I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Our Kingdom blog, but it is fast becoming a daily read for me. Written predominantly by Anthony Barnett it's part of the Open Democracy Project and tends to concentrate on constitutional issues. However, Anthony seems to have rather taken to blogging as a chance for him to give his views on a whole number of issues.
Take THIS post where he highlights my criticism of Michael Ancram as a sign of class warfare in the Tory Party. It's not something I recognise, although I do think there are still remnants of the "I was born to rule" classes who can't quite cope with the fact that peasants like me have any role or influence at all. He is right to point to the Thatcher period as the start of what Julian Critchley liked to call 'the estate agent classes'. The deference of previous decades has largely been eradicated though. But you get this in all parties.
There has always been a class issue in the Labour Party too, where you had to prove your working class credentials. 'Eee lad, you reckon you were born in a shoebox? You were lucky. I was born in a matchbox'. It's always a joy to watch metropolitan New Labour young men in a hurry cosy up to the horny handed men of soil who happen to control a constituency selection committee. In fact it's hilarious. I remember reading Alex Hilton's (Recess Money) open letter regarding his application to be Labour candidate in Liverpool West Derby and thinking that perhaps he had gone a little OTT to prove his Old Labour credentials, when everyone knows he is the very personification of a New Labour apparatchik.
Anyway, back to Our Kingdom. I wonder if this is the blog to be the first left of centre blog to make a breakthrough. Have a look.
11 comments:
Who was it that once said the Tory party was once the party of landed estates but is now the party of estate agents?
Seems a rather fitting quote for this story.
I like Ourkingdom in general. I reviewed briefly here back in June (last 2 paras). Link on my name.
My only real criticism is that Anthony tends to caricature positions he disagrees with and then reply to the caricature.
Apart from that, I find it thoughtful and worth a read - not least because OK replies quickly and without personal invective.
They have maintained their standards.
I don't think they need to "break through" - it is part of a larger setup (like Coffee House and Adam Smith) so it should just "emerge".
I think this is happening. Are they in your book? :-?
There is still a class divide to a degree - but not so much between the 'born to rule' and the Grammar School boys, but rather between those who believe they are simply better than everyone else (including their colleagues), and those who understand that being an MP is a priveledge and an honour!
The later act with a degree of humility and understand the notion of public service. The former act in an aloof, arrogant and frankly utterly unapealing manner.
Sadly, to me, the party in Westminster is increasingly a twat-magnet, where the motivation for going into public life is somewhat dubious!
I won't name names, but there are two members of the shaddow cabinet who instantly spring to mind, who are frankly the most disagreeable individuals I have ever met. Rude, snobbish, two-faced, antagonistic, unwilling to even consider the fact that that they might not be utterly right on every issue! They bully their staff and demean those whose face doesn't fit in with them and their narrow understanding of who is socially acceptable and who isn't! MOst of this understanding is based on wealth - those who don't have lucrative careers in the city, or are bankrolled by old money need not apply to join this particular club! I find them nauseating and embarrassing. They, not the Ancram's of this world are the fossils Iain!
Their ranks are also sadly swollen by some arrogant types in the recent intake who do the party no credit, and run around Westminster as if they own the whole world.
MPs whould remember that they are there to serve the people, not the other way around. Many in the Tory party haven't yet understood this important point!
And before people say 'good and bad in all parties', I know and agree. But we seem to excell in some particularly nasty people. Alan B'stard is alive and well - sadly!
As a rider, Iain - what would your definition of "breakthrough" be?
Serious question.
The class in the Labour party that is dreadful is the kind of person who calls children kids and has an'oh, come on' attitude, a pretend reality that everyone agrees with their social truth or else is immoral whenever their third rate cultural and economic life style is called into question. There are a lot of Labour wimmin like this, wrecking the education system to serve their low grade aims, bullying others through their tax-payer funded jobs in social and state welfare, and restricting the hopes and horizons of the least capable and defended in our society.
The real clash in political life, though, is not about class (repellent as this class of petty apparatchik jobsworths is, they are merely to be circumvented if they cannot be ignored) but about constitution and nationality;
when England has its parliament and Scotland completes its leaving of the union the entire political landscape will alter away from this version of Labour, and its social, cultural and economic incompetencies, that afflicts us all.
Horny-handed sons of toil, shurely?
As far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter if you're a "belted Earl" or a manual worker ....... you should connect your brain before opening your mouth and not give your political opponents ammunition to damage or attack your party and its current leadership that's why Ancram was heavily criticised for his comments not because he was "upper class" !
First left of centre blog to make a breakthrough???
What, globally? In Croydon?
Lots of office boys tip tapping does not a blogosphere make Mr Dale
In any case how can an oxymoronic site called Our Kingdom (sic) be of the Left?
Iain,
I'm pretty thick-skinned, I have toughened up against criticism in the knowledge that a lot of it's accurate. I can hardly complain when called a "gobshite" can I.
But if you have read my opening letter to the LWD members then you have a clear picture of why I'm in politics and what I want to achieve. And rather than be a slavish loyalist, whose eventual election will be anonymous, I hope expectations of me will be high - that I can be driven by those expectations so that my ultimate goal won't be obfuscated by my own ego or ambition - both of which are pretty robust.
So call me a blairite or whatever you like - but I'm nailing my political goals to a mast so I can be judged against them in the future.
What do you want to achieve Iain?
All the best
Alex Hilton
07985 384 859
www.labourhome.org
Not so much the haves and the have-nots. today it's the havs and the chavs....and the (young) havs try hard to emulate the latter. There is two way aspirational traffic. Consumerism permits everyone to play, and branding dictates who's top dog. Today 'class' comes home in a shopping bag.
Those who think their birth entitles them, are often less interesting as people - although with fewer around these days, they are acquiring historical curiosity value.
Those who rely on the past to define the present, are trapped. They feel obliged to act out their prescribed role. They do not live free lives. In many ways i feel sorry for them, akthough they seem happy enough in their 'small world' views.
Aware that they feel superior, they can, however be irritating, and they will often try to impose the same limitations they suffer from on others.
That's all they are though - an irritant. Their decline has been continuous since the 1960s. Britain has mercifully moved on both from class warfare, and few define themselves individually by reference to class any more.
Inheritance Tax has done its thing. Now people just want their families to keep their money when they die..or their own chosen charities. They hate the idea of the government getting half of everything they've slaved to build throughout their lives. That's the measure of how much 'class' has been eroded as an issue. The chavs just want to keep their money, and don't feel threatened by the nobs any more.
Cameron is an aristo. What class warfare?
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