Can you buy a house/flat for 400k-500k plus and claim to be a socialist?

Got to say, don't really understand some of the points above.


What's buying food got to do with the subject matter?

Keir Starmer was born in London and has always lived there. He hasn't moved from one end to the country to the other or migrated his skills. But is he a socialist in any case?

Not sure about Tiger Woods playing Snooker with a putter, didn't get that one 🤣


It's not really about identity either, it's about principles and what people truly believe in - not what they imagine themselves as; hence the question that the thread poses. People might like to identify as left-wing whilst living extremely capitalist lives in everything they do. Nothing wrong with that by the way, it's just human nature. But it's also the case that some will stand by their views and not necessarily bend over to the most money or best personal opportunity.
 
JustTheGent said:
Got to say, don't really understand some of the points above.


What's buying food got to do with the subject matter?

Keir Starmer was born in London and has always lived there. He hasn't moved from one end to the country to the other or migrated his skills. But is he a socialist in any case?

Not sure about Tiger Woods playing Snooker with a putter, didn't get that one 🤣


It's not really about identity either, it's about principles and what people truly believe in - not what they imagine themselves as; hence the question that the thread poses. People might like to identify as left-wing whilst living extremely capitalist lives in everything they do. Nothing wrong with that by the way, it's just human nature. But it's also the case that some will stand by their views and not necessarily bend over to the most money or best personal opportunity.
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What was Corporation tax under Thatcher, rail was under public ownership and she didn’t believe it should have been privatised - was she a Corbynite
 
here in the inner suburbs of Bristol the house prices are crazy.. 3 bed terraced all over £400K, all originally working men's houses for local factories. Our standard end terraced is £500k, nothing special, just a bog standard family house. The rental sector is even more ludicrous.. 2K a month for 3 bed terraced. And there are no social houses available. Nearly the whole place has been gentrified.
I think of myself as a (democratic) socialist. The housing market is a million miles away from my principles, yet you have no choice but to be a part of it. I lived in a van for 6 years but it wasn't sustainable.
In an ideal world property should not even be privately owned. It's a big capitalist con.
 
JustTheGent said:
Was out in the Dales this morning and did part of the route with a few others we got chatting to. One of them mentioned that they would soon be out of employment because their job requires them to relocate down South. They didn't want to do this because it would mean having to pay far in excess for a home that is morally acceptable. Participating in a broken capitalist housing market would go against their socialist principles and have an adverse outcome for wider society. They also feel they would be personally contributing to the North-South divide which wouldn't sit right.

Anyway, the stakes are pretty high as this person has financial commitments and a family to support. They are going to look to set something up locally in their line of work, but in the meantime are going to try and get a delivery job as a stopgap.

Got to say, it was quite refreshing to listen to as the majority of people would no doubt sell themselves to the highest bidder. I guess this country would be a much better place if there were more people that had such strong principles.
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So how is the Monpellier quarter of Harrogate these days ?
 
How can you have a flat and claim to be a socialist, chimes the same note as how can you be working class if you have a job..

If you have to work to pay the bills you are working class, wanting public money to be spent wisely does not make you a socialist.
 
JustTheGent said:
Not sure about Tiger Woods playing Snooker with a putter, didn't get that one 🤣
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My point is you can think one set of rules would be the optimal way for society to be ran, but recognise that you basically have to play along with your current situation until those rules are in place.

JustTheGent said:
People might like to identify as left-wing whilst living extremely capitalist lives in everything they do. Nothing wrong with that by the way, it's just human nature.
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But there's no option to live in a left wing/socialist UK. There's just the UK as it is. What do you actually want socialists to do? If I think that society would be better with people being allocated homes, and be paid an universal basic income, and have university education be free of charge there is no way for me to just choose to live that way?
 
SuperStu said:
My point is you can think one set of rules would be the optimal way for society to be ran, but recognise that you basically have to play along with your current situation until those rules are in place.



But there's no option to live in a left wing/socialist UK. There's just the UK as it is. What do you actually want socialists to do? If I think that society would be better with people being allocated homes, and be paid an universal basic income, and have university education be free of charge there is no way for me to just choose to live that way?
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It's not actually about whether the UK is a socialist country or not. It's about the choices individuals make. The thread was initiated by an example of someone standing by their principles and what they believe in.

Let's face it, everyone has a choice to a certain extent. The question the thread poses is a valid one. I accept that some people will have limited choices. Take the gent in Bristol for example; if his life is in Bristol and that's where he's been based, there might not be many options. But has he pursued that route and environment on purpose? Probably not by the sounds of it - he's been living in a van.

However there is a difference, some will pursue an elitist environment in terms of earnings, status, lifestyle, etc and happily participate in extreme cases of capitalist markets. Would that be the actions of a socialist? Probably not, as the agenda would be one of personal gain rather than one of looking at the bigger picture in society and hoping to improve things by their actions.

At the end of the day, you can't blame people for migrating their lives, skills and contribution from say North to South. But that very action does fly in the face of making this country a better and more equal place. You've got to credit those who actively back their town, city or region.
 
JustTheGent said:
It's not actually about whether the UK is a socialist country or not.
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It's absolutely about this. Socialism is an ideology about the economic system we live in. I may think the cost of university should be socialised. I can argue for that, vote for parties that offer it, spend my time or money campaigning for it... what I can't do is ring up the student loans company and say "since I'm a socialist you have to stop charging me".
 
SuperStu said:
That's not what socialism means 🤷‍♂️
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I'd argue it certainly is socialism in the context of this thread, in fact I'm certain it is. Even more so in the times we live with massive regional inequalities in all aspects of life - health, wealth education, culture and so on. The example given is a person who is sacrificing his personal and financial opportunities in favour of what he thinks is right for a fair and just society.

I'm sorry to say, kid - but it sounds like you're suffering from cognitive dissonance.
 
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