A week in the life of Roscoes.
What does life look like for the most well known billionaire of the United Duchies and our European Councillor James Mizrachi-Roscoe and family. We spend time in his life, his job and family to find out who the man and his family are. You may hear more about the man usually than the family but we intend to do a deep dive in on family life. It might not be what you expect of such a man.
A typical Day
We wake up on a typical day in the household that is not what you’d envision for a Billionaire nor is the house and cars what you’d envisage. Sure the cars are nicer than average a Jaguar electric vehicle and X-On with a mini bus for trips out but nothing as fancy as say a Mclaren, Rolls Royce or Lamborghini you may expect. I asked James why he chose such relatively austere cars and he said “We as a family are comfortable, we like our cars, they offer comfort , the space we need and the range. They are a means to get to the place we are going , why do we need more? What would spending 100,00 Dux Libra more get me , I could do it but surely that money would be better deployed elsewhere.” The kids wake up. Mathias speaks to Arya on the phone having been visiting his family for the week while making wedding preparations, Danya, Jakob and Amaziah wake up, have their breakfast Weetabix and milk with sugar before munching down on a cookie before going to school by e-bike joining their friends who also live local , Sara goes to college after waking up and having breakfast. They phone James and Yohanna to say they have arrived.Apparently Jakob played a prank on Amaziah this morning much to the amusement of all in the family. James goes to his office and does his phone calls and meetings for the day while Yohanna cooks lunch and prepares for dinner as its her day off , however she does work three days a week on a flexible bases. The children come back from school and they walk the three very cute sassy Chihuahuas together, the dogs are not just family dogs but sensory dogs for Amaziah. I am still yet to find a massive difference beyond the bank account balance.
I stay until the weekend they have a trip out to Hopkins Alton Towers for the day with the wider family including Amaziahs Uncles and Aunts Marcel,Rachel and Adana, cousins Hosea who is deaf ,Aviv, Noah,, Finn and Levi. They skip the line due to Amaziahs issues with sensory and physical issues with standing. Most of the time you wouldn't realise there is an Autistic son and daughter in the family but its moments like this that remind you of the constant challenges of a hidden disabled person. I feel sad a little for him at the looks he gets when he requests the seats on the bus because he cannot stand or when he gets help getting to the front of the queues to avoid discomfort. The tuts and looks and sometimes blatant comments , you can see the pain it causes but when I ask him about it "It's life I guess, I know I'm different and will never really be accepted truly" , what a sad indictment of our society, we need to do better. I see some of the public mock his stims upsetting him , so I put them in their place. James thanks me . Later in the week he comes back upset apparently the bullies have "pranked" him in the break by intentionally making him have a sensory overload. James is naturally furious about it and says it's not the first time bullying issues have been faced saying it happens much more than it should even though the school are great in helping out and helping his son.
On the Sunday after Church Amaziah , Danya and and Mathias go for a meal with their friends Gavin, Walker,Ryker, Deacon and Dylan, Austin and Amaziahs Girlfriend Aerial(who attends the same church). I join them before they go home for the evening where at 18:00 they have big family roast dinner.
I talk to James about it and he says "Honestly the challenges of raising Amaziah apart from managing his trauma is the looks people give, the comments how society treats him. He is an amazing kid , kind hearted and wants people to just accept him that's all , he just wants no judgement , and society still fails that simple basic test. Most are great but it's just a small minority and they piss me off , like he isn't hurting you so leave him alone.
One of the things I try to instill is his Autism is awesome it's society that sucks. Society needs to get that."Seeing the challenges over time really makes it hit home how easy I have it. They sometimes dwell on the loss of Emmanuel but not in a negative way , weekly they watch family videos . James explains "It's a way for us to keep his memories alive , the terrorists may have took his body but they can't take the memory of him away. We'd much rather celebrate his life constantly than wallow I'm pity.There was a time Amaziah blamed himself but we've worked on that people don't see that side of trauma unless one lives close with the victim." I am amazed at the strength of this family and kid to continue on with such a positive mindset. I ask Amaziah what he wants and he replies " I want people to accept and acknowledge me like anyone else, to treat me equally and to just respect me. Normal things , I am different yes, I've gone through trials yes , but I don't want your pity or judgement. All we want is acceptance. I want to live a normal life and help others and learn every day. It's simple really" and all I can respond to that is yes it is , may society get that and change. From what I've seen we have come a long way but have a long way to go
A normal house and food
Likewise the house is a simple historic old cottage style house, it's nice sure but nothing fancy there is no bathroom per bedroom, every child having his own room, walk in closets but it is in the heart of the area with the walk to transit and the local shopping green being less than 15 minutes.
The house is what you may expect an upper working class family to own , which as James explains it is where they came from when the house was brought by ancestors. He says on this “Our house is comfortable, the kids share a little and I can see one or two staying with us with the rest being brought a modest house , which honestly is a great luxury for them. How many have their parents buy them a house and have that start in life . We have lived in this house for generations as Roscoes my sisters and brothers were brought up here, its home simply put. I don’t see the need to move out or for posh decor , I just get what I like from local artists, this house is not about showing off, it's about being a comfortable place to live , a place where we can create simple memories like the time one sung terrible karaoke or played a nice game of cards etc …. We like to appreciate the simple things in life. I have billions I could afford a lot more houses and a lot fancier but I don’t need that to be happy. We are happy here, this house does what we need and I have good memories here of my first wife who died young and my present wife Yohanna who I love and stays at home and looks after the kids, a luxury we are lucky to be able to afford. We don’t have servants or butlers, we do have a cleaner come in every day, a luxury we are lucky to afford at our income to take the strain off the wife and myself. We enjoy our dinner parties and bbq’s in the garden. In fact having a second home in Europolis and buying the third in Goudadam for when we need to spend time there for business frequently was a big step for us. We'd always felt that would be greedy but we needed to in order to have a family life , otherwise I'd just always be away from the kids .
Another aspect that's fascinating is all the food is Roscoes, all the clothes are Roscoes I ask why , surely he can afford more unique clothes and food but he answers with the typical Roscoes answer “Why would I? If I use all Roscoes products which are good quality anyway the money comes back in and its affordable . I buy Roscoes because I put my money where my mouth is. I promote Roscoes as good quality and value for all , so why wouldn’t I shop at what I believe to be the best value and quality shop. If I shopped elsewhere constantly it would show lack of faith in the product. I do still buy from local bakeries , our favourite is the Bournville Bread Basket andwe go to the butchers next door regularly too but it's not my default, if there is Roscoes I’d rather buy from our own stores. It's just basic economic sense to buy from the store you own. “
Technology and Luxuries
The life of the adults seems simple, the usual amount of streaming and cable services nothing obviously billionaire or even millionaire spending. The travel is by e-bike, cargo trike with each having an e-bike , some drives for longer distances but also often train and budget airlines if necessary although traveling by Aerodux is opted for if they need to take a large amount of bags. James doesn’t even have a massively expensive phone, his phone cost him 700 Euros and a tablet cost 150 Euros which he got because in his words “they do what I need”. His wife has a similar set up and don’t think the kids get spoiled , they have to work or volunteer 8 hours a week for an allowance of 9,000 Euros per year out of which they have to buy any clothes, gadgets , entertainment, and trips and nights out and even bikes if they want them. If they want more they have to go and get a job. Spoilt kids these are not, but they seem happy enough. James explains “I want them to value money and see it takes work to earn it , they get a few presents for birthday and christmas but only 3 presents no more than that so they have to tell me what they want up to 200 Eurosand included in family trips of course, I pay for the Europe wide Hopkins pass but if they want more they have to earn it after all they already get more than the average middle class and working class person. I tell them how blessed they are and want them to see it, thats why I have them volunteer in real world places and want them to mix with middle class and working class, they have many friends in those classes, of course they have some very rich and notable ones like the Kligenburgs and notably for Amaziah His Imperial Highness Nikolai III who is a great family friend now. He really went out of his way to help us and has supported Amaziah through his hardest times. Honestly he has just been amazing for all of us, he is such an awesome person. I don’t know anyone who says a bad thing about him although he can be cantankerous with people who take the piss with him but he’s blunt and direct but a lovely guy overall.You know where you stand with him.”
Everywhere you look they seem to not spend on luxuries, the cups , dishes and plates are over 30 years old , Denbywith the odd newer one. A Lot of the furniture and clothes are either cheap but good quality or vintage and handed down. The newest thing is the consoles, the computers are 6 years old but the highest end when they bought them. Nothing would indicate them as super rich, certainly not billionaires. There's no private education; they go to Count Edwards School in Selly Oak, just a typical Grammar public school with 30% intake from lower income backgrounds, so nothing fancy there.
One thing I notice is the importance of their faith. There are regular prayer and bible sessions and the kids are always involved and torah sessions for Yohanna and her kids. They go to youth clubs regularly at their church and go every Sunday to a Church they even go on holiday I am told while Yohanna and her kids attend the local synagogue, a reformed one . Again regular Christian stuff. I speak to the pastor to find out more about the family , the pastor says “They don’t act or live anything massively different from others here. They are a lovely family. The kids are amazingly kind and humble as is James. They are respected in church. I know over 80% of their money goes to charity mainly because he doesn’t believe in excess living and he wants money to help others, naturally he doesn’t boast about this, that's just James for you. If you walked into church on a Sunday I think you would struggle to identify them as rich in any way. They are just regular joes who happen to be rich, a privilege they recognise and are cognizant of “
I speak with James about being a billionaire father and what that entails he says to me “I don’t think it's massively different. All fathers face trials , their kids have hard times and need support. Our family has been through a lot , I honestly think my kids being autistic has more of an impact. Amaziah needs a lot more support especially with what's happened to him. To go through a bomb attack and almost be murdered being left to die alone after a horrific and brutal shooting, stabbing and beating in a park for being just autistic is enough for an adult to cope with , never mind a 13 year old child. We are still working through the PTSD and I don’t think it will ever go away , but we are managing now with help and he seems to be on a happier footing now. Honestly that's having far more of an impact than any money I have coming in. I think people think us billionaires live in an entirely different world with no stress, issues etc but reality is we often face the same pressures as any average family.
We have to support the kids , get the right school , and make sure our children are safe and well. We go to DHS and public funded services for that, we try to avoid private ones if possible mainly because well the working class don’t have the private option.But a lot of the challenges are the same. I’m not going to say it's not slightly easier as we have the ability to afford private, which is more than many can say but that money doesn't buy you an easy life. No one's life is easy. In many ways ours is more challenging in getting the family -work life balance right. Being a politician there's always someone demanding your time or wanting a meeting or sessions to go to, but luckily my family understand so what we do is spend 50% of our time as a family in Europolis so I actually get to see them , we have a second nice home there which I insisted I pay for, but it's not fancy again. After all the taxpayer should not be paying a billionaire like myself a wage or expenses, I refuse to claim any expenses for that reason , I can afford to pay my PA and office staff and office expenses, the taxpayer should not have to , any money I do have to take in legally in wages I just donate to charities to help people.” It’s interesting to hear his perspective. He seems literally like an ordinary guy you’d meet down the pub. It just so happens he is a billionaire. I speak to Rachel and other Roscoes about their lives, Rachel appears to be one of the high spenders in the family with Edwin also spending more than James but even they seem relatively down to earth and frugal in comparison to their income. There are no super yachts , daily or weekly parties and frivolous expenses that way. Rachel's most extravagant expenses I’m told are 5 star hotels, again no private jets though she travels business class as do Edwim. Notably though Adana is very much like James, very frugal and humble, maybe it has something to do with the ICS faith they share.
The Kingdom of Spain
