Letters | 12 May 2012

Pollygarchy

Sir: It was with a rising sense of disbelief that I read Polly Toynbee’s review of Ferdinand Mount’s The New Few (Books, 5 May). There’s an oligarchy in this country all right, but what Ms Toynbee fails to realise is that she is a member. For every overpaid plutocrat, there are any number of privileged people like herself who find lucrative employment ‘representing the disadvantaged’. They remind me of nothing so much as the old squirearchy, who used to visit their cottagers to do good works.
I would not like to suggest that it is actually in the interest of the socialist elite to keep the masses in their place, though one does wonder why, if they truly care about the working class, they support benefits culture and uncontrolled immigration.
Moreover, at least the old squirearchy had the decency to fund their charity with their own money. People like Toynbee would rather support their ideals by heavily taxing people like my son, a hard-working electrician with a wife and a sick baby to support.