Can I have Social Democracy and use of median measures of prosperity?

Either you are being deliberately obtuse to again deflect but there was plenty in the press about a pandemic being the next great frontier - Gates has been talking about for years. So as clever a fellow as you think you are I would have thought taking all the evidence into account would lead you to a simple conclusion - if this happens, who is going to suffer - predominantly your customers. You being as clever as you think you are would have invested in PPE for when this might happen. Of course you wouldn't have done because that is not a good use of capital now is it. You expected the government to have warehouses full of this stuff just in case - so monies that could have been spent on hip replacements etc can't because its all tied up in PPE - come on get real.

In my life I have not experienced any lack of opportunity - I can from a back to back with an outside toilet in Bradford, I went to Wyke Manor - possibly the worst comprehensive in the Bradford area, I didn't go to university and I have made a pretty good fist life and there are many who have come from worst than me and have done far better than me - to say there is a lack of fairness/opportunity/equality is rubbish - life is what you make of it, I have found the harder I work the bigger the opportunity.

Your comment about profit is an interesting one - endless growth improves the overall standard of living of the citizens - it is no surprise that the overall living standard of the world's population has improved beyond all recognition since the start of the industrial revolution? If you look at all those "new countries" coming into the EU that need supporting they are all those that adopted a hard line socialist dogma.

You were lucky to have a back to back....There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road!

You are a very strange guy - hopefully you will be able to get the help you need when the mental health side of the NHS gets back into full swing

You were lucky, we could only dream of a shoebox!
There were 1000 of us and We had to live in a puddle in the gutter at the side of the road, we would have loved a shoebox!

And out of the millions who grew up in B2Bs hiw many made good?
And of the tens of thousands who grew up in mansions and attended private school and joined the old boys network, how many failed?

I bet there would be quite a disparative percentage of both.

No-one is asking for complete and utter socialism, people are asking for a fairer system and proper social and health care system to support it.

I would suggest a similar % made good of the total - depends on how you determine made good?

The NHS is the envy of the world - its free to anyone - do you think if you go into to A&E with a heart attack the richer man gets better treatment - we both know the answer?

Really?

There’s at very least a problem of perception then (personally, I think it is more than that, of course). According to a survey for they Social Mobility Commission, only a third of young people believe everyone in the UK has a fair chance to progress in life, and 44% of all respondents believed that where a person ends up in society is largely determined by their background (vs 35% who felt that everybody has a fair chance to ’get on’).

While I might not have been born into an economically or socially advantageous situation on a national level (it could have been much worse though), on a global level I definitely was. That gave me a much better chance than most people, so this isn’t about envy or regret. I just think we could theoretically do better and that’d benefit society as a whole... but those that benefit most from the inefficiencies of the current system get power as one of the benefits.

That third are the ones that will make it happen - if your beat before you start you have no chance of progress. I am interested in where you believe an opportunity has been denied to you because of your social status/upbringing?

I don't think Sal was expecting a reference to Monty Python.....

It's quite simple
Despite how many people "Want to Win" there can be only so many "Winners" (whatever that may be).
The traits that drive those winners are the traits that make/give them narcisitocal tendencies )and dilute to recent study, make them happier than caring/sharing/left namby pamby people).
Now I could wrap this traits up as a description but the top line is, those people dont like to share, they perceive that theyve worked hard (which they have) ergo everyone else hasnt.

Now ufotunatley IMO the opportunities to get into the positions of power/authority, the positions that lead to top jobs etc, come from the who you know not what you know circles.

And by definition if 90% of the wealth comes from 10% of the population, then the 10/20% of the "Top job/opportunities" will more often than not come from the 10% that are in the know to begin with.

This is completely hypothetical, but if we classed 30/40million people as currently working or in higher level education, of which 10% are classed as the ones with the most wealth etc and there are say 1million Opprotunites/top obs going, then do we think that those opportunities will go to the 30/40 million equally?
Or will the top 10% get first dibs?

I'm "lucky", not that I am extremely well off or anything, I've been employed since I was 16 and have in today's terms a very safe job and never really had to worry.
I came from a deprived area, but was lucky enough to have a mum and dad with their head screwed on, they had little money but they kept me on the straight and narrow.
But so did dozens of others from that area, and very few are in as lucky position as me and I am not naive enough to think that my luck was all down to hard work.
And when im talking lucky here, I'm not talking eton/oxford/Cambridge whichbwould lead to the top opportunities, I'm not talking CEO opportunities or Politics opportunity, I'm talking lucky to have a slightly above average job with a lifestyle to suit (which is what I want as I have no aspirations of a yacht or race horses).
The dozens of others who did have parents with headaches screwed on make do with below average jobs
This that didnt there are hundreds of, and I see the situations some are in day to day.
And I understand the comeback, they should work harder, they should do this or do that like I did.
But top line, I'm a foster parent, and 99% (and I'm tempted to say 100%) of the children that come our way, and they way of dozens of friends who do the same thing are that a lot of these children's lives are mapped out by the time theyve hit their teenage years.

In the last 10 years or so IMO the systems got worse, as austerity has kicked in, and social care networks have been eroded (sure start, mental health) etc there are more and more falling into the cracks.

The top 10% (and let's be honest here, its probably more the top 2% were talking about) will benok, have the means to get by, and if things go wrong theyll have contacts/networks etx to get back).
The bottom 20% dont.

Interesting question, but why me? It’s a society-level issue, and my life isn’t necessarily very generalizable.

I will definitely have a think about my disadvantages, and what might mitigate those when I have more time. But I’m also aware that I’ve had certain advantages in terms of being white and male and straight and able-bodied, among others, so I don’t want to be whiny when I’ve been lucky, or discuss inequality only in terms of where it has affected me.

And there’s the flip side of some people getting too much opportunity to society’s detriment.

No-one Expects a Monty Python Reference!

The only area where I have suffered is through my own inabilities - if you are bright enough you can be a brain surgeon - don't have to be rich, you can be a top lawyer - don't have to start off rich. I can't be a PL footballer - most of whom come from poor backgrounds and there are plenty of BAME playing in the PL - not because I didn't come from a rich background but because I have no ability at football etc.

Everybody has 99% of all opportunities - most simply can't see the opportunity and don't have the desire to take it.