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Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK

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SK: Chums is anthropological in the sense that I’m there. Anthropologists have this concept of a ‘participant observer’, where you have to go into that as an outsider, and that’s sort of me in football, and also me at Oxford. I’m not of their world. I’m there to see them and try to understand their culture in a non-judgmental way. People ask me if I hate Etonians and I don’t at all. I don’t know them for the most part, but I understand that they’re products of where they came from. I’m trying to understand that.

Simon Kuper - Wikipedia Simon Kuper - Wikipedia

In the UK, we’re in a much better position because you have the BBC, which everyone likes to compain about all the time. However, most people get their needs met, and broadly accept it. An example is ‘Partygate’, where even Tories agree that ‘Partygate’ happened. Some of them said it wasn’t really a big deal but there was almost no debate about it being true. It’s very hard, because whatever you do, can be misrepresented but I think, certainly having more local reporters, which the BBC is now working on as well in places like Norwich or Halifax.But I don’t think that makes the difference, and the difference is being made by Oxford or Cambridge admissions, to change radically. The parents of kids whose children have gone through the private school system must be thinking they worsened their child’s chances of getting into Oxford, because Oxbridge now has these complex algorithms and targets for state school entries. Although Oxbridge is obviously still not fully reflective of UK demographics, it has improved a lot in the last five years, much more than I ever expected, since 2017. And now, it’s about just over 30% private school. This is way higher than the portion of the population that goes to private school, not much higher however than the population of sixth formers at private schools. It’s the lowest in Oxford and Cambridge history. 10 years ago if you were paying for Eton or St Pauls, you were paying for Eton plus Oxford, where that is no longer the case. Thirteen of the seventeen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford University. In Chums, Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of this narrowest of talent pools - and the friendships and worldviews it created - shaped modern Britain. MAL: You’ve spoken about writing on sport from an almost anthropological perspective. What kind of similarities do you find between writing columns on current affairs and writing about Sport?

Simon Kuper – The Oxford Student In conversation with Simon Kuper – The Oxford Student

They aren't just colleagues - they are peers, rivals, friends. And, when they walked out of the world of student debates onto the national stage, they brought their university politics with them. MAL: Onto ‘Chums’ now, do you think that something like abolishing private school charitable status, would be an effective way to make admissions more meritocratic at university?SK: Politicians are a microcosm and an exaggeration of the system, but in journalism, in finance, it’s always like that. And the same principle that the acceptance letter you get at age 17 determines to a very large degree the future career you’ll have is a very cruel and absurd system, whether it’s for politicians or journalists. The difference in Politics is that other elite jobs in the UK are competed for internationally. So even in journalism, my colleagues really come from all over now, including, for example, Germans and Scandinavians and Indians. And that’s true in finance and in tech as well. MH: So while your book focuses on Politicians and the influence of student politics at Oxford, do you not think there’s also just as interesting a story to write about, for instance, journalists or any other profession where there is a strong reliance on Oxbridge graduates?

Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK

Simon Kuper is a Journalist and Author, most notably as a sports columnist for the Financial Times. He has written extensively on class and meritocracy in British society. His infamous book ‘Chums’ was published in 2022 and detailed the Oxford of the ‘80s through a group of Tories who were shaped by their experiences in the Oxford Union. A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters' Matthew Parris MH: So do you think this plays into the argument that meritocracy in itself is a fallacy, in that it perpetuates a system whereby a new eliteis created, as Matthew Goodwin argues for instance? SK: I certainly think they should do that. I was asked to give a talk at Eton recently and I was interested to go just to see it as a social phenomenon, I’ve never been inside Eton before. In the end, I said no because they wouldn’t even pay my train fare from London and a taxi.

SK: I’ve become very suspicious of meritocracy, even when meritocracy is constituted early in life and you need institutional zeal. Whether it’s a fair meritocracy, or an unfair one, even a fair meritocracy is very dangerous. I’d much prefer a kind of German, Scandinavian or Australian system where your life is made much more in your 20s and 30s. Because you’ve done well in your job, people think you’re good at what you’re doing. Not what’s the brand on your CV.

Chums: Updated with a new chapter - Simon Kuper - Google Books Chums: Updated with a new chapter - Simon Kuper - Google Books

SK: They seem to be doing this more and more. I rewrote my last chapter of ‘Chums’ recently to reflect my admiration for things like this. And it’s difficult for Oxford to have to correct a very class-based school system. What they shouldn’t do, is what they used to do, and that’s to say that it’s not their fault. That they only accept the best, meaning the best prepared. SK: Both, I think. I’m told that in the foreign office for example, your application is University-blind, so they don’t know when you apply which University you went to. And you are not supposed to reveal it. In contrast, the Financial Times graduate trainee schemes used to recruit only people like me who went to Oxford. And now I think they try not to do that. So you can see that the British elite institutions make those reforms. But it’s difficult when you have these two Universities who obviously have a higher status. In the Private Sector you see that people will take graduates from Oxford over Reading. MH: How do you respond to the argument that while class socialisation begins at school, it is only fully realised at University?A father of a child at the school said that what I may not understand is that Eton is itself a charity.

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