like when I made that comment which isn't really fair. I do still think it is obscene and "silly" to pay that much for a house, she has a $150 million pad in LA too.

My main gripe is with her father. By giving her so much money he isn't allowing her to live a normal life. Her "normal" was never going to be the average persons "normal" but to give her so much money at such a young age that she doesn't know what to do with it just seems very wrong to me. If her fortune had come to her later in life she may have spent it differently and would also have had a chance to carve out her own path in life.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 18:43

So it's all about feeling sorry for Petra Hmm weird point of view but hey

thaigreencurry · 18/06/2011 18:50

Well if you go back to my first post I more or less said the same there.

Its not about feeling sorry for her its more about feeling irritated that people like her father lavish vast amounts of money on their offspring. It is obscene for a young adult to have so much money when they hasn't earnt it themselves. But that is just my opinion.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 18:52

There are far more obscene things. It's such a minor and pointless thing to waste time thinking about.

bruffin · 18/06/2011 18:56

"ts not about feeling sorry for her its more about feeling irritated that people like her father lavish vast amounts of money on their offspring. It is obscene for a young adult to have so much money when they hasn't earnt it themselves. But that is just my opinion."

So by your philosophy we should take every rich person's child off them at birth so they should not be tainted by money.

SardineQueen · 18/06/2011 18:56

For the first and probably the last time, I agree with gooseberrybushes Grin

bibbitybobbityhat · 18/06/2011 18:59

I am quite happy to declare here and now that if I should ever have 98 million pounds handed to me by someone, I would find a way to give more than 90% of it away and would most likely make it my life's work (since I will never have to go out and earn a living) to ensure that the money is spent intelligently and ends up where it is truly needed. And I think she should too. She chooses not to and I judge her for that. And anyone else, male or female, old or young, who has earned the money or inherited it, I judge them in the same way.

Because after giving 90% of 98 million pounds away you still have nearly £10 million pounds in the bank earning more interest than a reasonable person could possibly spend on themselves without being a tit.

Just to make my pov clear.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 19:01

Don't worry Sardine there are generally a few secret agreers I've found. You could be one of them.

smashinghairday · 18/06/2011 19:03

Bibbbity.

Sigh.

It is her FATHER'S money. He already gives half that amount away ANNUALLY Plus god knows how much tax.

Or are you genuinely suggesting all rich people should give 90% of their cash away? And at what level must they do this?

SardineQueen · 18/06/2011 19:04

I don't understand this attack on the individual.

Surely it is human nature to want to help your children. People work to provide for their children and if they have anything left it is quite a normal move to give children money to help them out, to leave them your stuff when you die. This is a different scale, but it's the same impulse.

If people have a problem with the vast inequalities in this world then the things to look at are political systems, consumerism, big business, all of that stuff. Pointing the finger at a wealthy individual and saying their wealth makes you sick is just a bit feeble. It doesn't address any issues or consider ways of changing the world, it just looks petty.

Many billions are given in aid every year, and things don't seem to get any better. Many people are starting to question the way that aid works. It's not even a given that if the money this house cost were added to the aid pot it would make any difference whatsoever.

And again, I can think of many more people I would be looking at before this woman on the list of people who do harm. All she has done is be born to a rich and generous man. Meanwhile others are building fortunes based on war, starvation, torture, environmental catastrophe, murder and oppression. They have far more to answer to, to my mind, than this seemingly blameless woman.

thaigreencurry · 18/06/2011 19:04

No Bruffin I think individuals should be free to spend their money how they choose but if they choose to give an 18 year old hundreds of millions of pounds I will judge them for it.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 19:04

That's very nice of you Bibbity. I'm sure most people feel exactly the same way before they acquire sudden unexpected astonishing wealth.

SardineQueen · 18/06/2011 19:08

bibbity you have no idea of the extent of this woman's fortune. You have no idea how much she gives to charity. You are making some pretty wild assumptions.

For all you know she already has given away 90% of her wealth and this is what she is left with.

If you look at something like the Bill Gates Foundation, the fact that he retains the vast bulk of his wealth means more in terms of the profile, generating more money from donors, and so on. If he has just given it all away then it would be a different story.

You are just guessing as to what sort of person she is and what she does. If it turns out that you know her, then I will take this back. But if you don't, I don't see that you are in a position to make these definitive comments about what she does and doesn't do.

bibbitybobbityhat · 18/06/2011 19:08

Don't you dare SIGH at me!

I know exactly who Bernie Ecclestone is and who Petra Ecclestone is, unlike some who have commented on this thread.

He has given her the money? No?

Yes, I do think the very wealthy should give most of their money away. Whyever not? It seems the obvious thing to do with excessive wealth to me.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 19:09

SQ well put.

Rich people/starving millions is stark, but it is also simplistic. This kind of thought process is too easy, it puts the blame in a box and then we don't have to think about it any more. Because if it was us, we'd do something different with our money. But it's not us, so we don't have to do anything.

There's always someone richer than us who should be giving more than us. Always.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 19:09

"Don't you dare SIGH at me!"

Was that to me?

thaigreencurry · 18/06/2011 19:10

I agree with your last paragraph as I'm sure everyone else does to. However the OP had started an "Am I being unreasonable" thread about a story that featured in the celebrity pages in last Sundays newspapers. If the OP had started a thread discussing the worlds economic problems and was pointing the blame at PE I think the response would have been somewhat different.

Gooseberrybushes · 18/06/2011 19:10

ah - no

thaigreencurry · 18/06/2011 19:11

Sorry that was to SQ.

thaigreencurry · 18/06/2011 19:12

too not to. I give up. Its time for wine.