The super-rich must pay for schools and hospitals to stop the gap between rich and poor in recession-hit Britain becoming as big as it was in Victorian days, Boris Johnson has warned.
Drawing on his background as a Classics scholar, the London Mayor called for a ‘greater sense of euergetism’ – a word derived from Classical Greek that means philanthropy.
He said the ‘orgy of hate’ directed at bankers and others who earned ‘shedloads of dosh’ was wrong but, in turn, billionaires and multi-millionaires should follow the example of Victorian England – or modern America – where wealthy individuals regard it as their duty to fund worthy civic projects.
Filed under: Publicising the Classics
