anonguest Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/11109845/Why-arent-the-British-middle-classes-staging-a-revolution.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FallingAwake Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Without reading the article I could think of several reasons.Huge mortgages, precarious jobs, onerous laws and punishments for doing so... Need I go on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andygivenup Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Without reading the article I could think of several reasons. Huge mortgages, precarious jobs, onerous laws and punishments for doing so... Need I go on? Nope Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shindigger Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 High house prices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) We live in peculiar times when the Telegraph has a piece which wouldn't look amiss in the Morning Star. The short answer to the original question is that X-factor soma keeps the underclasses from rioting while debt stops the middle classes from doing so. Edited September 23, 2014 by StainlessSteelCat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billybong Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 (edited) Then they’d get some business school shill to write an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and the telegraph about how this was inevitable – and how, really, you should be grateful. Addition in bold. Now and then they'll do a contrary view just to cover themselves. Edited September 23, 2014 by billybong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FallingAwake Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Well, to be fair, they're masters of "clickbait", like the Daily Mail as well. That's ultimately the job of their online headlines. To get people to click. I don't think it would have had the same effect if his headline had been, "I'm Somewhat Narked At This Phones4U Thing". But anyway, I'm surprised someone hasn't said to him, "OK... you first." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Without reading the article I could think of several reasons. Huge mortgages, precarious jobs, onerous laws and punishments for doing so... Need I go on? brainwashing with jeremy kyle and nonsense telly? ..kept busy doing nothing and getting nowhere...busy,busy,busy...must be distracted from what's really happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Sutton Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Great article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habeas Domus Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 It's exactly what happened to Habitat while they were owned by IKEA, I wonder how many times they will be able to repeat this trick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zugzwang Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 The Scottish part of the UK has been revolting on our behalf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oracle Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014  Telegraph comes out at last. It was Fatch. We always knew it was her doing. I disagree. the loony left put so much stifling micromanagement and regulation in the way of doing anything productive people all feel like they are trapped on the hamster wheel going nowhere..but are scared to fall off. it is a form of repression/bullying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gf3 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Â Â I disagree. the loony left put so much stifling micromanagement and regulation in the way of doing anything productive people all feel like they are trapped on the hamster wheel going nowhere..but are scared to fall off. it is a form of repression/bullying. Yes it was all those sandle wearing hippies that stole all the money from phones4u. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snugglybear Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Some middle class kids did riot as I recall, during the protests about student loans. I expect the middle classes read all about it the penalties imposed then, and after the London riots, in the Telegraph. That should have put them right off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byron78 Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Â Â I disagree. the loony left put so much stifling micromanagement and regulation in the way of doing anything productive people all feel like they are trapped on the hamster wheel going nowhere..but are scared to fall off. it is a form of repression/bullying. I disagree. It's both. Just because Labour were loony and awful doesn't mean Fatch wasn't as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
streamingfreedom Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I often wonder why we don't see riots and protests more but then life is still bearable for most. Inequality can get much worse before things turn nasty, we've got a way to go yet before we are there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest_northshore_* Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Some middle class kids did riot as I recall, during the protests about student loans. I expect the middle classes read all about it the penalties imposed then, and after the London riots, in the Telegraph. That should have put them right off. It seems if students dare protest, even to the benefit of staff, attempts are made to ruin their lives. Transpose that intimidation to the nation as as a whole and I'm not surprised by the inertia. http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/university-of-birmingham-suspends-two-students-for-nine-months-after-protest-9621032.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-25234991 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 ...some don't want to lose their jobs, others don't want to lose their benefits, nobody wants to lose their homes and everyone has enough to eat. Look around and see how others live in other places, we have got it better than most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drunken Tiger Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 Read Millenium People by J.G. Ballard, 2003, for middle class revolt (with a surreal twist, of course). In fact, read EVERTHING by the Seer of Shepperton, who was always ahead of his time. Genius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sPinwheel Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I'm sure they are tutting, very loudly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
200p Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 (edited) The article talks about the people laid off at Phones4U as the middle class that they should be up in arms. I can't put Phones4U staff and middle class terms together. How much do they get paid to sell phones? Apple staff so I read are not far off minimum wage, even though they pull in £1000s of pounds for Apple each day. Teachers, doctors, private equity bods are the middle class or upper middle class, or am I wrong? Edited September 24, 2014 by 200p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timak Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 My wife met the 10 years younger version of herself at work the other day. They had done the same degree at the same University and this person had just started working in the same lab that she started in. However this person was 25 rather than 21 when they got into the job and had had to work their way up to what used to be an entry level position. The salary nearly 14 years on from when my wife started was only about £1500 a year higher. Most glaring difference is we were paying £695 a month to rent a 2 bedroom house in central-ish Cambridge (before buying a 3 bedder for under £140k) and they were paying £500 a month for a room in a house 5 miles from Cambridge with literally zero hope of buying. The young are screwed. I told the Lib Dem canvasser who phoned me earlier that I could never vote for them with what they had signed young people up to with the university costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olde guto Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 The article talks about the people laid off at Phones4U as the middle class that they should be up in arms. I can't put Phones4U staff and middle class terms together. How much do they get paid to sell phones? Apple staff so I read are not far off minimum wage, even though they pull in £1000s of pounds for Apple each day. Teachers, doctors, private equity bods are the middle class or upper middle class, or am I wrong? Middle class because they don't work in a factory... Call centre workers, shop workers etc. are as working class as someone working in a factory or warehouse. The middle classes are like you say those with "professions", doctors, accountants, engineers... If you need to Chartered or a member of a similar professional body to do your job you're somewhere in the middle class spectrum. I once heard someone define the middle classes as those who didn't need to work all of the year to live fairly comfortably. I think that's more of a historic definition from the days before mass mortgages where the middle classes would be able to buy property and the working classes would have to rent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikhail Liebenstein Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 I think the violent reaction to some of this tightening of the screw by the 0.1% is actually what we are seeing with some young British Muslims going of to Syria/Iraq/ISIL. If there was more opportunity for them, I suspect less of this would happen. In 200 years time, if Britain has a referendum to merge with ISIL the bankers might finally get some sort of punishment. And whilst some might relish that, I am quite sure many others will live and die to regret it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Economic Exile Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 My wife met the 10 years younger version of herself at work the other day. They had done the same degree at the same University and this person had just started working in the same lab that she started in. However this person was 25 rather than 21 when they got into the job and had had to work their way up to what used to be an entry level position. The salary nearly 14 years on from when my wife started was only about £1500 a year higher. Most glaring difference is we were paying £695 a month to rent a 2 bedroom house in central-ish Cambridge (before buying a 3 bedder for under £140k) and they were paying £500 a month for a room in a house 5 miles from Cambridge with literally zero hope of buying. The young are screwed. I told the Lib Dem canvasser who phoned me earlier that I could never vote for them with what they had signed young people up to with the university costs. Yes the young are screwed. Your anecdotal succinctly highlights issues the young face. Here in scotland there has been increased interest in politics and how the economy "works". Perhaps that will spread uk wide from the scottish referendum? If there is any major rioting in the future I think it will come from the younger members of society as many of them will have nothing to lose having been saddled with debt, lack of social mobility, low pay in comparison to basic living costs regardless in the main of one's "class". Some will carve ok lives but many will not because the chances and opportunities just aren't there for the majority. I think more of england's residents are becoming aware of why they pay tuition fees whereas scotland's residents don't. Good retort to the liberal canvasser. I'll use that if one accosts me anytime, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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