The gulf between the rich and the poor is now approaching a known ‘trigger point’.

The political and elite classes have become inextricably ent-wined with the rich to the point that those without the means to earn a living wage are made to feel the guilty parties in this very unfair society whilst the fat-cats are enjoying a ‘field day’ of opportunity.

The wealthiest of us are now completely unrestrained dis-playing an unprecedented and unsavoury greed in most of their activities.

The differential is extremely unhealthy and has become far too large for our society to cope with.

George Osborne avoids the simple truth that the rich aren’t consumers; in fact, they hoard, or should I say ‘hide’ their wealth in property, yachts and estates. They never have enough.

Consequently, not much of it finds its way back into cir-culation.

The rich and their mammoth corporations are ‘hoovering’ up trillions of pounds from the lifeblood of the global community.

Any really successful economy needs to regulate and re-distribute its wealth in order to create demand, to grow and, most importantly, allow those who are on the lowest rungs of the financial ladder the incentive of at least gaining a foothold and a chance to lead a fulfilling and productive life.

Taxation has always provided the means to achieve this, but tax evasion, tax avoidance, tax havens – with the complicity of wealthy politicians – now defeat its purpose.

The minimum wage is a national disgrace.

Those with power and wealth always make sure their children get the best schooling and, with their relatives, get the important jobs.

This denies the poor in many ways; educationally, nutrition-ally, spiritually and psycho-logically.

Unless you believe that the rich are naturally more intelligent than the rest of society, which I believe Darwin would have strongly argued against, we are wasting a vast amount of talent in nepotism and sycophancy.

Our rich ministers certainly don’t demonstrate any talent for simple arithmetic.

The feather-bedded get end-lessly richer and the rest of our valuable community genes are wasted in the penury and misery of unhappy families.

Unless the world quickly re-establishes a balance between healthy reward and mindless greed, we are all heading for deep trouble.

MIKE JOSLIN Garfield Avenue Dorchester