Mike's Minute: We will never not be jealous of people with money

I was going to suggest we are petty, but I have been saved by the Brits.  They are having a couple of debates over money.  One is involving a woman called Sue Gray, who has quit, and the other is over the role of Cabinet Secretary, which is the country's top civil servant, a job which is currently vacant given the incumbent stepped down for health reasons.  As it turned out, Sue Gray was earning more than the Prime Minister which, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about, needed to be turned into a scrap.  There are plenty of civil servants here who earn more than the Prime Minister and we don’t seem to have a problem with it. But it appears we don't like it if the Prime Minister is a bit wealthy.  But I'll come back to that.  The Cabinet Secretary in Britain is paid $200,000 a year and a bloke called Lord Gus O'Donnell, who used to do it, is busy running a campaign arguing it's grossly underpaid.  As for Ms Gray, she was on $170,000 a year while the Prime Minister is on $166,000. When this was revealed she became a distraction, so she quit.  Ironically, she has a new job that no one seems to understand, which is one of the ironies of this whole jealousy driven nonsense. Would you rather a person in a high-performing role got more in a job you understand, or they get less in a job you have no idea just what it is they do? The fact they may or may not do anything is beside the point, right?  Which brings us back to the current Prime Minister here, who because he sold a couple of rentals, is clearly far too wealthy so we need a good b*tch about that as well.  The fact the National Party Prime Minister before him was a mile more wealthy again never really seemed to bother anyone, so maybe it’s the post Covid / Cost of Living angst that got so many so upset.  If you want something to exercise yourself with, how about the Prime Minister who ran the country into the ground then scarpered to write a book and wander the speaking circuit, creaming it by making money from her ineptitude and our subsequent economic misfortune.  What's worse? A civil servant working God-knows how many hours for $200,000, a Prime Minister on $484,000 but with a couple of properties he made money on, or a fly-by-nighter who came second in one election, locked us down for the second, buggered it up in record fashion and then fled to make a fortune telling people how kind she is.  Some people and jobs are worth the money. Some aren't.  But jealousy is a wasted emotion. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.