every smith
  • MS: Max Smith's blog
  • History to the Defeated
  • every smith: independent creative consultants
  • Words: Max - a brief bio
  • Sites to see

Leamington Letters #66: Not all in it together

22/1/2014

20 Comments

 
Picture
The Bullingdon in 1987. Cameron is No 2. Boris Johnson No 8. The majority of the rest occupy senior positions in banking, have inherited titles or are waiting to do so.
A recent graffito  from France reads “Hollande et toute la class politique dehors”:  Hollande and the whole political class get out!

The French unashamedly develop their political class, and have in place a structure which ensures progress to the Grand Corps of the state. As a rule, future leaders begin at the Institute d’études politiques de Paris and move seamlessly to the  École nationale d'administration, from which graduates, knowns as énarques, take up their positions of power. Presidents Giscard d’Estaing, Chirac and Hollande are énarques, as are half a dozen prime ministers and – on average – between a third and a half of every cabinet since the ‘60s. The majority are strangers to any occupation other than politics.

Aren’t we fortunate that we have no such institution in the UK, regurgitating 100 graduates a year onto the top of our political hierarchy?

Of course, we do have such a system. And it’s called Eton and Oxford. It could – at a pinch – be St Paul’s, or Harrow, or Winchester. And it’s possible that a Cambridge graduate might sneak in. But the principle is sound.

Eton and Oxford train those of a certain class in the same way as Ecole nationale d’administration. The difference is, the French is a meritocracy (established by de Gaulle to democratise access to the senior echelons of the state); the English version is about money and class.

Yep, we’re back to this recurring theme.

I have banged on about this a number of times, pointing out that not only is our cabinet from this background, but also many of the journalists and civil servants and lawyers whom one might expect to maintain checks and balances.

Back in 1968, Stephen Sedley (at that time not the Right Honourable Lord Justice Sedley) pointed out to me that only one High Court judge at the time was not educated at public school and Oxbridge, but the real issue was that one could not tell which one!

And this is the broader point. In the same way as capitalism re-invents itself constantly, so the ruling political class absorbs those from different class backgrounds and transforms them into upholders of the status quo, rewarding them for their change of allegiance.

A case in point is the former Labour leader of Sheffield city council, David Blunkett, who became Home Secretary under Blair, and was yesterday defending the political class, claiming that we should be grateful for this “volunteering” for public service. When Will Self pointed out that he had been forced to resign not once but twice and that he had managed to find a role within the Murdoch empire which paid him £45,000 for a few days work, he “would not deign to respond to such a slur”.

But it’s not a slur. It’s a statement of fact. And a particularly relevant and significant statement of fact.

This prominent player in the People’s Republic of South Yorkshire has become part of the establishment and is unable to recognise the contradictions in his position. Or perhaps he can but refuses to admit them.

Either way, we have a problem. It is the structure of the class system which makes it impossible to make the profound changes to a system which works to the benefit of a single class at the expense of others.

We are emphatically not in this together.

Today from the everysmith vault: Celebrated the 39th anniversary of BOTT on Monday by playing both versions, New York and Minnesota. But, subsequently, it's been Mahler, conducted by the late, great Claudio Abbado.

20 Comments
Rod
22/1/2014 02:45:35

Well, ok. The French parallel is interesting and I wonder whether it really is more meritocratic and democratic. My guess is that it works in exactly the same way by 'absorbing and rewarding'.

Reply
Allan
22/1/2014 03:06:07

Like the Sedley story. He is a good man and was a fine judge, using the law for justice. PS. I thought that picture had been withdrawn - where did you get it?

Reply
Stephen
22/1/2014 04:25:24

Just google Bullingdon Club images. Think it''s a cache of previous posts.

Reply
RichardB
22/1/2014 04:01:08

The concern is the growing power of this political class which is trained only in politics and the political. The French model is overtly aimed at its furtherance and increase in power. Don't think one is better or worse than the other.

Reply
Anders
22/1/2014 04:43:17

And if they cannot be absorbed or rewarded, they become Russian (Depardieu) or Belgian (Halliday)!

Reply
Tim
22/1/2014 10:09:35

I'm not surprised they tried to suppress that picture. It really dues smack of utter arrogance, doesn't it? There is another one out there - later - with Osborne and Nat Rothschild. That's the joke about all in it together. The same arrogance in France but at least they are there on merit.

Reply
Can
22/1/2014 10:58:02

Saw your tweet re BOTT and it was a timely reminder. Always preferred the original NY version and never understood why he re recorded it. Read something recently from junior engineer which said he was never happy and lacked confidence in those first recordings. Maybe what we have always thought was Bob contrariness was actually lack of confidence.

Reply
Malcolm
22/1/2014 11:04:53

Good point. But how about dropping Blind Willie McTell? That really is just contrary.

Reply
CJ
22/1/2014 11:12:20

He - Bob - always said that he never thought he had nailed it. We may disagree but it's his song Nd his album. Despite Daniel Lanois.

John
22/1/2014 11:19:58

Blunkett is a disgrace. The Ramsay McDonald of nos Jours.

Reply
TOEFL TRAINING link
30/4/2014 04:45:01

Col’s Calibre, the market leader in Coimbatore is the ‘BRAIN CHILD’ of Col.P. Jeyaraj who has more than 30 years of experience in ‘Training and Development’ activities. It has trainers specially trained, some by The British Council, on various aspects of English training, Personality Enhancement and IELTS (International English Language Testing System). We are the only PLATINUM member of the British Council for IELTS in Tamil Nadu.

Reply
Best TOEFL Institutes link
4/6/2014 04:14:33

It has trainers specially trained, some by The British Council, on various aspects of English training.

Reply
institutes for ielts training link
5/6/2014 03:00:46

It has trainers specially trained, some by The British Council, on
various aspects of English training, Personality Enhancement and IELTS (International English Language Testing System). We are the only PLATINUM member of the British Council for IELTS in Tamil Nadu.

Reply
TOEFL: For Academic Institutions link
6/6/2014 04:10:34

nice posts

Reply
ielts institutes link
7/6/2014 03:35:32

nice posts

Reply
ielts training in coimbatore link
12/6/2014 04:44:35

nice posts

Reply
spoken english training institute in coimbatore link
17/6/2014 01:55:08

nice posts

Reply
english training institute link
19/6/2014 02:07:10

nice posts

Reply
best ielts training link
30/6/2014 06:56:10

nice posts

Reply
Ielts Training link
1/7/2014 02:53:30

nice posts

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

     Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father. and grandfather. Resident in Warwick, England.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Baseball
    Books
    Film
    Food + Drink
    French Letters
    Leamington Letters
    Media
    Music
    People
    Personal
    Politics
    Sport