To not know who "the elite" are?

[Fuzzyend]

Labour have announced a crusade against "the elite" but I'm not sure who they are.

When I think of elite people I think of sports stars, but I'm guessing Labour haven't got anything against Dina Asher-Smith or the England rugby team. So who the heck are "the elite" and why are they a bad thing?

don’t go the full Lenin with the redistribution

Please point out where I have 🤷🏻‍♀️

Suggesting that the tax system needs an overhaul to better redistribute is not “full Lenin”.

It’s a shame you clearly only see the world in black and white.

Many don’t pay decent wages

I agree we shouldn't have zero hours contracts, although some people like them. But we have a national minimum wage which is illegal to deviate from. I agree that more should be done to clamp down on rogue employers, but the vast majority do pay at least the national minimum wage.

The national minimum wage is insufficient.

It doesn’t cover living costs.

People don’t get enough help with childcare costs - if childcare was better subsidised, more people could work for example.

Yet it’s fine for banks, for example, to be bailed out to the tune of billions, trillions even. The things that they were doing were not to the benefit of the wider economy.

They want to change the system so a kid who went to private school and a kid who went to state school get the same opportunities in life. Because at the moment, they dont

A laudable aim, but so simplistic. If some people have more money than others they will use that money as they see fit to enhance their lives. This may or may not give an advantage.

I am seemingly surrounded atm by well-off parents paying for expensive gap year experiences for their kids. This gives their child the advantage of, eg, experiencing life in Africa. But they aren't really stepping outside their comfort zone at all (as they are based with and socialise with other well off children). So I can't see this giving them any 'advantage' as they are learning very little about the world. Universities are just as happy to see that you've worked in Tesco's saving money while reading some books and learning to drive.

The point is that the 'rich elite' aren't magic.

I agree totally that social care needs more money spent on it and that the benefits system doesn't work for all who receive it. But i think you over estimate the power of the 1% to change this.

Prob another daily mail/express poster trying to drum up attention before election

‘Why does everyone hate Corbyn?’
“AIBU to wonder why poor people are pissed off?’
“why do black people keep complaining about racism?’

And so on

All hail our murdochian overlords!

Prob another daily mail/express poster trying to drum up attention before election

Do you really genuinely think that normal everyday people don't ask these questions?

@trewser
I'm not just talking about education opportunities.

"They want to change the system so a kid who went to private school and a kid who went to state school get the same opportunities in life. Because at the moment, they dont.".
But, they do. They get the same opportunity to attend school and sit the same GCSE's as each other. Then they get the same opportunity to go to college or sixth form and do A levels, and the same opportunity to go to uni if they want to. They also get the same opportunity to get a job or apprenticeship scheme etc. I hate this mantra that kids who go to private school end up being some sort of elite. They very often go into big standard good jobs and earn a good living and pay regular taxes like everyone else. There are literally thousands and thousands of kids every year leaving private school and they are in the main ending up in regular jobs like everyone else. Yes, they might go into medicine for example, but for every 10 doctors, one will have gone to private school.

Dd went to state primary and then to private school. Her friends from the state primary did roughly the same gcses and got ballpark similar results. The huge difference is that they are doing non facilitating A levels - one very bright girl doing Business, Law and Sociology for example. So apart from being encouraged to aim higher there is probably a grade difference between them, they may end up going to the same uni and having the same opportunities!

I actually think going on about the so called elite wont get him many votes as the majority of people dont really think it exists that much any more. There are generally good opportunities these days for most people if they want it.

@tabby

What about the kids that are brilliant in the arts, music, drama etc, but there's no facilities for it their state school and their parents are from a background that cant pay for them to go stage coach. Not to mention all of the inspiring school trips that private schools can take kids on but state schools can't.

Rich kids dont have to worry about uni fees, their costs of living are propped up by mum and dad and they most likely wont have to get a job a long side uni. Ultimately, giving them more time to study and focus, unlike someone that has work for a shit wage around uni hours.

Dont tell me there's no divide, because there is, and it's immense. Its obnoxious and ignorant to say that there are the same opportunities. Honestly, open your eyes.

A few examples of people you personally know does not account for the rest of the country.

Everyone thinks there should be more public money for those services that are important to them.

So just looking at what people have mentioned on here - more money for childcare subsidies, social care, NHS, education.

But gosh that's starting to sound like a lot of money, so where will we get it? Oh we'll just take it from the elites. We'll take it from big business and rich people. Us normals won't have to pay more or be disadvantaged in any way, it's just the rich people.

But it's just too ridiculously simplistic. Big business can base their HQs anywhere in the world, and will.

Rich people are generally happy to pay a fair level of taxation but once you reach a tipping point into unfair territory, they look for loopholes. Historically, the tax take goes down once taxation exceeds - I think - 50%.

Talk of making tax dodgers pay tax is laudable but those laws and the organisations designed to stop them already exist. It doesn't work because as you close 100 loopholes, they're finding 100 more.

I'm not saying don't try. Of course we should try, and are actually, but the idea that the answer to austerity is making the rich elites suffer is nonsense and I suspect designed by JC to appeal to the huge numbers of new, young voters who still believe they can vote for change and see results.

"Not to mention all of the inspiring school trips that private schools can take kids on but state schools can't."
Most local comps offer the same amount of school trips that private schools do, if not more. Those that cant afford to pay get paid for. Our local comps has it's own performing arts theatre and are constantly putting on school plays, so plenty of opportunity for that.

"Rich kids dont have to worry about uni fees, their costs of living are propped up by mum and dad and they most likely wont have to get a job a long side uni. Ultimately, giving them more time to study and focus, unlike someone that has work for a shit wage around uni hours."
Omg..you are so out of touch it's not true . The students who's families earn less, get more of a loan/grant than the students who'se parents earn more. Do people really believe that the only people who go to uni are from private school? Absolutely not the case. Even those who did go to private school will have jobs to get them through or help them out. The parents who scrimped and saved and worked hard to get their kids to private school will want their kids to be independent and stand on their own two feet. It's absolutely not the case that unis are full of kids from private school. They are full of kids who went to normal comps.

TabbyMumz

I actually think going on about the so called elite wont get him many votes as the majority of people dont really think it exists that much any more.

That is an uninformed and naïve view.

The Elite are anyone who deflects from Johnson and his mates being the actual elite. Includes Experts.

I think it's a good question actually. Because, on the face of it, many people will take it to mean the rich and the powerful, those who are out of touch with reality, those who have a disproportionate amount of power and don't use it responsibly.
But actually it's important to interrogate exactly WHO we are talking about. There are examples of very rich (multimillionaire) politicians (e.g. Trump) who calm to speak on behalf of the masses, but actually plan to screw them over. There's the whole "had enough of experts" narrative (but actually many of those experts are not necessarily the "elite", they are just well educated and experts in a particular field- therefore it's right they are offering advice).

I think railing against the "elite" without specifying who exactly you mean is a dangerous position- on the face of it, it sounds like something that is good to get behind, but who exactly are we talking about here?

@getmeacupoftea.... honestly, opportunities are there for all. Where the divide comes in is where you have dysfunctional families (who aren't always poor), who dont encourage their kids to take the opportunities. The opportunities have been there for a bl**day long time, people just dont take them. If Corbyn really wants the dysfunctional families to give their kids half a chance, they need to get more family support workers in place, and more discipline and encouragement in schools. The education and the opportunity is there, they just need to take it. In my area, most of my child's friends went on to sixth form, and the majority of them are now looking at uni or apprenticeships. They are normal families, not the elite. There are the odd ones, who aren't, and they are from the dysfunctional families, who had enough money, but for whatever reason, their kids ended up not taking the opportunities that their peers did.

@Iggly yes, exactly this.

**The likes of Nigel farage talk of an elite as does priti Patel as does Boris as does Jeremy Corbyn.

Which tells you it means different things to different people.

"A few examples of people you personally know does not account for the rest of the country."
That saying goes to you too. Universities are full of pretty normal average kids. So are six forms. These kids have a wealth of opportunities to take. There are no restrictions.

I agree we shouldn't have zero hours contracts, although some people like them.

If some people like them, then why shouldn't they have them? There is absolutely nothing wrong with zero hours contracts. The problem is bad employers. Plenty of folk on zero hour contracts with decent employers, where both parties are very happy. Many people don't want anything more than a zero hours contract. It suits them to have one.

OP, I would watch the Zeitgeist documentary. It is based on America but will give you an insight in to the unseen powerful people/families/forces of the world (the Religion section of the documentary is interesting but you could skip it!)

It may be on Netflix? But if it isn't, it's definitely on YouTube

I agree with tabby

Some really out of touch views on here about state schools and uni. Dds uni has something like 90 percent state educated. That's an awful lot of state kids doing well.

Maybe he's talking about the Illuminati