Sad Christmas for rich Britons

This video, recorded in the London School of Economics in England, is called Unjust Rewards: Exposing Greed and Inequality in Britain Today.

While in David Cameron‘s Britain a homeless young woman dies from a falling tree crushing her tent during a storm … a homeless man dies from the winter cold … and workers cannot afford to celebrate Christmas … don’t think for one moment that the 1% super-rich, while getting still richer, lack problems of their own in this Christmas season.

The more money one has, the harder it is to find a way to spend it …

From weekly Socialist Worker in Britain:

Tue 11 Dec 2012

What to get for the 1 percent who already own everything?

This can be a stressful time for the super-rich, as they try to find presents extravagant enough for their phenomenal wealth. So we thought we’d help with a few pointers.

Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus has something for all the family. For just £9,500 you get the kids a real edible gingerbread playhouse with fittings made of giant cookies and sweets.

For loving parents there’s the £100,000 48 foot His’n’Hers houseboat.

And if you’re wondering how to treat your pal who’s chuffed with their newest swimming pool, why not splash out on a £1 million Dale Chihuly pool sculpture?

But for some these prices will still seem a bit stingy. For them, luxury mag Robb Report has an “imaginative and extravagant” wishlist of yachts, supercars and antiques. At the top is a £28 million Arctic adventure in a 148 foot yacht.

It might seem a bit steep compared to the trips to space touted by convicted fraudster Richard Branson for less than £200,000. But you get to keep an even larger 164 foot yacht at the end of it.

Or why not get them their own castle? The 4th century fortress of Miolans in France is going for £4 million.

But the best gifts are those you can’t put a price on—because they are waiting for a rich enough buyer to put in a bid. In Italy this goes for both the famous Brunello di Montalcino vineyard and the Genoa CFC football team.

The much-coveted title of Troublemaker gift of the year goes to the tropical island of Narara. It comes with three white sandy beaches and year-round sunshine.

You might want to throw in the new £100,000 Icarus microplane, as it’s a 20 minute flight from the nearest airport. For those wanting to celebrate privilege on a lower budget, pottery firm Emma Bridgewater is already producing the first royal foetus-themed tat.

For just under 20 quid you get a hideous mug covered in red and blue love hearts. It says “Hooray for Will and Kate” on one side and “a royal baby in 2013” on the other.

Talking about the British royal family, from the same article:

Subsidised housing

To see the holidays that could await the royal foetus, look instead to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. They are shockingly no longer able to stay rent free in a St James’ Palace flat.

But the rent has been kept down to around £20,000 a year from a market rent of up to £150,000. And even that will be paid by their dad Prince Andrew. The flat was renovated with £250,000 of public money.

Talking about Cameron’s Britain: about Cameron’s Chancellor, from the same article:

Horse trading

George Osborne secretly spent taxpayer’s money buying himself a horse paddock. It came with his second home in Cheshire.

He broke the rules by claiming up to £100,000 on expenses to pay a mortgage worth more than the value of the home. He then sold it, though only for a modest profit of £450,000.

Greedy energy companies which forced up bills have plunged almost a million Scottish households into fuel povety this Christmas, Energy Action Scotland warned: here.

Related articles

• Christmas lunch off the menu for most (independent.co.uk)
• War on families: Grinning George Osborne hammers millions while letting rich … – Mirror.co.uk (mirror.co.uk)
• Britons turn to families for festive financial support (telegraph.co.uk)
• 250,000 elderly Britons alone and lonely at Christmas (thetimes.co.uk)