The media and political classes like to tell us that we are now a classless society. Class should no longer be a factor in politics. Measures aimed at fairness are a sign of “the politics of envy”. Everybody should realise that fatcat bankers stashing away their £100 million pa incomes in tax havens magically benefit everybody.
Yet of course class does exist and really does matter. For a lesson in class in Britain I only have to walk out of leaf lined Whitehall Gardens, down the hill and into the South Acton estate. Four hundred yards but an entirely different world. With entirely different voting patterns, too. Class remains an important factor in the election. The working class – much of which has no prospect of work – still clings to New Labour.
Not only does class matter, it is more rigid than ever. The UK has the lowest social mobility of any developed country.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/07705fb8-2fd3-11df-9153-00144feabdc0.html
It also has the biggest gap between rich and poor of any developed country except the United States. The gap between wealth and poor grew larger under New Labour at an accelerating rate. In fact we are catching the US up, and the wealth gap under New Labour grew much faster than under Thatcher, indeed at the fastest rate since it has been possible to measure it. When Mandelson said he was “Extremely relaxed about the filthy rich” he really meant it. The government’s enslavement to the city, deregulation and worship of Mammon has had spectacular ill results.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/mar/10/is-social-mobility-dead
This lack of social mobility is a product of social attitude as much as structure. Anybody who has moved around the higher echelons of the City and of government will know that there is a nexus of family, school, and Oxbridge college relationships that greases the path of commercial and political transaction. Similar systems work in every country, but it is stronger here. To get the finance for my African project, I used the services of a man whose entire value was that he was at Oxford, a minor aristocrat, dines at the Wolseley and knows everybody. He could get me in the door of the merchant banks and seen at decision making level. He had no other qualification and had never done any succesful business himself. He lives off introduction fees. Others are able to make better use of their opportunities but I tell the story to illustrate a simple truth about this country. It is who you know that counts.
With such a huge wealth gap and with almost no social mobility, class resentment in the UK is not just natural, it is needed. The irony is that it is the Conservatives who are set to suffer and New Labour to benefit. The only desire of the New Labour leadership was to insert themselves into the gilded circle – into which Blair was anyway born – and get troughing. But New Labour voters still do not see that, not least because they are kept in such a pit of poorly schooled, reality TV-fed ignorance.
Cameron has made the crucial mistake of surrounding himself with fellow toffs. Thatcher was not one and had Tebbit as her self evidently non upper class attack dog. Major was not one either and was backed up by blokey Ken Clarke. I can only imagine that Cameron surrounded himself by an entire front bench of public school yaahs because that is the company in which he feels comfortable. But most people like their subservience to a ruling class they cannot join not to be rubbed in their faces quite so obviously.
Huge puzzlement is being expressed all over the media and blogosphere about how the Tory lead can have narrowed so much. There is your answer.
Oh yes, social class is the elephant in the sitting-room. But is that room, or rrum? I blame the Normans.
David Davis resigned from the Conservative Front Bench in part because he was about to be pushed out by the toffs.
Go to a Book Festival and what kinds of voices does one hear? The authors, the audiences? Same with everything – except maybe rock music, but that’s another story, one of corporatisation.
As in 1970, the polls may well be wrong.
I agree with Craig. I do think, however, that Roderick Russell makes a key point.
Both the suggested trajectories seem so distant that one can get seriously demoralised. Yet when one considers the difficulties faced by both Craig Murray and Roderick Russell when, in their different ways, they faced-down the Establishment, one can have only unbreakable hope.
o/t to Craig: Have you seen this, is this of interest?
CIA, State Department Apparently Acting on Plan to Destroy Wikileaks – March 24
http://trueslant.com/barrettbrown/2010/03/24/cia-state-department-apparently-acting-on-plan-to-destroy-wikileaks/
which includes alarming twitter feed
updated on Daily Kos today:
Wikileaks Releases Statement After U.S. Intel Detains Editor
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/26/851032/-Wikileaks-Releases-Statement-After-U.S.-Intel-Detains-Editor#c140
— me in us
“The UK has the lowest social mobility of any developed country”
Personally, I think this Statement is Largely Bollocks, though it is more true now than it was 50 years ago.
I have seen Craig Murray’s humble background.
The poor dress up, and the rich dress down.
You can’t get much more Working Class than me.
Yet I have and continue to mix with some of the richest and the poorest, and much of the time, I can’t tell the difference.
India and I suspect America is very different.
The UK is a much more equal society than is commonly recognised.
For many years we were fed bullshit about the US being a Classless Society.
Don’t believe everything you read.
If you get off your arse and are determined to achieve, you will, irrespective of your background.
Tony
If women can believe feminism, then they will vote ZanuLabour.
Dr. Goebbels knew the importance of winning over the gentler fascist, and ZanuLabour has implemented that policy in broad daylight.
The public sector is approaching 50% of the working population, and it employs about 75% women. Zanulabour has paid ‘Dame-geld’ from the public purse, to ensure that women are state dependent, from pre-emptive policing of ‘bad men’, to nurseries taking their children hostage. Women are being frightened into the belief that any other government will pull the rug from under their soviet feet.
Women will ensure that Labour wins.
Have you guys got a sense of humour?
You should read your own comments!
Pathetic!
Class analysis comes down to who’s a toff and who isn’t?
No wonder the country is going down the tubes.Wherever we end up-reading the comments above-we’ll sure end up where we deserve!
You all sound like a bunch of corporate media junkies who have simply lost the capacity to realise when you’re spouting utter horseshite-or in the light of what follows-elephant shite!
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/search?q=elephant+in+the+room
You bunch of dingbats!
Professor Prostate aka Oliver Hardy strikes again!
Jesus, Jimmy, you really don’t like women, do you?
Tony, you sound like Norman Tebbit, with his ‘on yer bike’ mantra. Do we really want to end up comparing ourselves with ‘Brazil’ economies in terms of social class/ wealth distribution?
‘Huge puzzlement is being expressed all over the media and blogosphere about how the Tory lead can have narrowed so much. There is your answer.’
That’s not the answer. It’s been quite obvious Camreon and his political mates are toffs for a while.
The answer is that there is a massive covert campaign to bring in a coalition government. A coalition of all three parties will be what’s needed to implement draconian economic measures as well as the suppression of opposition to these.
A telling sign was the extraordinary lack of media coverage of the Conservative conference. I suspect very shortly there’ll be some further Tory scandal to put the parties on a par.
I strongly suspect that Mandelson will be made PM of the triumvirate.
The elephant in the room link is here:
http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/search?q=elephant+in+the+room
Quick the humorless censor doesn’t want you to see it.
“Britain is a country so heavily propagandized over generations that her people have no conception who they are or where they’re headed… Once the grip of London-based central banking and the offshore financial empire that launders its corrupt profits has been loosened people in this country are in for a rude awakening.”
Comrade Stalin, I agree with the central thesis.
It won’t stop the incontinent insults, though, will it:
“Is it just me? Why do I feel ashamed to be living in the same brain-dead country as the non-entities who comment here.”
Then you must be one, too, Comrade Stalin. Otherwise why would you deign to comment here at all?
You have not answered my very simple question yet, Comrade Stalin.
Most probably votes will be tampered with if they don’t bring in the required result for a coalition. When the results come out everybody will be satisfied because the reults will mirror the polls.
OK, standby to insert cat into pigeonhouse…
We need World Government, or at least, broad international consensus between governments.
There. Clark = NWO Shill.
I have a number of reasons, but I’m off out. Bye for now.
Clark, give my regards to any Rothschildians, Bildergers, bollocks, cheeseburgers and dingbats into whom you happen to bump! Hope it’s not too shilly out.
April 5th, note it down boys and girls.
Wikileaks gonna release a video of US masacre in Iraq/Arghanistan?
bet the main media are going to be customarily asleep.
anyway just like the bible that I found in the fiction section, Ive been leafing me way around the warren report on the JFK assasination. Man it sure gives the bible a run for its money out there in fantasy land…..
suhayl
According to Simon Montefiore’s bio of Stalin,Uncle Joe worked for the Rothschilds.He was their means to infiltrate the Baku oil workers unions.
While we’re on Stalin.Why does it not surprise me that you obviously haven’t read the Rakovsky confession? Christian Rakovsky was former Soviet ambassador to France where he was close to Rothschild interests.
Stalin’s drift towards “Bonepartism” is cited by Rakovsky in his interrogation as the reason the Roths decided to use Hitler to bring Stalin back under their control.
Apart from the fact that Stalin took his name from the Russian for “Man of Steel” the reason for your referring to Steelback as “Comrade Stalin” seems so inappropriate as to be totally ridiculous.
Your infantile sense of humour gets more embarrassing by the day.
For Christ’s sake do some reading or you attempts at insult will be as pathetically misplaced as your puerile sense of humour.
You’re clearly already out of your depth on most topics.
Weird! I’ve just been reading Wikileaks too. A CIA document on PR strategies to maintain support for the war in Afghanistan in France and Germany (including emphasis on Afghan women):
http://file.wikileaks.org/file/cia-afghanistan.pdf
@JimmyGiro
What’s your problem with women? I know at least three men who have become very bitter (understandably so) after experiences with family courts. Just sayin’ …
@MJ,
Yes, and Grainne Mhaol, or Grace O’Malley – although she was a lot later.
@anno,
It saddens me greatly that languages and dialects are dying all over the world, as a result of globalisation. Languages + cultures. Eventually we will be left with a bland, colourless world, utterly lacking in diversity. I decided I’d heard it all when I read that McDonald’s had opened in the Louvre.
“There was already an outcry last year when Starbucks opened a cafe perilously close to the Right bank museum’s entrance. Employees and art aficionados sent management a petition in protest; the cafe opened regardless but was asked to provide a cultural corner of brochures and catalogues as a placatory measure.”
I’ve spent a lot of time in France, but haven’t been there for a while. The above makes me slightly nauseous.
Always interesting to see “Steelback”, “Freeborn” and “Apostate” turn up within a short while of each other. And so condescending – hardly the way to win ‘hearts and minds’.
“hardly the way to win ‘hearts and minds'”
In the context of a posting about ‘class’, I find it reassuring that we’re all still ‘nonentities’.
Hah! well said, Richard.
“The answer is that there is a massive covert campaign to bring in a coalition government. A coalition of all three parties will be what’s needed to implement draconian economic measures as well as the suppression of opposition to these.” – Ruth
First person on here to actually get it.
There is also the additional fact that *every* election in the PR era is now covered in a way to make it 50/50 and maximise public interest / media ad spends. In the US particularly, you can feel the see-saw moments, as scandals are confected to haul in a huge front-runner and make a race that both candidates and their parties have to suddenly start pissing money away trying to win.
I’m pretty sure that if somebody has analysed the data that in the 24 hour cable news era races are becoming closer and closer, with, clearly, bogus polling being used to accomplish a genuine shift, like the ‘share ramping’ that the tabloids were busted for.
After a Storming Start a couple of months ago, I thought what the hell is she thinking of?
The venue can comfortably take around 500 people…
This is economic suicide
I get this text message a few days ago…with absolutely no advertising whatsover…
This bloke’s New Band is On
Sure We knew the Bass Player
So I thought rather than 300 or so – which is probably the size of the audience that they played to earlier in the week…
That about 15 people would turn up
My expectations were exceeded – about 20 people turned up
And the Band Were Really Good, but the audience felt really embarrassed because there were so few of us…
So near the end of the final set, we all came together and linked arms and danced together in a line right in front of the band.
We just about covered the width of the venue.
We were trying to make the Audience Look BIG
The Guitarist was Fucking Brilliant and Could Sing So Well, it was like seeing someone – on a motorcycle cruising, knowing that if he just twists his grip, he can go from 30 mph to 100 mph effortlessly
Such Quality is quite Rare
But I Reckon Far More Interest Was Shown Than Most Political Meetings
Our Daughter Not Only Started Her Job Today and Did 10 hours for £45 but is NOW Leaving…
With all her Kit to Go Ski-ing with her University Mates
She Was Voted Skier of The Year – when she was 15 – by the Teachers and Kids…
Apparently it was down to her tricks
Her Brother is Even More Insane on Ski’s
Tony
I agree with you Craig – though i don’t think social mobility or breaking the barriers between classes alone is the solution if it leaves massive inequality.
In South Africa for instance the division between black and white is over, but the gap between rich and poor as is big as ever.
Allowing a few of the poor to become billionaires wouldn’t be any better – and while most people have something they’re go at, people do vary in ability, so a pure meritocracy would punish people who try their best but just aren’t that able.
I don’t want to tell a mistruth
I think Her T-Shirt was Actually Skier of The Week
The school she went to is a perfectly ordinary normal school in England where both boys and girls go to.
It is not a Grammar School
It is Not a “Public” School which means the almost exact opposite in America
It is a normal school
With Boys and Girls
In ENGLAND, Education is Provided For FREE
But if you want to go on one of the annual school trips of which there are many choices…
Your parents have the opportunity to save up for it over a year or so in advance and pay the installments gently in advance
O.K. it might mean giving up something else ?” like a packet of fags and a pint of beer ?” a week
But if you save that Fiver up for Your Son or Daughter Every Week, then it builds up
And Your Children Can Then Travel To Other Places In The World With Their School Friends Whilst Still At School and Meet Other Children In Foreign Lands
And have fun with them
Tony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY
Duncan: I agree with you about the lackings of meritocracy. In an aristocracy, at least _some_ obligation is felt towards the downtrodden, because the lowest levels of society could have sympathy bestowed on them by those born into privilege.
In a supposed meritocracy, and I say supposed because we make the fallacious assumption everyone has an equal shot at success, those who are most well-heeled have an excuse at sneering at those in the gutter. They can say, “I pulled myself up from my bootstraps. You could too, if you could be bothered.”
Nobody has ever pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps – they had an entire society supporting them, and most likely the best part of it, if they did well.
A meritocracy allows the Blairite/ Thatcherite claim that the filthy rich deserve to be so, and to hell with everyone else.
The saddest thing, as Duncan again touched upon, is that the ordinary person has no means to get off the bottom rung. Working hard, being honest, playing the game – that just about keeps one out of the gutter while on the minimum wage. Where’s the reward for playing it straight anymore, if one is not particularly gifted, lucky or well born, in this supposed meritocratic society?
dreoilin –
I think asking whether females are less likely to go to war than males overlooks perhaps more relevant issues. I don’t think it is a persons sex that determines how they behave in power, rather it is the political/social climate they operate in. M. Thatcher, I. Gandhi and G. Meir all fought wars. To achieve such a position of power, you have to accept certain orthodoxies of the local elite. Whether you are male or female does not change this.
You write about Thatcher “I don’t see her as a typical female at all”. Neither do I, but I also don’t see Blair as being a typical male either. Both had to sell their soul to become PM.
In the Scandinavian countries with a high representation of women in politics, the male leaders are also better. I think it’s a kind of chicken and egg scenario. Is it more progressive because there are more women involved, or are there more women involved because its progressive? As I said before, I think its determined by politics and culture more than a simple male vs female equation.
BTW dont loose ur mind bout speeling. U can ushually understand what there trying 2 say.
tony_opmoc –
“Yet I have and continue to mix with some of the richest and the poorest, and much of the time, I can’t tell the difference.”
I was born and raised in a country which places far less emphasis on class than the UK and I still strongly disagree with you. It ain’t hard to spot the difference between someone who has a privileged life and someone who battles to make ends meet. Body language, vocabulary, accent, world view make it pretty easy to tell the difference.
OFF TOPIC
Craig how about placing an article or link on you main page to wikileaks.
this one site, seems to be causing a great deal of discomfort to the ruling elite
I would suggest another one (boiling frogs post from Sibel Edmonds)
regards…happy electioneering