Oh but it is, it so is. Designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, the folks who deeply resent anyone with more money than them (plenty around, they're all over soshal meeja) and besides, it's fair enough. If you've got some brass and can pay school fees, why the hell shouldn't you have the option? But don't hike the price up by 20% Keiff thinking it's a) going to raise billions (which btw seems to be going to pay for everything from the sainted nhs to potholes to breakfast clubs) b) to win back your "working class" voters by hitting the middle income folks......In a democracy, you have choice, you see. Yeah, I disagree with the top jobs going to the Old Boys but I think it's actually less to do with that now, and it's actually far worse....it's the right ideology. Do you think correctly? My friends daughter recently applied to uni. UCAS give more points for you to get in, if you declare you're gay. And even more if you're trans. So of course she did the right thing and said her names Robert and her pronouns are they/them.....joking obvs. But it starts there. School.....eh, maybe, maybe. University? Oh definitely.
True, but envy motivates very few. Perhaps 10%. Most are concerned with unfairness. I used to use the old 'politics of envy' line. Until I read a few statistics.
For example, two people with the same degree classification from the same university... the privately educated one will earn 20% more over a lifetime. That's the same intelligence, the same work ethic, and a much different result. That's inexcusable. I'm freedom-minded, but that alone suggests hereditary privilege. No democracy has any place for that. (The same for calling people 'Your Highness' but that's for another day.)
Will it hit mostly middle income folks, though? I read a lot about such parents scrimping and saving, and good for them. But I don't buy that is the typical case. Most private school parents must be in the top 5% of income. Again, good for them. No envy here. Meritocracy has been rather meritorious to this council estate kid.
But none of that means we can allow some people to buy their place at the top. For every bright working-class kid denied a decent opportunity, there's a dunce named Hugo who couldn't write an interesting sentence if he so wished.
That said, this is a minor tweak. They're not closing down the schools. (The solution is to continue with the only Tory achievement of 14 years. Turn every fucking school into Michaela Community School — traditional, inclusive, and unashamedly rigorous. Better than Eton, even.)
So, for me, it's not envy or class war. It's Liberalism as properly understood. (You know, before they went mental.) A democracy cannot sell tickets to the top on account of whose testicle one fell out of. I understand it. Anyone would do the same for their kids. But that doesn't mean it should go on unnoticed. Their freedom to swing their arm stops at my freedom to have an intact nose.
Thankfully, LSE didn't ask me anything of the sort. That's another problem entirely. (And another problem which would go away if only people had the courage to say what they think! 😁)
My sister is head of a local pre-prep, and no, their parents are not all in the top 5% of earners. And the new head is a fierce disciplinarian who has no truck with the "do you know who I am?" brigade....I think it's slowly changing actually. Many of the kids at these schools come from overseas, China in particular (another issue for another day 😂) and the upper echelons are dying off despite Boris Johnson's best efforts. I really think now, and for the next generation, DEI is the biggest obstacle. And as you correctly point out, that would disappear if people were braver.
It's dying, anyway. Oxbridge is more and more state school. LSE, too.
Hmmm. Idk. I think Woke is dying. Even Tony Blair reminded us this week of who has a penis and who does not! Who knows? 95% of people don't believe in it. Not even half admit it yet...
Unfortunately a large percentage of under 25s believe this tripe, thanks to the Brainwashing from aforementioned SM and our "wonderful" education system complete with activist teachers.....it's going to take a while to undo the damage.
Ah, but Keiff is worse even than Rishi.....husband of a billionaire, son of a millionaire, he too claims to have gone without Sky as a child. Yeah, of course you did you tw@t, you were 27 when it came out.....and don't pretend that the 20% tax on school fees is anything other than the politics of envy. Sure, the Etons and Harrows will survive, but the smaller independent schools won't putting more pressure on an already over burdened state system (I have friends and family working in both the state and independent sector and they all see this policy as dreadful). It won't raise a penny. If you've found 15 grand and suddenly have to find another 3....there are 6 such schools in the area where I live. The teaching and support staff will then be competing for jobs in the state sector and as a town, our primary and secondary schools are already over subscribed. It's just nasty and vindictive but that's Labour all over.
How is it envy, though? Envy is the desire to deny others what you don't have, even to your detriment. Modifying a system which produces quite obvious disparities—their implicit selling point— isn't the work of envy. A democracy doesn't really work if we sell hereditary privileges to some.
Well, another gem Christopher. I assume the "Falling Down" title was a deliberate reference to the 1993 film starring Michael Douglas as a supposed "everyman" having an angry break with reality? Or maybe not. Here across the pond, we are seeing very limited changes in the elite schools admissions policies regarding "legacy" applicants. According to a recent NYT report, at Harvard University, 32% of the class of 2027 are legacy students. At both Dartmouth and Yale, just over 1 in 10 students (11%) in the class of 2027 have a legacy affiliation. At Stanford University, 14.9% of the class of 2026 are legacy students. And at Cornell University, legacy students account for just under 15% of the class of 2025. So, your irrational fear of falling in the UK could just as easily apply here. The more things change, the more they stay the same. BTW, "pinguid porkies"? You must have had a chuckle writing that one. Almost as funny as sheep running away from Sunak.
Not a deliberate reference, but that's a good observation. I love that film. (They'll spit in ya food if ya not nice to um. I know... I know allabowdit.)
Legacy admissions! How unAmerican?! I was unaware it was that bad. Mindfully, we cannot assume they're incompetent. (The nepotism baby thing assumes the nepotism babies are meritless.) But... legacy admissions are insane. Is there any real pushback? What do ordinary Americans think of it?
Ha. I did enjoy pinguid porkies. Nobody noticed my coinage of Bumpkin Belt... perhaps it's not half as clever as I assumed!
On the flip side, we went without many things growing up, basic necessities like heating and hot water, clothes and books were all in short supply and generally, by the end of the week food. But we did have Sky TV, which was rendered completely useless when we often didn’t have 50p for the electricity meter.
We had a black and white rented set till I was 14. My parents still don't have Sky, never have had, and central heating was installed by the housing association when I was 26....
Mr. Gage, I don't quite understand this mentality. Of course I am American. Do the British people still believe in class? Maybe I don't understand because I have never seen it.
Americans have never had anything like it. Yes, some of do fear poverty, but that is because we grew up in it.
Sadly, I must report that there is a class system that has started to worm its way into America. The victim class. The popular victims right now are the trans people.
Although we are starting to fight back against it.
Put it this way: I've seen striving types shop in Aldi (middle-road supermarket) and place their groceries in Waitrose bags (Posh, upmarket grocer.) You know... just in case strangers judge their supermarket choice. It's mental, if not hilarious. Imagine caring about such flummery.
Wasn't there a study not too long ago that showed the United States is actually worse than Great Britain in terms of upward social mobility? That's frightening.
As the musician Everlast said, "You know how it ends, it usually depends on where you start."
I grew up dirt poor in rural America. I was able to do well (I just retired at age 61) for two reasons:
I changed schools my senior year and thus left behind all the class assumptions of my old school. Thus teachers and counselors helped me get scholarships for college instead of dissuading me from even attending;
University was affordable then; it cost about $1,000 per year ($3,500 in today’s money). I didn’t have to go into debt.
It's just crazy. We've ripped away the routes to status and dignity for a free-for-all in which we pretend everyone can be or should be a CEO. Ordinary people need a chance at the good life. We used to understand this. At least before the 1980s.
Agreed. In the U.S. the proliferation of "credentialism" has made a college degree little more than a minimum qualification for a job (most of which don't need a degree to begin with). That, and the de-emphasis on practical skills (my kids' high school had a better ceramics lab than the ceramics teacher had in college, but had no wood shop, metalshop, or auto shop!) is making us ever more dependent on (legal) immigrant skilled labor (most electricians where I live are from Mexico and come over under NAFTA). The most poisonous lie ever told is 'do what you love and the money will follow.'
For sure. I often reference Scandinavia because they have 'nostalgia economies.' Thriving middle classes with good accessible jobs. Workers and bosses do well. Some do better than others, as they should. It's not some Utopian fantasy to suggest Britain and America could have a bit of that, too!
Oh but it is, it so is. Designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, the folks who deeply resent anyone with more money than them (plenty around, they're all over soshal meeja) and besides, it's fair enough. If you've got some brass and can pay school fees, why the hell shouldn't you have the option? But don't hike the price up by 20% Keiff thinking it's a) going to raise billions (which btw seems to be going to pay for everything from the sainted nhs to potholes to breakfast clubs) b) to win back your "working class" voters by hitting the middle income folks......In a democracy, you have choice, you see. Yeah, I disagree with the top jobs going to the Old Boys but I think it's actually less to do with that now, and it's actually far worse....it's the right ideology. Do you think correctly? My friends daughter recently applied to uni. UCAS give more points for you to get in, if you declare you're gay. And even more if you're trans. So of course she did the right thing and said her names Robert and her pronouns are they/them.....joking obvs. But it starts there. School.....eh, maybe, maybe. University? Oh definitely.
True, but envy motivates very few. Perhaps 10%. Most are concerned with unfairness. I used to use the old 'politics of envy' line. Until I read a few statistics.
For example, two people with the same degree classification from the same university... the privately educated one will earn 20% more over a lifetime. That's the same intelligence, the same work ethic, and a much different result. That's inexcusable. I'm freedom-minded, but that alone suggests hereditary privilege. No democracy has any place for that. (The same for calling people 'Your Highness' but that's for another day.)
Will it hit mostly middle income folks, though? I read a lot about such parents scrimping and saving, and good for them. But I don't buy that is the typical case. Most private school parents must be in the top 5% of income. Again, good for them. No envy here. Meritocracy has been rather meritorious to this council estate kid.
But none of that means we can allow some people to buy their place at the top. For every bright working-class kid denied a decent opportunity, there's a dunce named Hugo who couldn't write an interesting sentence if he so wished.
That said, this is a minor tweak. They're not closing down the schools. (The solution is to continue with the only Tory achievement of 14 years. Turn every fucking school into Michaela Community School — traditional, inclusive, and unashamedly rigorous. Better than Eton, even.)
So, for me, it's not envy or class war. It's Liberalism as properly understood. (You know, before they went mental.) A democracy cannot sell tickets to the top on account of whose testicle one fell out of. I understand it. Anyone would do the same for their kids. But that doesn't mean it should go on unnoticed. Their freedom to swing their arm stops at my freedom to have an intact nose.
Thankfully, LSE didn't ask me anything of the sort. That's another problem entirely. (And another problem which would go away if only people had the courage to say what they think! 😁)
My sister is head of a local pre-prep, and no, their parents are not all in the top 5% of earners. And the new head is a fierce disciplinarian who has no truck with the "do you know who I am?" brigade....I think it's slowly changing actually. Many of the kids at these schools come from overseas, China in particular (another issue for another day 😂) and the upper echelons are dying off despite Boris Johnson's best efforts. I really think now, and for the next generation, DEI is the biggest obstacle. And as you correctly point out, that would disappear if people were braver.
It's dying, anyway. Oxbridge is more and more state school. LSE, too.
Hmmm. Idk. I think Woke is dying. Even Tony Blair reminded us this week of who has a penis and who does not! Who knows? 95% of people don't believe in it. Not even half admit it yet...
Unfortunately a large percentage of under 25s believe this tripe, thanks to the Brainwashing from aforementioned SM and our "wonderful" education system complete with activist teachers.....it's going to take a while to undo the damage.
Ah, but Keiff is worse even than Rishi.....husband of a billionaire, son of a millionaire, he too claims to have gone without Sky as a child. Yeah, of course you did you tw@t, you were 27 when it came out.....and don't pretend that the 20% tax on school fees is anything other than the politics of envy. Sure, the Etons and Harrows will survive, but the smaller independent schools won't putting more pressure on an already over burdened state system (I have friends and family working in both the state and independent sector and they all see this policy as dreadful). It won't raise a penny. If you've found 15 grand and suddenly have to find another 3....there are 6 such schools in the area where I live. The teaching and support staff will then be competing for jobs in the state sector and as a town, our primary and secondary schools are already over subscribed. It's just nasty and vindictive but that's Labour all over.
How is it envy, though? Envy is the desire to deny others what you don't have, even to your detriment. Modifying a system which produces quite obvious disparities—their implicit selling point— isn't the work of envy. A democracy doesn't really work if we sell hereditary privileges to some.
For some reason substack wouldn't let me type my reply in the reply field. It's above 🙄😬
Well, another gem Christopher. I assume the "Falling Down" title was a deliberate reference to the 1993 film starring Michael Douglas as a supposed "everyman" having an angry break with reality? Or maybe not. Here across the pond, we are seeing very limited changes in the elite schools admissions policies regarding "legacy" applicants. According to a recent NYT report, at Harvard University, 32% of the class of 2027 are legacy students. At both Dartmouth and Yale, just over 1 in 10 students (11%) in the class of 2027 have a legacy affiliation. At Stanford University, 14.9% of the class of 2026 are legacy students. And at Cornell University, legacy students account for just under 15% of the class of 2025. So, your irrational fear of falling in the UK could just as easily apply here. The more things change, the more they stay the same. BTW, "pinguid porkies"? You must have had a chuckle writing that one. Almost as funny as sheep running away from Sunak.
Not a deliberate reference, but that's a good observation. I love that film. (They'll spit in ya food if ya not nice to um. I know... I know allabowdit.)
Legacy admissions! How unAmerican?! I was unaware it was that bad. Mindfully, we cannot assume they're incompetent. (The nepotism baby thing assumes the nepotism babies are meritless.) But... legacy admissions are insane. Is there any real pushback? What do ordinary Americans think of it?
Ha. I did enjoy pinguid porkies. Nobody noticed my coinage of Bumpkin Belt... perhaps it's not half as clever as I assumed!
When yer gets yer freedom, yer'l get a new hybrid car!
"I don't want a new hybrid car"
When yer gets yer freedom, you wife will be dressed in a new mink coat!
"My wife doesn't want any mink coat"
When yer gets yer freedom, yerl'h 'ave a TV set in every room of yer 'ouse.
"I don't need a TV in every room!"
When YOU gets yer freedom, yer'l do what you bloody well are told!
On the flip side, we went without many things growing up, basic necessities like heating and hot water, clothes and books were all in short supply and generally, by the end of the week food. But we did have Sky TV, which was rendered completely useless when we often didn’t have 50p for the electricity meter.
Ha! Up yours Little Rishi Sunak.
We had a black and white rented set till I was 14. My parents still don't have Sky, never have had, and central heating was installed by the housing association when I was 26....
Brilliant dissection!
Mr. Gage, I don't quite understand this mentality. Of course I am American. Do the British people still believe in class? Maybe I don't understand because I have never seen it.
Americans have never had anything like it. Yes, some of do fear poverty, but that is because we grew up in it.
Sadly, I must report that there is a class system that has started to worm its way into America. The victim class. The popular victims right now are the trans people.
Although we are starting to fight back against it.
Is the class system all through Europe?
Put it this way: I've seen striving types shop in Aldi (middle-road supermarket) and place their groceries in Waitrose bags (Posh, upmarket grocer.) You know... just in case strangers judge their supermarket choice. It's mental, if not hilarious. Imagine caring about such flummery.
I have never seen or heard of such a thing.
Wasn't there a study not too long ago that showed the United States is actually worse than Great Britain in terms of upward social mobility? That's frightening.
As the musician Everlast said, "You know how it ends, it usually depends on where you start."
Yes. And a sore subject for many hence the current populist revolt swirling from Europe to America.
Exactly.
I grew up dirt poor in rural America. I was able to do well (I just retired at age 61) for two reasons:
I changed schools my senior year and thus left behind all the class assumptions of my old school. Thus teachers and counselors helped me get scholarships for college instead of dissuading me from even attending;
University was affordable then; it cost about $1,000 per year ($3,500 in today’s money). I didn’t have to go into debt.
Poor kids today in the U.S. have it way worse.
It's just crazy. We've ripped away the routes to status and dignity for a free-for-all in which we pretend everyone can be or should be a CEO. Ordinary people need a chance at the good life. We used to understand this. At least before the 1980s.
Agreed. In the U.S. the proliferation of "credentialism" has made a college degree little more than a minimum qualification for a job (most of which don't need a degree to begin with). That, and the de-emphasis on practical skills (my kids' high school had a better ceramics lab than the ceramics teacher had in college, but had no wood shop, metalshop, or auto shop!) is making us ever more dependent on (legal) immigrant skilled labor (most electricians where I live are from Mexico and come over under NAFTA). The most poisonous lie ever told is 'do what you love and the money will follow.'
For sure. I often reference Scandinavia because they have 'nostalgia economies.' Thriving middle classes with good accessible jobs. Workers and bosses do well. Some do better than others, as they should. It's not some Utopian fantasy to suggest Britain and America could have a bit of that, too!