Gentlemen

I have mused on the subject of gentlemen before. To the male of the species, this endlessly fascinating topic has more aspects to it than one, work being rather important.

What one does plays a a role in defining ones place in society and as far as gentlemen are concerned the less work the better. You see, a gentleman is a gentleman of leisure. He does not work for a living, instead he manages land or perhaps, property.

He will usually manage other investments, in shares, bonds or (even better) works of art. In these straitened times he may be forced to work, something he will despise and avoid as far as possible, endlessly shirking responsibility in the office, making him a rather lousy (if charming-otherwise one can never get away with it) employee. He will never, ever, engage in trade.

The great industrialists of 18th and 19th century acquired respectability with a country seat, so my devious mind was went off on one of its usual tangents when I read about this.

In a feudal society, where the economy is primarily agrarian, land represents wealth and in turn social position. This state of affairs persisted for many centuries until it was overturned by the industrial revolution, which created new paths to wealth and the aforementioned quest for land by the industrialists.

Coming a couple of weeks after the bill to acquire underperforming entities, does this signal a renewed fascination with this feudal idea? Or are we turning the clock backwards, to a more glorious feudal past?

The preamble to the bill talks of vesting underperforming enterprises or assets with the state, yet the schedule lists only one enterprise (Hotel Developers), the rest is all land.

There are thirty six other companies listed - but only the property will vest with the state, not the company. Some of the companies have multiple plots of land listed, so this adds to to a lot of land.

The latest to join the foray is the Central Bank, which has now bought an office in New York. Doubtless a flat will follow, for the country may as well as save the hotel costs,since we may expect frequent travel in future (else why buy an office?).

We may live in interesting times but the truly bored can read my musing on work, here.

That's, all folk, now get back to your jobs. You must work you know, your taxes are what pay for all of this.