Raised by Politically Pink Parents, I was in my youth rather wary and suspicious of capitalism and capitalists. My parents' ideas about the greed and exploitative tendencies of the latter group were reinforced by news reports about the big spenders of the day such as the flamboyant Lady Docker who, when asked why her favourite Daimler (she had five) was upholstered with zebra skin, nonchalantly replied that mink was too hot to sit on.
Mum and Dad were also children of the Great Depression, and for that reason discussions about money were always likely to be fraught, so I avoided them whenever possible. But because of my adolescent apathy, which went on rather too long, I did little about examining these opinions and fears. But nor did I run around bearing placards that expressed the thought 'Up the Revolution'.
Eventually I realised that the only thing wrong with money is that not everyone has enough of it, and that not all capitalists are like Lady Docker. And at school I learned about Robert Owen, and his concern for his workers: this found expression in his venture at New Lanark, which included superior housing and a school for the workers' children. But way back then I remember regarding him and his work as some kind of benevolent aberration.
Over the years, however, I've learned that the goodie/baddie attitude that puts capitalists in the latter category is simplistic, to say the least. Increasingly, hugely rich parents are leaving their wealth to charities, and not to their children. And New Lanark, started early in the 19th century, was not the only settlement built with employees in mind.
By the end of that century, the Cadbury brothers of chocolate fame had established the Bournville Village near Birmingham, and had pioneered pension schemes and full medical services for their staff. These days the village is still deemed one of the nicest places to live in Britain. Soap manufacturers Lever Brothers also set up a model village on Merseyside at about the same time; it has 900 Grade II listed buildings.
We hear too much about arch-capitalists like the Trump family and the Koch brothers, who receive so much publicity that quieter, more deserving types do not get their due attention. I've recently read about two such.
One is Phillip Ullman, who in 1996 joined his family's Cordant Group, a recruitment business that has 5000 clients, including Amazon and Britain's NHS. Inspired