Family, class and identity
Apr 3, 2013 23:48:31 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2013 23:48:31 GMT -5
Good morning to you all! 'The Times' leads this morning with some editoral comment on family value. Before any lessons are drawn from the appalling case of Mick Philpott and his wife, Mairead, who have been found guilty of the manslaughter of their six children, their responsibility needs to be noted. It was not the stupidity of the welfare state that killed the Philpott children. Nor was it anything done, or not done, by the people who work for the social services department in Derby. The responsibility lies with the reckless, stupid, brutal Philpott and his suggestible wife. Now that his trial has concluded, we know that Philpott was a consistently violent man. 'The Thunderer' concludes that the Philpott case has shown that there should be no assumed right to have a large family funded by the State. 'The Times' also leads on class action: a new survey by the BBC aims to redefine the social strata of the nation. Due to unprecedented demand from around the world, here is the Alternative Great British Class Calculator for everyone reading 'The Third':
Meanwhile, 'The Guardian' leads with some editorial comment that social class is denied and despised: 'The Daily Mail' was laced with a strain of class hatred that might have shocked George Bernard Shaw. "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him," wrote George Bernard Shaw. During the century since, this country has perennially tried to kid itself that it has shaken off its old fixation with caste. The reassuring claim that we have banished it all to the past was aired on Radio 4 yesterday by rightwing policy wonk, Jill Kirby, who claimed that old divisions had so eroded over the last 20 to 30 years that "class is almost totally irrelevant in modern Britain".
Wednesday's 'Daily Mail', however, was laced with a strain of class hatred that might have shocked Shaw himself. Mick Philpott, the jobless Derby father who killed six of his children in a house fire, was denounced as a "Vile Product of Welfare UK" in the front-page headline that sat above reportage that simultaneously slighted the large family for having too much money and for being squalidly packed into a "cramped three-bedroom semi". Inside, Jesus biographer AN Wilson discerned a "parable for our age" and casually pronounced that young John, Jack, Jesse and the rest were "killed not only by their father but by the system" of benefits which is too indulgent of the poor, an argument that is of course the moral antithesis of his subject's parable of the vineyard workers. 'The Guardian' concludes thus:
I suppose that we could try eating asparagus, Sydney Grew!
1. You first came across asparagus . . .
(a) In your expensive, organic, holistic baby food
(b) When you stuck some in a vase and wondered why they didn’t sprout yellow flowers
(c) In the park, with the blackbirds, and my name’s not Gus
2. A kaftan is . . .
(a) £700, handmade, and what you sleep in
(b) A delightful sign of multicultural Britain
(c) The rash you get from using a deep fat fryer
3. Rugby is . . .
(a) Inferior to Eton, Harrow and Stowe
(b) Maybe from Turkey and probably like a carpet beetle or a clothes moth
(c) Cheating, unless you're a goalie
etc.
(a) In your expensive, organic, holistic baby food
(b) When you stuck some in a vase and wondered why they didn’t sprout yellow flowers
(c) In the park, with the blackbirds, and my name’s not Gus
2. A kaftan is . . .
(a) £700, handmade, and what you sleep in
(b) A delightful sign of multicultural Britain
(c) The rash you get from using a deep fat fryer
3. Rugby is . . .
(a) Inferior to Eton, Harrow and Stowe
(b) Maybe from Turkey and probably like a carpet beetle or a clothes moth
(c) Cheating, unless you're a goalie
etc.
Meanwhile, 'The Guardian' leads with some editorial comment that social class is denied and despised: 'The Daily Mail' was laced with a strain of class hatred that might have shocked George Bernard Shaw. "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him," wrote George Bernard Shaw. During the century since, this country has perennially tried to kid itself that it has shaken off its old fixation with caste. The reassuring claim that we have banished it all to the past was aired on Radio 4 yesterday by rightwing policy wonk, Jill Kirby, who claimed that old divisions had so eroded over the last 20 to 30 years that "class is almost totally irrelevant in modern Britain".
Wednesday's 'Daily Mail', however, was laced with a strain of class hatred that might have shocked Shaw himself. Mick Philpott, the jobless Derby father who killed six of his children in a house fire, was denounced as a "Vile Product of Welfare UK" in the front-page headline that sat above reportage that simultaneously slighted the large family for having too much money and for being squalidly packed into a "cramped three-bedroom semi". Inside, Jesus biographer AN Wilson discerned a "parable for our age" and casually pronounced that young John, Jack, Jesse and the rest were "killed not only by their father but by the system" of benefits which is too indulgent of the poor, an argument that is of course the moral antithesis of his subject's parable of the vineyard workers. 'The Guardian' concludes thus:
" ... The last quarter of the 20th century witnessed an explosion of economic inequality, and – while the long boom may have concealed them for a long time – the big bust is providing occasion for reckoning with the social effects. The US witnessed the same economic trends, and academics there are starting to trace the consequences for non-economic phenomenon such as family breakdown, reporting that even as America's ancient race cleavage heals, its class cleavage is deepening. In the UK, studies of health, education and social mobility have all been pointing towards the persistence of class-bound sclerosis. Now we have we learnt that one can reach the same conclusion even by crunching eccentric numbers on gym membership and Spanish holidays. So class undoubtedly remains with us. As we discuss what should be done about it, let us hope that we can find ways to discuss it without making some Englishmen despise others."
I suppose that we could try eating asparagus, Sydney Grew!