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Original poster

Geroge Osbourne skiing in Klosters, Zac Goldsmith sunning in 8k villa in Caribbean why?

34 replies

FishKebabs · 02/01/2011 10:38

It is reported in the Daily Mail that some Tory MP's are enjoying lavish holidays whilst we are facing increases in just about everything from fuel prices to university fees. How can these MP's tell us that we are all in this together, it is outrageous, what a bunch of hyprocrites. George Osbourne coined the phrase "We Are All In This Together" so does he think everyone in the UK can afford luxury ski holidays at peak times.

OP posts:
elliott · 02/01/2011 10:40

Why on earth do you believe these people?

Original poster
FishKebabs · 02/01/2011 10:46

I think we have been deceived by this present coalition government, I can see more riots on the way.

OP posts:
Chil1234 · 02/01/2011 11:06

Why does going on holiday make someone a hypocrite? Is every member of the government expected to go around in sack cloth and ashes? Plenty of people in the UK have gone on holiday this winter, plenty are going skiing and plenty more are planning holidays for the summer. Only news reporters use emotive words like 'lavish'...

mayorquimby · 02/01/2011 13:43

why? because they have the cash and feel like a holiday during the traditional holiday season?

Normasnorks · 02/01/2011 14:40

Don't see the problem? They get paid for doing their job, same as everyone else - if they choose to spend it skiing/ on a beach that's up to them.....

donnie · 02/01/2011 18:47

I was never deceived - no offense Fishkebabs but speak for yourself!

more riots? oh yes indeed.

Zac Goldsmith? people in his 'constituency' were happy to vote him into power even though at the time he was a shameless tax exile. Clearly his money was too good to be given over to the tax office, like mine or yours.

Anyway, yada yada...it's all been said before.

donnie · 02/01/2011 18:47

'unlike' mine or yours.

MadameCastafiore · 02/01/2011 18:53

Fishkebabs - try reading something else!

Hello, Ok, Bella?

moondog · 02/01/2011 19:50

Gosh yes. Heaven forbid that peopel should actually enjoy spending some of their own money.
Outrageous.
It should all be redistributed forthwith into street theatre projects, raising awareness of discrimination

Original poster
FishKebabs · 02/01/2011 22:14

But he is telling us to make sacrifices whether we like it or not, it just seems so unfair, I won't be able to afford to send my kids to university because of his governments policies, that is my sacrifice, what are his if any? (not his ski trip) You could argue forever and a day that his personal wealth is separate from his job, but he should not tell us that we have to suffer hardship when he & his family never will.

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MaryMotherOfCheeses · 02/01/2011 22:18

It riles.

I can understand that.

But Pleeeease don't make them give the money to street theatre projects Wink

donkeyderby · 03/01/2011 00:38

Pre-election, I don't think they would have gone on extravagant holidays. They were too busy pretending to care about the environment and looking as un-Thatcherite as possible. It seems a world away from the time that David Cameron was constantly attached to a bicycle with a wind turbine on his head.

Now, they are happy to prove in every way possible that they just don't care about us plebs. We're all in this together, not them.

Chil1234 · 03/01/2011 08:05

"it just seems so unfair,"

And what would you rather he said to us about the economy rather than warn that times ahead will be difficult? "It's all going to be peaches and cream, there will be no impact on your personal circumstances whatsoever and you should carry on without a care in the world"?

That, to my mind, would be thoroughly irresponsible.... And, funnily enough, 'don't worry your little head about it - leave it to us' was essentially the Labour message for the last 10 years.

Original poster
FishKebabs · 03/01/2011 10:06

It cannot be right that someone from a privileged background that has & is never likely to suffer hardship or make sacrifices should tell the rest of us that we must make sacrifices. I do not think George Osbourne is the right person for the job, he should not be making statements such as "we are all in this together" when HE is most definitely not.

OP posts:
Chil1234 · 03/01/2011 10:17

And I suppose when Churchill made the famous speech about 'we will fight them on the beaches'... and the population knew full well he was probably in a safe location nowhere near any fighting, beaches or otherwise... that made him a hypocrite & not the right person for the job either?

Everyone is affected by the state of the economy. The man with £1m is more cushioned against change than the man with £100... but isn't that just a fact of life?

Rindercella · 03/01/2011 10:35

The fact that some people are loaded and others are skint perhaps isn't fair. But it is a fact. I have no real opinion on Osbourne's ability to do his job, but would think that being wealthy and being able to perform well as Chancellor are not mutually exclusive.

Osbourne is off skiing and Goldsmith is in a plush pad in the Caribbean because, err, they can afford to be. This has nothing to do with the salaries they draw but everything to do with their immense personal wealth.

Quattrocento · 03/01/2011 10:41

This is your second thread on the subject Fish - clearly something you're feeling very aggrieved about ...

FakePlasticTrees · 03/01/2011 10:55

If they have outside earnings, they have to declare it, and did so before the election, people voted for them knowing what they earned, and for the likes of the Tory front bench, their family money, partner's income was all revealed before hand too - and voters still thought they were the best people for the job.

Seems at be silly to say "we are happy for you to earn X amount, we are happy to vote for you if you have family money, we are happy for you to be married to someone earning Y amount, but we decide we have the right to tell you how to spend that money. Oh, and don't be thinking you can actually go away during your annual leave..."

Original poster
FishKebabs · 03/01/2011 12:27

Never voted for them, so it is hard to stomach being told by an extremely privileged privately educated rich person that my children will have to sacrifice their further education because that is the way it has to be.
Just have to grim & bear it & try not to read stories of politicians lavish lifestyles.

OP posts:
Quattrocento · 03/01/2011 12:29

I never voted for them either. You'll get over it.

Mind you I didn't vote for the last lot, and they nearly bankrupted the country.

Chil1234 · 03/01/2011 12:42

And the last lot were photgraphed swanning about on yachts.... and didn't one of them famously have 'Two Jags' etc.?

ScienceDad · 03/01/2011 13:01

Should they go around in sack cloths? Well actually, yes they should. Being a politician was traditionally intended to be working for the people instead of for money, though modern day wages don't reflect this.

Though these holiday revelations hardly differentiate them from the last Labour Government anyway, so it's hardly shocking.

Chil1234 · 03/01/2011 13:06

At what point in British history did politicians work for the people rather than for money? Would that be when they were all titled landowners?

Hammerlikedaisies · 03/01/2011 17:42

FishKebabs: 'Just have to grim & bear it & try not to read stories of politicians lavish lifestyles.

The only thing we can do about the huge differences between the haves and havenots is vote for anyone who will increase taxes on a graded scale so that the more you earn the more you pay. They'd also need to seek out and destroy tax evaders.

Then there would be enough money to go round, and people would stop blaming so-called 'benefit scroungers'.

Alouiseg · 03/01/2011 17:48

The MP's in question have serious personal wealth, until being an MP pays as much as other high status jobs it will attract independently wealthy people.

It's just a hobby for them. They can "afford" to be an MP because they don't have to rely on the salary.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.