The Dictatorship of the Etonariat

[ahinton]

Cummings and Boris seem to be doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances.

"An excellent job" of what, precisely?...

Boris's robust responses to the baying mob of Labour MPs the other evening was a wonder to behold.

Was it really? What was remotely "robust" about it? - and what justification would he have had in any case for such "robustness" in the wake of having been found in breach of the law by the unanimous judgement of 11 officers of the highest court in the land?

He dominated the House of Commons in a way not seen since Maggie Thatcher was PM.

I saw some of it. He "dominated" nothing. Since you mention Mrs Thatcher, even she would have preferable to BoJo on the ropes thrashing around in the directionless manner typical of him but which is the very opposite of what one ought to expect from a Prime Minister.

[DracoM]

I think we may be the target of a Sauron / Cummings media campaign.
Make it nasty, make it simple, make it loud, and a certain demographic that goes for loud, simple slogan-yelling will carry the team to victory.

Shed End Leader of every football stadium - rouse the crowd and you have a message.

What message, to victory for what - stop not to ask.
What does this dark team move onto after Brexit? And with them entrenched in the heart of a political party, what of our politics next? Hmm.

Ask Steve Bannon - Dom did.
Find the Puppet, get your hands in the strings, and voila!

Boris the Puppet?

[MrGongGong]

Cummings and Boris seem to be doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances.

Boris's robust responses to the baying mob of Labour MPs the other evening was a wonder to behold. He dominated the House of Commons in a way not seen since Maggie Thatcher was PM.

Nurse.... the screens

We have prisons for those who commit criminal acts and the sooner Mr Johnson ends up in one the better

[kernelbogey]

Johnson is fundamentally a weak, self-centred person who will do anything to hold on to his job. He's not interested in anything, or anyone, else.

[Dave2002]

Cummings and Boris seem to be doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances.

Absolute balderdash. A lot of the orchestration was from the Con side cheering on someone who appears to be becoming despotic, as well as befuddled. Thinks that if he shouts loud enough people will take notice, and he'll get his way. Other people might call this bullying or babyish, depending on the context.

[eighthobstruction]

"An excellent job" of what, precisely?...


Was it really? What was remotely "robust" about it? - and what justification would he have had in any case for such "robustness" in the wake of having been found in breach of the law by the unanimous judgement of 11 officers of the highest court in the land?


I saw some of it. He "dominated" nothing. Since you mention Mrs Thatcher, even she would have preferable to BoJo on the ropes thrashing around in the directionless manner typical of him but which is the very opposite of what one ought to expect from a Prime Minister.

....I think CGR that he dominates the Commons because the questioners get one question and BJ gets the chance to give 50-100 answers [all containing the word 'surrender'....

[MrGongGong]

Absolute balderdash. A lot of the orchestration was from the Con side cheering on someone who appears to be becoming despotic, as well as befuddled. Thinks that if he shouts loud enough people will take notice, and he'll get his way. Other people might call this bullying or babyish, depending on the context.

I think our MIT "academic" chum (https://cgr.mit.edu) is just spoofing.

[John Locke]

What was remotely "robust" about it?

That might be justified, without convincing: one man's 'robust' is another woman's 'bully-pit'.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-commons-bully-pulpit-rachel-johnson-criticism-637564

[Serial_Apologist]

Absolute balderdash. A lot of the orchestration was from the Con side cheering on someone who appears to be becoming despotic, as well as befuddled. Thinks that if he shouts loud enough people will take notice, and he'll get his way. Other people might call this bullying or babyish, depending on the context.

It stems from the sense of entitlement that education in places like Eton promulgates. I attended such a place, well not quite that self-entitling, in the late 50s/early 60s; every end of summer term, which always saw the largest number of leavers, the school chaplain would give a sermon reminding us all how privileged we were to have had such a wonderful education, paid for by our parents' sacrifice, qualifying us as it had to be the exemplars and leaders of the world British history had painted pink and endowed us with. Linday Anderson's "If" was right on the mark, in some ways not even going far enough. Either you fitted in because you were real sporty men, or your bent was academic, in which case you could slide away to the shadows and maybe gain a study like Malcolm and his pals had. If you didn't fit either category you were an outsider who in my case ended up on the left, because this is what the world is really like, people out there - proving either that good can come from bad for the right reasons, or that there are no right and wrong reasons.

[ahinton]

It stems from the sense of entitlement that education in places like Eton promulgates.

It's odd, though; none of the Old Etonians whom I know (and I admit that there are few) exhibit any such sense of entitlement (at least not in my presence).

[Serial_Apologist]

It's odd, though; none of the Old Etonians whom I know (and I admit that there are few) exhibit any such sense of entitlement (at least not in my presence).

Not all are corrupted - it may be that Cameron for instance is a "good chap" out of a time when One Nation Toryism was a possibility, though watching The Cameron Years on telly last night suggests other motives; nevertheless conscience can enter the equation along the line: some such as Vicount Stansgate have gone on to use their knowledge as well as position for reform.

[Richard Barrett]

Not all are corrupted - conscience must enter the equation along the line: some have gone on to use their knowledge as well as position for reform.

Although on balance it would surely be better all round if the place were closed down. (I've only met one person who I know attended Eton and he was a gentle and self-effacing kind of person, but obviously anecdotal evidence is meaningless.) I'm not sure the country could handle yet another old Etonian as prime minister. Of course Johnson would be a lying racist upperclass thug no matter where he'd been educated.

[Serial_Apologist]

Although on balance it would surely be better all round if the place were closed down. (I've only met one person who I know attended Eton and he was a gentle and self-effacing kind of person, but obviously anecdotal evidence is meaningless.) I'm not sure the country could handle yet another old Etonian as prime minister. Of course Johnson would be a lying racist upperclass thug no matter where he'd been educated.

[DracoM]

My guess is that that was a particular generation of Etonians?
Maybe more of them are more self-aware these days, and thus more aware of public perceptions?

[John Locke]

some such as Vicount Stansgate have gone on to use their knowledge as well as position for reform.

Viscount Stansgate was not of the long-standing aristocracy. The first titled member of the family was Sir John whose younger brother was confined to a mental hospital after murdering their father with a chamber pot.

Although on balance it would surely be better all round if the place were closed down. (I've only met one person who I know attended Eton and he was a gentle and self-effacing kind of person, but obviously anecdotal evidence is meaningless.) I'm not sure the country could handle yet another old Etonian as prime minister.

I think it would be better to 'modernise' it and keep it as an educational establishment. I knew a father and son who were Old Etonians. The son was amiable, the father delightful: his tenure of the family business ended in bankruptcy.

Of course Johnson would be a lying racist upperclass thug no matter where he'd been educated.

I don't think I can add much to that.