Welcome to Manchester

I have just enjoyed a very nice lunch at my hotel, sitting outside on the terrace overlooking Piccadilly. I had a "seafood platter" which was three small pieces of fried fish, a fishcake, salmon mousse and squid rings and fries. It was very nice, though at £15 not outrageously expensive. I also had two glasses of Champagne, which I agree is an indulgence, but I paid for it out of my taxed income.

During my hour sitting outside, two passers pay abused me. One shouted "Tory c**t" (perhaps it was my red trousers) which caused great offence to the lady with her 9 year-old daughter at the next table. Then I received the followed Tweet:

@Andrew__Kennedy Nice bit of scoff you got there big man,up in Manchester for a wee jolly? if U R hand back FREE travel pass £tax grabber!
— eveningnew (@eveningnew) September 28, 2013

What was ironic is Piccadilly was thronging with Manchester United supporters going to the Man U v West Brom game. Most were wearing Man United shirts at £50 a time, and they will all have tickets at £30 - £60 a ticket. No-one would (or should) ever shout abuse at them for the spending plans. Their tickets cost 3x the cost of my food and their shirts 2x the cost of the one I am wearing from M&S.

What a strange, nasty, malicious world many Socialists occupy. And we are said to be nasty.   For the record, I don't blame Manchester or its people for this. I blame the politics of envy and narrow-minded bigotry. Winston Churchill got it right when he spoke about Socialism as

 

....a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance,
and the gospel of envy,
its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.