As if he wasn’t loud enough already, Alan Sugar seems to be taking advantage of his new-found position in the House of Lords to stand on his soapbox and tell everybody how lazy and privileged they are. In a recent session he made his feelings clear on the current state of entrepreneurialism in the UK, and how little the Government are doing to help the situation.
“To reflect on the past 15 years or so it has been customary for a person dressed in a nice pair of designer jeans and a nice blue blazer with a white open-collared shirt, a bottle of Evian in one hand and a wonderful Microsoft spreadsheet in the other, to walk into a bank, mention the word dotcom and walk out with £5m. Those days, I’m afraid, are over.
“Take, with the greatest respect, the current business secretary. He has never been in business or run a business. He has been an adviser or a politician all his life. He has never touched the coalface. Frankly, what does he know?
“Do not rely on any government to assist you in running your business. You are people who have chosen to go into business, which is very enterprising, and I am pleased about that, but do not expect to get any advice from the government about what products you should make, what ideas you should pursue, what services your business should provide or how you should market your products, and generate income, because that is what you are supposed to do.”
Fair criticism, perhaps, but Lord Sugar couldn’t finish without pointing out how awesome he is compared to the lazy, Evian-swilling entrepreneurs of today -
“People like me are a dying breed. When as a young man I went to a bank with my hand out, they thought I was part of a Morecambe and Wise team. ’Do you have any collateral, a balance sheet, some history of profits?’, they asked. ‘No’, I replied. ‘Well then, clear off’, was their response.”
