Denouncing fat cats(肥猫（指有钱有势的人）) is a purity test(忠诚度测试、纯洁性考验) for the British left. It is one that Peter Mandelson failed in 1998, when as a Labour minister he said that he was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, as long as they pay their taxes”.(彼得·曼德尔森在1998年未能通过这一测试，当时作为工党大臣，他说自己“对人们变得极度富有感到非常放松，只要他们纳税”。) For Britain’s socialists, this was the dark lord’s original sin; his links to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted child-sex offender, merely confirmed that he was a wrong ’un(坏家伙（非正式）). Zack Polanski, the leader of the Green Party, has become the left’s darling in part because of his relentless(无情的、不间断的) prosecution(追究、起诉（此处为比喻）) of high earners.
谴责肥猫是英国左翼的忠诚测试。彼得·曼德尔森在1998年未能通过这一测试，当时作为工党大臣，他说自己“对人们变得极度富有感到非常放松，只要他们纳税”。对于英国的社会主义者来说，这是黑暗领主的原罪；他与已定罪的儿童性犯罪者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的联系，仅仅证实了他是个坏人。绿党领袖扎克·波兰斯基之所以成为左翼的宠儿，部分原因是他对高收入者的无情追究。
The Greens’ solution is to cap(设定上限) the pay of the highest earner in any public or private organisation at ten times that of the lowest. The idea is popular: 65% of the public back it, according to a YouGov poll. Ellie Chowns, the party’s parliamentary leader, claims that “such a ratio would end obscene(过高的、令人厌恶的) salaries for greedy CEOs while pulling up wages(提高工资) for the lowest-paid in organisations.” It is true that the policy would reduce executive pay. But the picture for lower earners is less rosy(不那么乐观).
绿党的解决方案是将任何公共或私营机构中最高收入者的薪酬限制在最低收入者的十倍以内。这个想法很受欢迎：根据YouGov的民意调查，65%的公众支持它。该党议会领袖埃莉·乔恩斯声称，“这样的比例将结束贪婪CEO的过高薪水，同时提高组织中收入最低者的工资。”该政策确实会降低高管薪酬。但低收入者的前景并不那么乐观。
Mr Polanski is right that pay disparities(差距、不平衡) have grown. In the 1970s the median(中位数) chief executive of a FTSE 100(富时100指数) company was paid only 20 times more than the median British worker, according to estimates by Alexander Pepper, an academic (see chart). In 2024-25, they were paid over 120 times more. Denise Coates, the founder of Bet365, a gambling company, made £280m ($377m) last year, more than the GDP of the Marshall Islands (population: 38,000).(博彩公司Bet365的创始人丹尼斯·科茨去年赚了2.8亿英镑（3.77亿美元），超过马绍尔群岛（人口38,000）的GDP。)
波兰斯基先生说得对，薪酬差距已经扩大。根据学者亚历山大·佩珀的估计（见图表），1970年代，富时100指数公司的首席执行官中位数收入仅为英国工人中位数的20倍。2024-25年，他们被支付超过120倍。博彩公司Bet365的创始人丹尼斯·科茨去年赚了2.8亿英镑（3.77亿美元），超过马绍尔群岛（人口38,000）的GDP。