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amongst all the ambitious people I studied with
So yes, I am in favour of upping their wages. Plus one could think of some other perks or improvements to their day to day lives
Fuck that shit, personal ambition isn't necessarily a bad trait per se, but I don't think it's going to be the best trait in someone who is essentially a servant of the people, or at least should be. I'm not sure we should be trying to attract personally ambitious, money and power driven people to the post of MP when all the personally ambitious, money and power driven people currently in charge are doing such a self serving, population fucking job of it. If only we could attract people with more personal ambition, and a bigger drive for money and power doesn't seem like the answer.
snottyotter-
I think its a bit weird to assume you need to be super ambitious and money grabbing to want more than £80k / year. Has anyone looked at house prices lately? The housing system is f*cked up, yes, which means you need a big income to be able to buy a home that would be classed as a reasonable family home in lots of parts of the country. Are we arguing anyone who wants a moderately comfortable lifestyle is Thatcherite scum?
andyfallsoff
I've had the privilege of going to some good schools and unis (online brag I know) and amongst all the ambitious people I studied with, pretty much nobody expressed the slightest desire to become an MP.
Actually, one girl I knew in high school became an MP after rising through the ranks of the youth party structure. She got kicked out of parliament in her first term (I think) over a bonkers expenses scandal. The only other MP I am vaguely acquainted with from school/uni days is the classic scion of old money who 'went into politics'. His passive income from inherited wealth is widely known to dwarf his MP salary.
Other than that, nobody I've been to school with mentioned even once that politics could be a full time career prospect for them. I'd wager that if only 2% of young people worked as hard at going into local or national politics as they do with any other career ambitions, society would be in a much better place.
So yes, I am in favour of upping their wages. Plus one could think of some other perks or improvements to their day to day lives – perks more meaning ful than just giving them free shit for their houses or paying for their moat cleaning services mind you.