A close friend of a government minister wrote a report Labour has used to justify the party’s private school VAT raid.
Matthew Pennycook, a minister in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, was reported to have been the best man at the wedding of Luke Sibieta, who authored the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) paper on Labour’s plans.
Just how the ruling class works.
The same sort of people, that same class, run the government and the surrounding apparatus. It’s different from the old ruling class but still there.
Yet another story that the so-called press probably wouldn’t have realised was a story until Guido did the work for them, yesterday in this case.
Self selecting elites.
We studied Pareto a bit, but of course because he was not a Marxust, he was dismissed out of hand.
The older I get the more I realise he was right.
( Unfortunately I also think Gramsvi was right too The Italians seemed to have a much better grasp of reality than the French on this sort of thing .)
Ottokring:
Yes, the “elite theorists” were observant and intelligent. Gaetano Mosca made the biggest impression on me – he wrote about the “circulation of elites”, with each new elite basing their power on “social forces” which they used in order to dominate society. Today one important such factor is woke ideology. Once you’ve learnt the ropes at Uni, you are set to do well in the Civil Service, Local Government, media, and the dafter corporations.
Simon
Mosca, that was the other chap.
Thank you.
Katharine Birbalsingh on twitter yesterday:
We had our Year 6 Open Evening tonight at Michaela.
We normally have only nearby inner-city families visiting.
Tonight, there were LOADS of private school kids from far.
So bizarre.
We are seeing the effect of VAT costs to private schools in real time.
Does the same pattern recur i.e. does the rising class complain about the old ruling class being incestuous, an old boy network, and so forth? And then, once in power, ape its habits?
Aha, Rosie Whatshername in theTelegraph:
“Dirty tricks were going on because certain boys wanted seats. A particular favoured son was circling mine for a long time. Certain women were being offered places in the Lords. Overtures were made. I didn’t want that. The person hovering around was offered a seat in the North, where they had no connection, so then one of “the Matthews” (that’s what I call these lads who brief against me) said I owed hundreds of pounds for the Party Levy and if I didn’t pay I could not be a Labour candidate.”
This accusation turned out to be false. It’s hard not to empathise with Duffield’s anger at having survived the 2019 election only to watch relatives and friends of MPs and spin doctors get seats and promotions.
A pal of mine won over £300 betting on Rosie winning in 2017.
I’m not sure what to make of her. I am full of admiration for her, but think that she is woefully out of her depth as a MP. Not that the latter bit matters to be honest, considering the menagerie of half-wits and clowns that inhabit Parliament.