The Upside Down World Of Social Injustice

making almost half of the world’s chocolate. Hawksley followed the trail and found it easy to encounter stolen children, who were generally aged eight to 13. Many were imprisoned on farms and beaten if they tried to escape. (Though, where would an eight-year-old escape to?) There was no schooling whatsoever, just forced labour. Hawksley took his findings to the multi-nationals at the other end of the supply chain in London – Cadbury Schweppes, Mars and Nestle – however they refused to speak on the issue of child labour. He sought interviews with the traders in New York who made millions of dollars from fluctuations in the global cocoa price: but they wouldn´t agree to see him. All knew perfectly well what was going on in Africa. After the Hawksley report, the large chocolate manufacturers promised they would “look into it” and declared that of course child slavery is abhorrent. Hawksley went back to Mali and Ivory Coast 10 years later and nothing had changed. He met 12-year-olds who hadn´t seen their families in years. By 2025, the global chocolate market had grown to US $150 billion a year: and still the slavery is going on in West Africa where now an estimated 1.8 million children work on cocoa farms. The problem is simple. If children were replaced by adults, the cost of labour on the plantations would rise significantly: which would mean a bar of chocolate in London, New York or Sydney would be more expensive. And that wouldn´t be palatable, would it?

In March of 2022, the luxury cruiser, Crescent, was impounded by Spanish authorities as part of EU sanctions against Russian identities, following the invasion of Ukraine. Crescent is believed to belong to Igor Sechin, who heads up the Russian state-owned oil company, Rosneft, and is a close ally of Vladimir Putin. The vessel is 135 metres long, has a crew of 40 and is valued at US $600 million. I see it every time I go to the port in Tarragona where, at any one time, there might be 20 such luxury cruisers and yachts ranging in size from 50 to 150 metres.

These boats are almost exclusively privately owned, rather than company owned. The owner is always male; yet he doesn´t even have a licence to drive his boat; and wouldn´t know how to anyway. None of which matters much, because these vessels spend 95% of their time stationary in a port. In reality, the prime reason for having a boat of this size and cost is merely to demonstrate one´s power. “Here, look, I´m so wealthy I can spend $600 million on a boat that I don´t even use”.  It always amazes me that men who are capable enough at business to make vast fortunes are unable to think of a more useful or socially-beneficial way to spend their excess money than to buy a boat which sits idle. Or maybe I´m getting it all wrong? Perhaps they want the world to see that $600 million is a frivolous amount to them. Which draws into question the morality of such people who choose not to bestow any of their wealth on society, preferring instead their vanity project. Mind you, they are not alone. There are thousands of marinas around the world where boats of only $3 million in value get used maybe once a month at most. (Here´s an idea: how about working with a charity to occasionally take disadvantaged people out on your boat? It would be the thrill of a lifetime for them).

Insult to injury: last year Crescent was escorted to Barcelona for some standard maintenance which cost roughly $60 million. As the Spanish government was responsible for impounding the vessel in 2022, it was thus the Spanish taxpayer who picked up the maintenance bill. Crescent is now safely back in Tarragona, doing nothing.

Finally, to the English football Premier League where scores of players earn more than £100K a week; numerous earn in excess of £200K a week; and about a dozen get well over £300K a WEEK. Meanwhile, the average salary for a full-time employee in the UK at present is just £39,039 a YEAR. So, on an annualised basis, the best paid players on the pitch earn 500 times more than the average supporter in the grandstand.

This comes at a time when the UK is politically and socially tearing itself apart over apparent social “inequalities”.  Not enough jobs for honest working people. The rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer. Migrants stealing our jobs. The system is against us. To which cries of unfairness has arisen Nigel Farage and the Reform UK Party pedalling its pack of false hopes; ably assisted by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson who is a racist thug.

The folly is that by buying a season ticket pass at up to £2,000 and all the club merchandising, then the travel costs to away games and the drinks at the pub afterwards…the average football fan is propping up the very same hierarchy of inequality that he so rages against. Rich players, poor punters. The further irony – especially for Farage and Robinson – is that most Premier League teams are filled with young men of black and brown skin, who come from the same countries as the immigrants that the racists are trying so desperately to keep out and throw out of the UK. And it´s not just football. Pick any sport in any country and the great divide exists: as does the political exploitation of social unhappiness.