WITH a new year upon us, and at a time when so many are finding their finances stretched to breaking point, two recent news items caught my eye.
The first was by the Equality Trust, stating that the number of UK billionaires has significantly increased since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020 there were 147, but there are now 177.

The report also says that government and central bank interventions, aimed at supporting businesses and households, actually helped to fuel a boom in property and stock market prices and thereby lined the pockets of wealthy investors.

Our warped economic structure enables the richest few to accrue a huge amount of our nation’s wealth, while foodbank use soars, 3.9 million children live in poverty and 6.7 million households struggle to heat their homes.
Such entrenched levels of inequality bring higher levels of violent crime and mental illness, and lower levels of health and trust in our economy and democracy.
The second item of news that got my attention was a speech given by the chairman of the UK’s Charity Commission, in which he stated that while the voluntary sector faces an existential crisis, the UK’s top one per cent of earners give even less to charity now than they did ten years ago.

Although their income grew by ten per cent in real terms between 2011 and 2019, their average donation to charity fell by 20 per cent to just £48 a month. A truly shameful figure.
Worse still, although as a whole top earners gave an annual total of about £3 billion to charitable causes, it is estimated this was down to the generosity of just one in five of them. For comparison, less well-off people in the UK gave about £10.7 billion to charitable causes last year, and very many also gave their time to act as volunteers and trustees.
What is it about humans that – with some exceptions, of course – those who have much more than they need tend to want even more, while those with the least are among the most generous in sharing what little they have? Why has our economic system evolved to funnel so much wealth upwards to the few, while failing to cater fully for the basic needs of the many?

Regulation and taxation are political choices. Rather than looking to save money through yet more cuts to public services, we need tax reforms to target the very wealthy and close the tax avoidance loopholes.
The money thus raised would greatly improve the lives of so many, and make our society more equal and democratic. We need a government that does what we pay it to do and run the country for the benefit of us all, do we not?