Boris Johnson wins London mayoral race

Theres nothing wrong with being privileged and certainly I would want those who run the country to be intelligent so a good education is a plus. However I can understand why people would feel that they may not have the experience of a lot of the country and their wealth meant they led a very different life to the rest of us.

Of course, does that really matter?

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by Damien

Theres nothing wrong with being privileged and certainly I would want those who run the country to be intelligent so a good education is a plus. However I can understand why people would feel that they may not have the experience of a lot of the country and their wealth meant they led a very different life to the rest of us.

Of course, does that really matter?

I'd say that it depends on the person.....

[slowcoach]

Prince Charles, the best education money can buy.

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

4 whole years? Well qualified to pass judgement....btw, which private school was it?...'cos at the last private school my two went to I was stood next to the owner of a chip shop and an insurance salesman at home time....ordinary people who simply don't want to have their kids exposed to the state sector.

I'm not talking about the local private schools that people save to send their children to, I am referring to the likes of Eton and Harrow, the sort of place that takes names at birth. You mention chip shop owners and salesmen, I doubt very much either Eton or Harrow could boast their schools had many of their children. I'm not against the Tory party per say, but when you take out the likes of Hague and Davis, they are hardly representative of British society, as I said earlier I have no desire to be governed by a clique from the bullingdon club, but if you wish to aspire to that, obviously that's your choice, but not me.

PS If you are that interested in my schooling I went to Lancing Collage.

Personally where someone went to school doesn't really bother me all i want for a change is politicians that can do the job of running this country for the benefit of it's people how or where they were educated is neither here nor there.

I always find it interesting that if you commented on a person's upbringing because they were from a less well off family, there would be (usually) widespread cries of "snobbery" and "class warfare" - but it's ok to do it to someone whose parents had wealth (inherited or earned); it's not as if we can choose our parents, so it seems strange to attack people because of it (imho).

[Osem]

Agree 100% - the privileged classes if you can call them that don't have the monopoly on greed, arrogance or anything else.

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Damien

Theres nothing wrong with being privileged and certainly I would want those who run the country to be intelligent so a good education is a plus. However I can understand why people would feel that they may not have the experience of a lot of the country and their wealth meant they led a very different life to the rest of us.

Of course, does that really matter?

It matters if pongo, stinky and the rest of the tidily winkers are to far out of touch to effectively represent the people they speak for, I preferred it when politicians became politicians in middle age after living a life, rather than go to collage to study it as a career

Good points raised though.

Problem appears to be most "professional" politicians have never had a "real" job - they tend to have been political aides, researchers, journalists, etc (imho).

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Problem appears to be most "professional" politicians have never had a "real" job - they tend to have been political aides, researchers, journalists, etc (imho).

Current leader of the Tory party perhaps

[Russ]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

It matters if pongo, stinky and the rest of the tidily winkers are to far out of touch to effectively represent the people they speak for,

Absolutely

One of the best examples of this was Edwina Currie telling pensioners who couldn't afford rising heating bills, to avoid hypothermia by wearing "woolly hats and jumpers"

[punky]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

4 whole years? Well qualified to pass judgement....btw, which private school was it?...'cos at the last private school my two went to I was stood next to the owner of a chip shop and an insurance salesman at home time....ordinary people who simply don't want to have their kids exposed to the state sector.

I went to private school from 5-18 and the pupils were anything but snobs. My parents even released equity from their house so I wouldn't be exposed to horrible state schools and and pupils that forced my older brother to drop out after he failed common entrance.

BTW, Boris Johnson earned a scholarship to Eton.

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

Personally where someone went to school doesn't really bother me all i want for a change is politicians that can do the job of running this country for the benefit of it's people how or where they were educated is neither here nor there.

Never in a million years.

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

I'm not talking about the local private schools that people save to send their children to, I am referring to the likes of Eton and Harrow, the sort of place that takes names at birth. You mention chip shop owners and salesmen, I doubt very much either Eton or Harrow could boast their schools had many of their children. I'm not against the Tory party per say, but when you take out the likes of Hague and Davis, they are hardly representative of British society, as I said earlier I have no desire to be governed by a clique from the bullingdon club, but if you wish to aspire to that, obviously that's your choice, but not me.

Indeed, but you said that you spent four years at a private school, and "know full well the contempt most of these snobs view "ordinary" people with"......and made it sound like you rubbed shoulders with the 'toffs'. Now you say that you didn't go to a school like Eton or Harrow, so that implies that you don't "know full well the contempt most of these snobs view "ordinary" people with"....

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Problem appears to be most "professional" politicians have never had a "real" job - they tend to have been political aides, researchers, journalists, etc (imho).

Originally Posted by Damien

Current leader of the Tory party perhaps

Definitely, and also Gordo Broon, who was a lecturer in Politics for 4 years and a STV journalist for 3 years before becoming an MP - real horny-handed son of the soil, then