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

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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. In addition, I do feel academia is taken far more seriously than Kuper’s descriptions of the 1980s – tutors are constantly pushing me to delve further into the topics at hand and to achieve the next grade. Oxford is not just seen as three or four years of fun, but particularly for working-class students like me as a beacon of social mobility and a way to progress onto the next stage of their lives. Maybe national and international league tables alongside an increasing focus on research funding can be held partly responsible for that, alongside a more competitive jobs market. Fascinating ... The picture Kuper draws is of a nation with a decadent and deeply unprofessional ruling class, a diagnosis with which it is impossible to disagree' 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. Shea, Christopher (16 February 2012). "The Bébé's Dad Speaks". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660 . Retrieved 1 July 2023.

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

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Chair

A very interesting, short summing up of the origins of and the road to Brexit as well as a sad one, when all is said and done, as the sunny uplands for the masses seem nowhere in sight, it's there for our chums, the rest don't matter. I’ve been meaning to read Chumsfor months; ever since its release, friend after friend recommended the book to me, one buying it for my birthday leaving the note, ‘Just to be clear, it’s not a “how to” guide’. Discover the fascinating history of the humble notebook, from the bustling markets of medieval Florence to the quiet studies of our greatest thinkers. This is the perfect read for stationery fans and history buffs alike! He says now: “My mother was so embarrassed because it made the New York Times. She said, ‘How dare you ask people those questions?’” But in fact, the sex was just a cover, says Luntz: “I knew it would be so controversial that no one would think, ‘Actually this was a poll done for a political campaign’.” He slipped in two questions about the union that were intended to identify which candidate Johnson should strike a deal with about trading second-preference votes.

Brexit, a conspiracy hatched by public schoolboys in 1980s

Interview, Oxstu Profile (5 June 2023). "In conversation with Simon Kuper". The Oxford Student . Retrieved 2 July 2023. And it's not as if politicians should ever be called to account for their lies ... anyway.. who was lying? It's just that facts are boring. 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? He started his FT career as a reporter. His assignments have often taken him beyond his base in Paris, providing coverage and analysis on global events from different parts of the world. It helped this new breed, Kuper argues, that at the union, they were often joking among themselves. The Oxford University Labour Club, high on Billy Bragg and miners’ solidarity marches, boycotted the debating chamber (one result, Kuper suggests, was that they “never learned to speak”). The political big beasts on the left in the second half of the 80s, in university terms, were the Miliband brothers, Dave and Ted, and Eddie Balls and Yvette Cooper, organising rent protests at their respective colleges. The young Keir Starmer, who did his undergraduate degree at Leeds, arrived in 1985 and made a stand about supporting the print workers at Wapping. Johnson could raise predictable guffaws in union debates when characterising socialist students as “retreating into their miserable dungareed caucuses”.His book The Football Men, which was published in 2011, offered a collection of articles about the world of football over a span of 13 years, along with new pieces written specifically for this book. The Independent wrote that "Simon Kuper is a refreshing antidote to the current media obsession with 'getting the nannies [nanny goats = quotes]', however banal, from players. He doesn't mince his words: talking of past greats, he dismisses Bobby Charlton as "a dullard", Michel Platini "a weak character" and Pele "a talking puppet." [28] I found this to be an interesting little book. It looks at the core of the Chumocracy - how the ruling caste went to school with each other, went to university with each other, married each other, and are sending their children on the same trajectory to perpetuate themselves. I think that I knew this already, but the book provides an interesting data point. Inbred self-confidence is, of course, what the likes of Johnson, Rees-Mogg (“the only undergraduate who went around in a double-breasted suit”), Rishi Sunak (Winchester) and David Cameron (whose “accent, confidence, height and pink rude health always screamed Eton”) have in spades. As do less recognisable but very influential players, like ardent Brexiteer Daniel (now Baron) Hannan, co-founder of the Vote Leave campaign. They’re gifted it by fairy godmothers, then have it nurtured at Eton/ Winchester/Charterhouse/Shrewsbury/wherever and honed at Oxford.