Emeritus Prof Christopher MayAug 7, 2025

What happens when the Govt. Under Secretary for Homelessness & Rough Sleeping is herself a landlord?

Well, the answer is she continues to act as a Landlord; serving notice on tenants that a lease would not be renewed so that the rent could be raised & the property re-listed.... now this is not an uncommon tactic, but its also what is stoking rent inflation (and therefore indirectly homelessness).

The problem with our political class in a nutshell; hypocrisy!

#politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czerl5dy0kgo

Rushanara Ali criticised after rent increase on London property

Rushanara Ali MP faces criticism for increasing the rent on a house she owns by hundreds of pounds.

BBC News
Show threadHerefordrobAug 7, 2025
@ChrisMayLA6
I'm not sure if there is a political class. I believe, maybe wrongly, we have a hierarchical class system, with A) The elite, large land/property owners, oligarchs. Usually with a history going back generations. These have been referred to as shadow sovereigns.
B) Moneyed elite, also oligarchs, the human shield for those above.
C) The middle class, composed of sub-classes i.e. professionals, managers, well paid workers. Sometimes referred to as the bourgeois.
D) see reply
Show threadHerefordrob
@ChrisMayLA6
D) The precariate, the majority, those dependant on philanthropy. Kept quite through provision of just enough and fear. Canon fodder of history.
Aug 7, 2025 at 8:04amWeb
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher MayAug 7, 2025

@Herefordrob

Yes, I'm using political class more as a category than as a tool of class analysis - mainly because I want to include both politicians & their fellow travellers in the media & management... but if I was intending to use it in class analysis mode, then your critique would be right - I may need to think of a different term to avoid this sort of slippage - thanks for prompting me to reflect on that