Terry Prone: Well-off people get showered with freebies they could well afford
Keir Starmer, who leads a party which traditionally drew loyalty from underpaid people, should not have had his hand out like Oliver Twist asking for more
Originally published in the Irish Examiner.
Consider a new law. Let’s tentatively call it The Freebie Law. The Freebie Law holds that the vast majority of those who get freebies don’t need them. Overseas, film stars attending Oscar or other parties are gifted items they could well afford to buy in Bloomies.
Nearer home, successful businesspeople attending a breakfast seminar or dinner find little bags of gratis goodies at their table setting.
They have more than enough money to buy their own, and they mightn’t even like the free stuff, but the point is that they get it without having to pay for it.
The very fact that they get freebies indicates how comfortably-off they are. It’s just amazing how few people on the minimum wage run into freebie opportunities in the course of their impoverished daily lives.
In which context, let’s consider Britain’s prime minister, in whom Ireland rests great hopes, which is understandable if only because he’s not Liz Truss or Boris Johnson.
He’s also a senior counsel and — as far as we can tell — has been in gainful employment for a long time.
It was during that gainful employment he met Victoria Starmer, then working in occupational health for the National Health Service.
Keir and Victoria Starmer's meet-cute
Their first meeting was a vigorous, even contentious encounter on the phone and as it concluded, but before it actually concluded, Keir overheard her talking to a third party about him. “Who the fuck does he think he is?” was her question. Which is a pretty endearing meet-cute story, you have to admit.
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