Please cry for the relatively affluent middle classes.

Please cry for the relatively affluent middle classes. An article in the Daily Telegraph Sports Section on Tuesday 12 July set out some excerpts from a book by Peter Alliss, the former BBC Commentator who died in 2020. The headline of the section that interested me was “Demise of Sport on BBC is such a sad state of affairs”. This incidentally on a day when BBC 2 had sport on from 4.45 - 7.00 and then from 7.30 - 10.00. What raised my interests was his comments about taxation. At the present time there is a contest to see who will be the next Prime Minister and govern the Country. Foremost amongst the issues raised, blotting out all the major crises with which we are faced is the question of taxation. The fight to decide who will reduce taxes the most and the most quickly. Nothing is said about the cuts in services which will inevitably follow from such a policy. But what does Peter Alliss have to say? His main concern is for those in the income bracket of £60 000 to £100 000. He refers to these as the relatively affluent middle class. The clear implication of this term is that there is another section of the middle class who earn considerably more than this. He does not mention unearned income which accounts for a great deal more of the wealth owned by a small section of society. “Of course” he writes, “if you are on £30 000 or less, you might well think the aforementioned figures signify great wealth”! To quote from the Equality Trust. “In 2018, households in the bottom 20% of the population had on average an equivalised disposable income of £12,798, whilst the top 20% had £69,126.” “The top 1% have incomes substantially higher than the rest of those in the top 10%” Alliss then spells out what this means for those ‘relatively affluent middle class’. Just “consider your fairly typical family of four looking to enjoy a pleasant house, a couple of cars, and perhaps one or two family holidays a year.” Such are the minimal aspirations of our relatively affluent middle class. Compare that to those whom Alliss dismisses as “on £30 000 or less.” One person in five in this country have no access to a private care. They are totally dependent upon walking or upon a totally inadequate public transport system which is being cut by local authorities such a Kent and London because of the failure of Government to provide the necessary support. The major, overriding problems facing this group are providing food and energy for their families: heat or eat? is a serious problem. Even people in work, providing essential services to the public, are having to rely on food banks! When it comes to housing the situation becomes even worse. Many young people who would be at the top end of the “£30 000 or less” group are faced with an intractable problem. The cost of housing is such that, although they can afford the cost of a mortgage, the demand for the deposit required is far beyond their savings. The result is that they have to rent at a higher cost than the mortgage they would have to pay. This is the problem for the top end of this group. How do we assess those who are at the lower end? Alliss complains about the cost of housing. He fails to ask the question as to why a house built say 70 years ago, cost £8 000 50 years ago and now costs £400,000. This, the result of our crazy economic system. He also complains about our education system, but fails to analyse that system. Our competitive educational structure is not designed to provide an education for children and young people, but to fit them for a role within the capitalist system. The whole structure is based around examinations with the needs of pupils and students ignored. Unfortunately Alliss is not able to update his views. The Daily Telegraph has printed them at an important time in British politics as the dominant party in Parliament seeks a new leader. Political issues are being debated. Sadly the focus is not on the fundamental problems facing civilisation, poverty, the cost of living, climate change, nuclear war, imperialism of East and West; the fact that 71 million people are living in poverty and people in this country are dependent on food banks. Arguing about how much and how soon tax can be reduced shows that our Parliamentary democracy has lost its credibility. In fairness to Alliss and the Daily Telegraph I add the article that I criticise so that you can judge for yourself. Scibar Demise of sport on BBC is such a sad state of affairs Travesty of put-upon middle classes, soaring cost of living, failing education system…but loss if TV action grates most With the passing of the years I have taken much more of an interest in daily politics. It is amazing just how much the population has been squeezed on all sorts of tax schemes to allow the country to continue to compete with the ‘big boys’. I wonder how much longer you can keep squeezing the relatively affluent middle classes, those earning between, say, £60,000 and £100,000 a year. Of course, if you’re on £30,000 or less, you might well think the aforementioned figures signify great wealth, but do they really? Consider your fairly typical family of four looking to enjoy a pleasant house, a couple of cars, and perhaps one or two family holidays a year; after tax has been paid, these hard-working parents are left with much less than a fortune. Even holidays at home are very expensive, and if you go self-catering all that means is that Mum or Dad, or both, spend most of their time in the kitchen or clearing up. A holiday for some, perhaps, but certainly not for all. Meanwhile, houses are becoming ever more expensive, and the same goes for cars. Likewise, the cost of running these vehicles ticks ever upwards, while the cost of food and drink scarcely ever goes down. Despite various governments telling us our education system is now so much better than it was many years ago, I’m not convinced. The softly-softly approach in many schools has not worked, leading to unruly behaviour, bad language, and, in a small number of cases, assaults on the teachers. The Scottish education system was the envy of the world when I was a boy, but fairly recently I have read troubling reports of a 17 per cent illiteracy rate north of the border. How could that possibly be? By the way, I don’t believe in homework. I think all school work should be done at school. Whether that would mean altering school hours I know not, but it is clearly not the way to go for children to come home tired (to parents who are also tired) and to have to do an hour or more of studying. Finish it all at school, say I. And yes, I realise I have ended a sentence with a first person singular nominative-case personal pronoun, but do I care? Few things, however, will ever match my sorrow at the demise of sport on the BBC. I know the powers that be are always ready to waive a dossier extolling the BBC’s pretty full agenda, consisting of athletics, rugby sevens, snooker, and some football (particularly women’s football, a sport for which interest is very much on the rise). Sadly, however, there is little or no room in the BBC schedule for cricket, horse racing, Formula One, and golf – and there is certainly nothing even close to a full football schedule. There is no darts, either, but you may find one or two other bits and pieces that have crept in – probably because the rights were going cheap.