Corbyn has definitely shifted the dial - the idea that it is everyman for himself is dead - I wouldn't be surprised to see a rise in income tax and a lowering of VAT before the end of this Tory government. This way the poor really benefit, they will be out of the tax system and the goods they buy will be cheaper - win win wealth redistribution

You do know that Blair and Campbell went to Oxford and Cambridge, respectively? Blakely went to Oxford, as well.

What saddens me about ‘young’ Oxbridge types like Johnson and Cameron, who are both about a decade older than me, is that they’ve somehow convinced people like you that they are better than you.

Nope, they never said it, how is LORD Prescott, Mrs and Mrs Kinnock, cuckoo Scargill, Paddy Pantsdown?

you hail them, and they where no different.

When it comes to politics, you bring a water balloon to a gun fight.

Have you quoted the wrong post? Because, otherwise, i think you have brought a jar of ashphalt to a fondue party.

Who never said what?

For the hailing, do you mean me individually, or entities like me of whom you see me as being representative? Y’know i’m a bot sent back in time by an [iin silico[/i construct of Greta Thunberg’s consciousness, yeah?

wow, you have taken 84t541t lunacy to a new level.

meamwhile I am sure Jeremy has an invite to pay his condolansces...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50986185

meamwhile I am sure Jeremy has an invite to pay his condolansces...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50986185

You started it!

I never said they were better than me - I said they are better educated, more intelligent and more confident - my kids are far better educated than I am - they all went to university I didn't. One thing I do have is I have never worked for anybody else I plough my own furrow - I live and die by the decision I make and I like it that way just fine.

I do, which shows that arrogance has nothing to do being from the Bullingdon set - quite the opposite - perhaps we are getting to the root your dislike for these types.

That they were part of the Bullingdon set? Aye, I got to the bottom of that a while ago, and thought i’d left some pretty obvious clues.

While arrogance isn’t unique to members of the Bullingdon club, it’s a big leap to them being unrelated.

I agree with the chap who described it as ‘shameful’ and an example of ‘arrogance’. Although, of course, he is not renowned for his authenticity or honesty anymore than he is for his decency or humility in later life.

Arrogance is an interesting trait, I think, in that it can come from opposite ends of the confidence spectrum. Cameron’s is the natural arrogance of the privileged insider, who has never needed to question the order of things. Johnson’s is defensive, built as protective shell. The extremity of his adopted establishment Englishness is a shield and reaction against his status as a relative outsider. One of the great mysteries is the extent to which the original person still exists and has control within the created persona. It’s performance art at its most extreme, in a way, but with real-world consequences now. Is there something compelling and relatable about it, in a way that there isn’t for Cameron or Blair? Or is it repellently empty?

I have no problem with elite academic institutions, they should be encouraged and given proper funding by government. The fact that the UK has some of the best academic institutions in the world is one thing we should be building on and tapping in to their expertise.

However, there is a massive difference between being intelligent and being an expert in a field. Having an undergraduate degree from Oxbridge is a marker of intelligence but not expertise. To get one you need to be bright enough to get straight As at A-level, then cope with a system of tutorials and one essay/assignment per week, per subject (instead of one per term at other places) which is then picked apart by an academic. Then at the end there's an assessment system heavily weighted towards final exams so you'd need to be good at revising huge volumes of material and performing in an intense window of exams. Anyone who comes out of Oxbridge with a good standard degree has to have a high-functioning intellect, be able to cope under pressure, and be able to defend their ideas to an expert in a debate. So employers use an Oxbridge degree as a signal of being the kind of person suited to the demands of training to be a lawyer or working in investment banking etc.

BUT....having an undergraduate degree, even from Oxbridge, is no where near being an expert on a subject. Their curriculum might cover greater breadth than other places but still, an undergrad degree just scratches the surface of any field. People who go on to Masters degrees, PhDs, publish research, face a brutal world of knock-backs in peer review that gives them a humility that they realise just how vast their subject is and how little even the best professors know about it.

There's a problem regarding Oxbridge grads which I think is specific to government/public policy. Typically an Oxbridge grad has been a high flier through their school/sixth form/uni career, they've had parents and teachers telling them how good they are, always getting the top marks etc. They know they are bright and they have learned certain ways to deal with the challenges they have faced - late night essay crisis, take coffee and red bull, get a load of books out of the library, and they will be able to put together something credible and they're quick thinkers in a debate so can defend it in their tutorial. They have always been better than the majority of their peers, and they think they can solve any problem.

Then they are going to enter the 'real world' and be dealing with people with decades of experience, some of whom were the equivalent bright young Oxbridge grads in the 1980s, and have to deal with issues of more complexity than they have met before. It's the equivalent of being the young rugby player who has been the star at his school and junior club, gets signed on an Academy scholarship young, has a social media presence pimping himself out as the big star then makes his Super League debut and gets smashed about by the old pros.

In most of the high-paying professions that Oxbridge grads go in to: banking, financial services, law, there is a long path of professional training and working their way up the ranks, so they take their lumps as relative juniors early on and by the time they reach positions of influence they have become experts themselves. But in the 'government/public policy' circle: Whitehall, the world of Special Advisers and policy 'wonks', and think tankers, a bright Oxbridge grad that gets in will rapidly be put in a position of influence. Hence these fields are full of highly intelligent grads in their early to mid 20s who have done well in their school and university careers but are completely green to the real world, but think they know everything.

Sal P has mentioned a few times on here how Grace Blakeley irritates him. Well if you work in this field, you meet people like her all the time, in positions where they are the ones 'driving activity' or 'directing the ideas'. They'll be the super confident, sharply dressed 25 year old in the Treasury or DExEU who chairs a workshop that has been assembled of various experts to try and solve a super complex problem. This whizzkid will have spent 20 minutes before the session whipping together a set of powerpoint slides with some 'policy options' they've pulled together from the top of their head (most of which will betray absolutely no understanding of the real issues but will be 'blue sky thinking'). They'll spend most of the time allocated for the workshop talking themselves, giving a superficial run through of the background, then babble on about their own ideas, and once the actual experts start critiquing it and trying to talk about the real issues, that 25 year old will say 'sorry, I'm aware of the time here, we really must wrap up, so lets allocate out actions for who is going to work up the detail on each of my ideas....' and they will walk out of the meeting feeling super-satisfied with themselves (taking a selfie to upload to instagram in the process) while the actual experts walk out thinking, well the country is totally fecked if this is how decisions are made...