tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post257613081739466239..comments2024-03-08T15:43:20.236+00:00Comments on Keynesian Liberal: British Values and Michael GovePeter Wrigleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-57223634936098212722014-06-17T07:03:40.637+01:002014-06-17T07:03:40.637+01:00Thanks Severn Boar. I've never been a "Mi...Thanks Severn Boar. I've never been a "Minder" fan but suspect Arthur Daley is an archetypal example of a British "Spiv" With posher accents, perhaps, there are now too many of them at the top rather than the bottom of the pile.Peter Wrigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-58017306282189711912014-06-16T22:12:40.098+01:002014-06-16T22:12:40.098+01:00I happened to watch a (very) old "Minder"...I happened to watch a (very) old "Minder" today, and there was Arthur Daley running up a Union Jack flag on his dodgy second-hand car site with "British is Best" emblazoned across the centre. He explained to his colleague that this was "a little bit of England" and stood for such traditional values as "cricket on the green, Sunday roasts and Saturday night-punch-ups". I felt inspired knowing that British values had been pioneered by such a worthy (iconic?) character as Mr Daley many years ago.Severn Boarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15542769703676984112noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-66528394790129854092014-06-16T06:26:31.493+01:002014-06-16T06:26:31.493+01:00Since you recruited me to the London Review of Boo...Since you recruited me to the London Review of Books, Stuart, you are probably aware of the "sermon" by Alan Bennett in the current issue (Vol 36, No 12, 19th June) . Referring to his interview for a place at Cambridge in 1951, he writes:<br /><br />"That weekend was the first time I had come across public schoolboys in the mass and I was appalled. They were loud, self-confident and all seemed to know one another , shouting down the table to prove it while also being shockingly greedy. Public school they might be but they were louts."<br /><br />I supect things hadn't changed much by Cameron's time. Maybe they still haven't.<br /><br />Later, on the topic of privatisation, Bennett writes:<br /><br />"I have no time for the ideology masquerading as pragmatism that would strip the state of its benevolent functions and make them occasions for profit. And why roll back the state only to be rolled over by the corporate entities that have been allowed, nay encouraged , to take its place? I am uneasy when prisons are run for profit or health services either. The rewards of probation and the alleviation of suffering are human profits and nothing to do with balance sheets."<br /><br />To that I would add eduction, and am rather more than uneasy at the way Liberals Democrats in government have connived at this "ideology masquerading as pragmatism."Peter Wrigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-68060331463537004252014-06-14T18:27:04.601+01:002014-06-14T18:27:04.601+01:00Thanks for reminding me of the Bullingdon Club, wi...Thanks for reminding me of the Bullingdon Club, with values, if I understand correctly, based on wealth, arrogance (a far cry from "modest stillness and humility), contempt for the ordinary, and the legitimisation of vandalism for those who can afford to pay for the damage. Really they're bullies. In terms of our schoolboy stories whey would be classed as cads. I can't remember the names of any particular bullies other than Flashman, but I do recall, in either the Wizard or the Hotspur, an episode entitled "Curtains for Reid." Curtains for Cameron and his cohort of posh boys has an agreeable ring.Peter Wrigleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16481117156930677255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4732407426313451205.post-70414315044347258362014-06-13T10:55:27.882+01:002014-06-13T10:55:27.882+01:00I agree. Why spout about abstract qualities when ...I agree. Why spout about abstract qualities when such qualities are so ambiguous: democracy? but apathy and low turn out? liberty? but unemployment, slums and poverty? tolerance? but ghettos and racism?<br />I see Cameron does not mention the Bullingdon Club and the implied snobbery of public school; and Oxbridge education, nor the greed of bankers like Fred the Shed.<br />Perhaps our two national characteristics are now our love of queuing and tattooing.Stuart Archernoreply@blogger.com