YP Letters: Many reasons to appreciate the few who achieve great things

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is mobbed by the crowd after addressing an anti-austerity rally in Parliament Square, London, following a march through the city as part of an anti-austerity protest.

SO, Jeremy Corbyn has been invoking the words of Shelley – “Ye are many – they are few!”

By doing this, he is mischievously, through hard-left populism of the worst order, creating resentment towards those who achieve success in life (Bernard Ingham, The Yorkshire Post, July 5).

Don’t forget that Corbyn has never had a proper job in his life. He started out as a representative for trade unions before becoming an MP in 1983. He is utterly unfit to criticise anyone who is a success in life.

Re ‘many and few’ quotes, I think I prefer the words of Churchill, from his famous speech celebrating the bravery of the RAF during the Battle of Britain: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

The many owe a lot to the few. Firstly, ‘the many’ do not pay much tax. The Government is very reliant on richer people for its funding. About 90 per cent of income tax is paid by the 50 per cent of taxpayers with the highest incomes, while more than a quarter is paid by the richest one per cent.

If ‘the few’ are demonised, then they won’t bother creating and managing the businesses that create work for ‘the many’.

If Corbyn had his way, we’d end up with an entire workforce comprised only of public sector workers. If we relied on the ‘the many’ to take on the tax burden, we’d end up with a Somalia-sized economy.

It is often only the exclusivity of a goal that makes people work hard to achieve it. If everyone can do something, it becomes much less attractive. For instance, if everyone has a degree, it tends to devalue the qualification. ‘Certification for all’ does not work very well, in reality. If everyone in the audience can be on stage, or, if everyone takes their turn to have 15 minutes of fame on stage, then it devalues the status of being a performer. ‘The many’ generally, want to appreciate ‘the few’. Most people appreciate quality.

People are competitive, ambitious and seek to do better than other people. It is a major driving force in life.

We, therefore, often end up with small numbers of people doing extremely well – I’m afraid it’s the way of the world.

However, these successful people (artists, businessmen, politicians, journalists, scientists etc) contribute a huge amount to society. They inspire people to do things.

People are not equal and never will be and can’t be made to be equal. People are individuals with different skills and different abilities.