by Rab Bruce’s Spider

So the Paradise Papers confirm what we already knew; that the wealthy elite in our society are laughing at us. While they tell us that we are all in this together, they do their vest to ensure that they contribute as little as possible to the finances of the UK. It is an absolute scandal that the media spends so much time telling us about Benefit fraud, while ignoring tax avoidance which costs the treasury many times more. Then again, since most of those who run the media are part of the wealthy elite, perhaps that’s not a surprise.

The worst thing about this latest revelation is that nothing much will come of it. The BBC are already spinning the Queen’s involvement as little more than an embarrassment caused by those who manage her investments on her behalf. They fail to mention that anyone who has investments, even by way of a Private Pension, can instruct the investment managers on which type of investments they prefer or, if that option is somehow not available, can withdraw their funds and pass them to a more ethical investment manager. HRH, it appears, has done neither of these things. What makes this even less palatable to anyone with a sense of social justice is that she is to be given £370 million to refurbish Buckingham Palace, which means her own personal fortune won’t be impacted. Three cheers for the monarchy!

What sort of populace puts up with such flagrant greed? Apparently, the British people. Have we become so complacent that we no longer care what is done to us by those who hold power, or are we so inured to stories of greed, corruption, sleaze and blatant lies that we simply shrug and say, "That’s the way it’s always been. We can’t change things." ?

In Scotland, we can change this situation, but only if people wake up to what is being done to them by the people who hold the majority of the wealth and power. Far too many of these people appear to have become so caught up in the system which rewards greed that they have completely lost touch with the hardships faced by huge numbers of ordinary citizens. Or, more likely, the "Me First!" culture which exploded in Britain in the 1980s and which has rewarded the top 1% so well, has resulted in them simply not caring what the majority of people think about them.

And yet a majority of Scots are happy to be ruled by politicians who are part of the problem. For a supposedly politically informed electorate, we seem to have a very odd view of the sort of society we want to live in.