Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
The self-indulgent idiocy of the capitalist class
SOLOMON HUGHES probes a court case involving one of Britain’s top corporate families that provides a cautionary lesson on the foolishness of the super-rich
Jo Bamford, the son of JCB magnate Lord Tony Bamford

WHAT goes on in company boardrooms? The pro-business position is that our company directors, made sharp and hungry through the cut and thrust of competition, are expertly directing money, people and resources.

But a recent court case suggests to me that our top directors act in a way that makes them seem like self-indulgent idiots. This appears to me to be “lifestyles of the rich and famous” played as a kind of tragicomedy.

Just before Christmas a court case involving one of Britain’s top corporate families surfaced in the press. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds during a visit to Horiba Mira in Nuneaton, to mark the launch of the Government's Industrial Strategy, June 23, 2025
Features / 25 July 2025
25 July 2025

Labour’s new Treasury unit will ‘challenge unnecessary regulation’ by forcing nominally independent bodies like Ofwat to bend to business demands — exactly what Iain Anderson’s corporate clients wanted, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

LOOKING THE OTHER WAY: Peter Mandelson seems to have been rewarded with a post in Washington for his continued friendship with Jeffrey Epstein while Jes Staley, the former Barclays banker, has been banned from holding senior positions in finance
Features / 25 July 2025
25 July 2025

There have been penalties for those who looked the other way when Epstein was convicted of child sex offences and decided to maintain relationships with the financier — but not for the British ambassador to Washington, reveals SOLOMON HUGHES

Construction workers during the installation of the first high speed railway platforms for the HS2 project at Old Oak Common station, west London, May 29, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025
Health Secretary Wes Streeting speaking at the launch of the Government's 10-year health plan during a visit to the Sir Ludwig Guttman Health & Wellbeing Centre in east London, July 3, 2025
Features / 11 July 2025
11 July 2025

US General Stanley McChrystal has been invited to advise on creating a ‘team of teams’ for healthcare transformation. His credentials? He previously ran interrogation bases where Iraqis were stripped naked and beaten, reports SOLOMON HUGHES

Similar stories
IMPECCABLE: Benicio Del Toro as  Zsa-zsa Korda and Mia Threapleton as his daughter Liesl in The Phoenician Scheme
Film of the week / 22 May 2025
22 May 2025

MARIA DUARTE is in two minds about a peculiar latest offering from Wes Anderson

FORMALITY AND RETICENCE: (L to R) Guo Keyu, Zu Feng, Lin Mur
Interview / 8 April 2025
8 April 2025
ANGUS REID speaks to Lin Jianjie about his debut feature Brief History of a Family
PALESTINIAN APOCALYPSE: (L to R) James Cleverly; the Hermes
Features / 13 December 2024
13 December 2024
SOLOMON HUGHES looks at British-Israeli arms dealing and Labour grandees lining their pockets by pawning the family silver
Book Reviews / 22 October 2024
22 October 2024
Unfortunate US bias, upper-class conundrum, dead Santa and Mayo maze