This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/08/family-affair-succeed-britain-middletons

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
It's still a family affair if you want to succeed in Britain It's still a family affair if you want to succeed in Britain
(10 days later)
As Carole Middleton and the Emperor Napoleon have both demonstrated, dynasticism and social mobility can be a perfect fit. It is open to anyone, after all, to emulate the Middletons' hard work and establish a family line so powerful that even the least, most unprepossessing, of its connections – one thinks of Carole's brother, Gary Goldsmith, the master of la Maison de Bang Bang, or James, the son with a line in fancy cakes – will enjoy a level of public esteem that can be parlayed into even greater prosperity, status, alliances with television personalities.As Carole Middleton and the Emperor Napoleon have both demonstrated, dynasticism and social mobility can be a perfect fit. It is open to anyone, after all, to emulate the Middletons' hard work and establish a family line so powerful that even the least, most unprepossessing, of its connections – one thinks of Carole's brother, Gary Goldsmith, the master of la Maison de Bang Bang, or James, the son with a line in fancy cakes – will enjoy a level of public esteem that can be parlayed into even greater prosperity, status, alliances with television personalities.
The story of Pippa Middleton, in particular, shows family influence working to brilliant effect in modern Britain. Rather than mock her efforts, as some embittered journalists have done, for lacking even the faintest evidence of cooking or writing talent, hard-working parents might want to ask what they, too, can do to ensure that their children and extended family will be fawned over and rewarded by publishers, editors, the relics of once-powerful literary dynasties. "She's on tremendous form," William Sitwell, editor of Waitrose Kitchen, said recently.The story of Pippa Middleton, in particular, shows family influence working to brilliant effect in modern Britain. Rather than mock her efforts, as some embittered journalists have done, for lacking even the faintest evidence of cooking or writing talent, hard-working parents might want to ask what they, too, can do to ensure that their children and extended family will be fawned over and rewarded by publishers, editors, the relics of once-powerful literary dynasties. "She's on tremendous form," William Sitwell, editor of Waitrose Kitchen, said recently.
Is it essential to dynasty-creation, some will ask, to first procure a prince and marriage into a longer-established family? Not necessarily: insatiable interest in the issue of, say, Simon Cowell, Elton John, Philip Greene, the Beckhams, the most minor Kardashians, confirms that dynasticism has been thoroughly democratised, to the point that even progressive politicians now recognise the good sense, rather than the alleged unfairness, of favouring the children of well-established families.Is it essential to dynasty-creation, some will ask, to first procure a prince and marriage into a longer-established family? Not necessarily: insatiable interest in the issue of, say, Simon Cowell, Elton John, Philip Greene, the Beckhams, the most minor Kardashians, confirms that dynasticism has been thoroughly democratised, to the point that even progressive politicians now recognise the good sense, rather than the alleged unfairness, of favouring the children of well-established families.
As Labour campaigners put it in a 2008 byelection, in which the late Gwyneth Dunwoody was to be replaced by her daughter: "Tamsin Dunwoody will always stand up for you and your family, she's a Dunwoody after all." Admittedly, Crewe and Nantwich declined that offer, preferring "Tory boy" Edward Timpson, but lineage triumphed in Corby in 2012, when Andrew Sawford stood next door to Phil Sawford's old constituency in Kettering. "Like father, like son," declared the party website, in firm repudiation of Thomas Paine's observation that the idea of a hereditary legislator is as "absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet laureate". Will Straw's selection, from an all-male shortlist, as Labour's candidate in Rossendale and Darwen (bordering his father Jack's constituency, Blackburn) may also reassure any emergent progressive dynasties such as the Dromeys, Campbells, Blairs, Goulds and long-established Benns, who have been unsettled by Ed Miliband's averred commitment to "tackle" social mobility and its "evil twin", inequality.As Labour campaigners put it in a 2008 byelection, in which the late Gwyneth Dunwoody was to be replaced by her daughter: "Tamsin Dunwoody will always stand up for you and your family, she's a Dunwoody after all." Admittedly, Crewe and Nantwich declined that offer, preferring "Tory boy" Edward Timpson, but lineage triumphed in Corby in 2012, when Andrew Sawford stood next door to Phil Sawford's old constituency in Kettering. "Like father, like son," declared the party website, in firm repudiation of Thomas Paine's observation that the idea of a hereditary legislator is as "absurd as an hereditary mathematician, or an hereditary wise man; and as ridiculous as an hereditary poet laureate". Will Straw's selection, from an all-male shortlist, as Labour's candidate in Rossendale and Darwen (bordering his father Jack's constituency, Blackburn) may also reassure any emergent progressive dynasties such as the Dromeys, Campbells, Blairs, Goulds and long-established Benns, who have been unsettled by Ed Miliband's averred commitment to "tackle" social mobility and its "evil twin", inequality.
"We must both intensify and broaden our approach," Miliband has said , stressing the need to "open up the closed circles of the professions". Which could, conceivably, represent a threat to hereditary candidacies and family internships, and a party operation that has no problem with Alastair Campbell's son, Calum, finding a job with Harriet Harman, or with Campbell senior agitating for a safe seat for the daughter of his old friend Philip Gould, when she was 22. "Nothing," Paine wrote, "can present to our judgment, or to our imagination, a figure of greater absurdity, than that of seeing the government of a nation fall, as it frequently does, into the hands of a lad necessarily destitute of experience, and often little better than a fool. It is an insult to every man of years, of character, and of talents, in a country." Campbell called this attitude "the old fearing the young"."We must both intensify and broaden our approach," Miliband has said , stressing the need to "open up the closed circles of the professions". Which could, conceivably, represent a threat to hereditary candidacies and family internships, and a party operation that has no problem with Alastair Campbell's son, Calum, finding a job with Harriet Harman, or with Campbell senior agitating for a safe seat for the daughter of his old friend Philip Gould, when she was 22. "Nothing," Paine wrote, "can present to our judgment, or to our imagination, a figure of greater absurdity, than that of seeing the government of a nation fall, as it frequently does, into the hands of a lad necessarily destitute of experience, and often little better than a fool. It is an insult to every man of years, of character, and of talents, in a country." Campbell called this attitude "the old fearing the young".
Back in 2007, in a Washington Post piece that reproached Americans for considering Hillary Clinton an adequate presidential candidate, the British politics writer and CiF contributor Geoffrey Wheatcroft drew a contrast with local meritocratic strictures. "I doubt that Americans realise how extraordinary their country appears from the outside," he wrote. "In Europe, the supposed home of class privilege and heritable status, we have abandoned the hereditary principle (apart from the rather useful institution of constitutional monarchy), and the days are gone when Pitt the Elder was prime minister and then Pitt the Younger."Back in 2007, in a Washington Post piece that reproached Americans for considering Hillary Clinton an adequate presidential candidate, the British politics writer and CiF contributor Geoffrey Wheatcroft drew a contrast with local meritocratic strictures. "I doubt that Americans realise how extraordinary their country appears from the outside," he wrote. "In Europe, the supposed home of class privilege and heritable status, we have abandoned the hereditary principle (apart from the rather useful institution of constitutional monarchy), and the days are gone when Pitt the Elder was prime minister and then Pitt the Younger."
In Hull, certainly, Wheatcroft's point held good: Prescott the Elder failed, in 2008, to hand his constituency over, directly, to proud "Hull East lad", London-based Prescott the Younger. Again, in 2010, the lads met with resistance in the Weaver Vale, another area the junior politician had long cherished: "I have always seen it as my family home." It might be hasty, however, to see this as firm evidence of European family values: last week, David Prescott, describing himself as a "campaigner, complainer and game changer", announced a bid for Labour's candidacy in Greenwich and Woolwich, with pointed emphasis on his "real-life experience" and a promise, presumably to allay fears of his father's return from Hull, that he would never employ family members.In Hull, certainly, Wheatcroft's point held good: Prescott the Elder failed, in 2008, to hand his constituency over, directly, to proud "Hull East lad", London-based Prescott the Younger. Again, in 2010, the lads met with resistance in the Weaver Vale, another area the junior politician had long cherished: "I have always seen it as my family home." It might be hasty, however, to see this as firm evidence of European family values: last week, David Prescott, describing himself as a "campaigner, complainer and game changer", announced a bid for Labour's candidacy in Greenwich and Woolwich, with pointed emphasis on his "real-life experience" and a promise, presumably to allay fears of his father's return from Hull, that he would never employ family members.
Perhaps, at 43, Prescott should be forgiven his gene pool, although less so his advertised association with Alastair Campbell, in which he actually exercised free will. Unlike some of New Labour's younger hereditary politicians – such as Tony Benn's granddaughter Emily, who was adopted as a Labour candidate before she was eligible to vote, maybe as some sort of insult to the safe Tory seat of Worthing – there seems no reason, beyond Westminster's continuing problem with voter disaffection and the widespread hostility to wonks, why Prescott should not make himself useful.Perhaps, at 43, Prescott should be forgiven his gene pool, although less so his advertised association with Alastair Campbell, in which he actually exercised free will. Unlike some of New Labour's younger hereditary politicians – such as Tony Benn's granddaughter Emily, who was adopted as a Labour candidate before she was eligible to vote, maybe as some sort of insult to the safe Tory seat of Worthing – there seems no reason, beyond Westminster's continuing problem with voter disaffection and the widespread hostility to wonks, why Prescott should not make himself useful.
Similarly, Will Straw, 32, enjoys wide support for his work in political blogging – or private enterprise. In campaign mode, he has described his former role at Left Foot Forward as "running a small business". It could be that Rossendale and Darwen were right to ignore a recent comment from Ed Miliband, cautioning local parties not to pick people like himself. "Diversity really matters. Not just gender diversity, but let's get people from a whole different range of backgrounds."Similarly, Will Straw, 32, enjoys wide support for his work in political blogging – or private enterprise. In campaign mode, he has described his former role at Left Foot Forward as "running a small business". It could be that Rossendale and Darwen were right to ignore a recent comment from Ed Miliband, cautioning local parties not to pick people like himself. "Diversity really matters. Not just gender diversity, but let's get people from a whole different range of backgrounds."
But even if (as seems unlikely from many Labour activists' comments) the party's promotion of young dynastic candidates who have barely ventured outside London politics is compatible with diversity and a "future fair for all", their exceptional gifts must surely be weighed against the additional cost, for Miliband, of a bunch of names that continually invoke the ghosts of New Labour. All too often, as it is, these revenants will not shut up. How does fixing a replacement set of Straw/Blair/Prescott/ Campbell/Gould/Benn/Harman-Dromeys assist his attempts at reinvention?But even if (as seems unlikely from many Labour activists' comments) the party's promotion of young dynastic candidates who have barely ventured outside London politics is compatible with diversity and a "future fair for all", their exceptional gifts must surely be weighed against the additional cost, for Miliband, of a bunch of names that continually invoke the ghosts of New Labour. All too often, as it is, these revenants will not shut up. How does fixing a replacement set of Straw/Blair/Prescott/ Campbell/Gould/Benn/Harman-Dromeys assist his attempts at reinvention?
It's cruel, of course, that while nepotism flourishes in the private sphere, a promising PPE graduate might feel obliged, purely because of an accident of birth and the demands of political consistency, to defer the pursuit of power for a decade or two. Yet, for the impatient, there is a remedy. Dynastic power, unearned privilege and social immobility have made the Conservatives what they are today, with a leader whose interview in central office was preceded by a call from Buckingham Palace: "You are about to meet a truly remarkable young man." In the Tory chumocracy, Straw the Younger could express his belief that politics can make Britain a "fairer" place and no one would even laugh.It's cruel, of course, that while nepotism flourishes in the private sphere, a promising PPE graduate might feel obliged, purely because of an accident of birth and the demands of political consistency, to defer the pursuit of power for a decade or two. Yet, for the impatient, there is a remedy. Dynastic power, unearned privilege and social immobility have made the Conservatives what they are today, with a leader whose interview in central office was preceded by a call from Buckingham Palace: "You are about to meet a truly remarkable young man." In the Tory chumocracy, Straw the Younger could express his belief that politics can make Britain a "fairer" place and no one would even laugh.
Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.