I too felt a great affinity with those 14 plucky multi-millionaires knock a ball around in the name of my geographic region.

This.

Perhaps we can organise a Forum Golf Day and Dropkick can judge who has the snazziest gear? (I'm joking about the second part of this proposal)

In defence of Lefty 'Golf-blah', I think there is a difference between "paid" and "earn" on the basis that to earn something usually requires effort on the part of the earner, the same can not always be said of a payee

me, too morleys

I play (twice a week in the summer, once in the winter) to a reasonable standard, however, I have very little interest in televised golf. I watch The Open and The Masters (and the RC every 2 years) religiously, but the thought of watching The BMW International (as an example) leaves me cold. And as for US golf, I'd rather watch the test card.

As regards to cash, let them win as much as possible.
It makes me howl with laughter, everytime someone mentions the word millionaires in a derogatory way. These people wouldn't be jealous, would they?

I'm not turning up. He hates my Dunlop £9.99 kecks

Sometimes its jealousy, sometimes its a moral judgement along the lines of nurses/soldiers only get paid this so why should such and such an occupation be paid so highly. Sometimes the resentment is about how people have earned their money.

Some people are rich because they have provided something of value to society. By value I'm not making a moral judgement just mean they provide something people want. Simon Moran falls into this category, he puts on gigs and events that lots of people value highly enough to pay a certain price to go along so he gets part of the value along with the musicians and others that are involved in those gigs and events. Someone that works in a care home won't earn as much not because their work is morally less but because they aren't providing something with as much social value in terms of the aggregate number of people willing to pay for it.

Other people are rich because they have found a way of taking wealth off others, without providing something of value themselves. For example if I was able to lobby government to allow me a licence to put a toll bridge on a busy road and charge £1 a day and I got 50000 vehicles down it a day, I could earn £50k a day, and be in the ranks of the super rich. I wouldn't have created anything new for society just taken advantage of an unnecessary rule to earn money for myself. If people complained I would say I was a top rate tax payer and if the government tried to tax me more I would simply go elsewhere and the UK would lose my tax. But my tax isn't anything extra, its just paid by me because I was able to take advantage of a situation to extract others wealth, they would have otherwise bought other things and paid VAT etc on that. This type of thing is 'rent seeking'.

Unfortunately in the banking sector, you have some productive activities but also a lot of rent seeking where people are rich without adding value. That is bad and thats where IMO its legit to complain about being being rich. But golfers aren't rent seekers, they create value.