TOP 100 ENGLAND SITES
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| John Denham: class as well as race holds people back Communities Secretary denies racism has "dropped down agenda". telegraph.co.uk |
Appeal for new foster parents after surge in care proceedings A leading charity has issued an urgent appeal for new foster carers to help cope with the surge of children being taken into care since the Baby P tragedy. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
In Europe, the Arts Ask for Alms Many cultural institutions in Europe, long funded primarily by governments, are moving toward a more American style of private philanthropy. nytimes.com |
TalkTalk 'would fight Digital Economy Bill in court' Charles Dunstone, the chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, has said he could be prepared to fight the Government in court should the anti-piracy clauses of the Digital Economy Bill become legislation. telegraph.co.uk |
Tories are still the party of privilege | Mike Ion Health and education inequalities will only get uglier under Cameron – this is the message Labour must get acrossThe rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This is the conclusion of the National Equality Panel whose report, published today, highlights the "deep-seated and systemic differences" that exist in Britain. According to yesterday's Guardian poll the Tories are losing the "battle" over class.Apparently over a third of voters see the Conservatives as the party of the upper classes. So what. Does class matter any more? Can it really influence the way people vote? The simple answer to both questions is yes. Whether we like it or not, class still matters in this country and could well influence the outcome of the forthcoming election.Back in 2008 Labour's shambolic "Tory toff" campaign prompted a plethora of articles and comment about whether class was still a major issue in British politics. The truth is that Britain remains a nation that is still dominated by class division. In 2007 in an ICM poll ICM poll for the Guardian, 89% of those surveyed thought that people are still judged by their class – with almost half saying that it still counts for "a lot". Over 50% of people said that class, not ability, greatly affects the way they are seen.Despite more than a decade of Labour in power, social mobility in Britain has decreased; in fact the British middle classes are operating what is, in effect, a closed shop. For example our top universities are still, in the main, the preserve of a rich, well-connected elite. You may well remember the furore a few years ago when Bristol University was accused of gross discrimination and unfairness — spurred on by several influential columnists and leader writers — for introducing a "fairer" criterion for admissions that would benefit pupils from poorer backgrounds.Often the real reasons why many left-leaning journalists and politicians end up sending their sons and daughters to fee-paying schools are based not on the raw results of the local state schools, but on a desire to ensure that their children have access to what the local comprehensive cannot provide: privilege, advantage and the opportunity to network. British public schools have always been a production line of the class system. They employ some of the best-qualified teachers, can raise their fees steadily, select their pupils, enjoy a growing endowment income from their benefactors, and offer some of the most impressive sporting and extracurricular activities in the country.What's more, they now recruit from a middle class obsessed by perceived educational and social advantage: parents who become part of the problem, rather than seek to be part of the solution. I often hear some of my friends and "comrades" attempting to ease their consciences by announcing that the local comprehensive is simply not good enough and they have to go private in the name of parental responsibility.Sometimes I cannot help but feel that the perpetuation of class divisions in Britain really is part of a liberal conspiracy. It seems clear to me that those who do have influence in our society have such a high stake in the current order that they will seek to mobilise and organise in order to protect it. It must surely be true, for example, that when middle-class parents abandon the state sector in favour of the private, it is conservative and not progressive politics that triumphs.Suspicion of the wealthy, the privileged and of the upper classes is hardwired into the DNA of those who espouse left-leaning ideas and policies. Why? Because most believe that the inevitable consequence of a politics that espouses equity and fairness is that it will give comfort to the afflicted and end up afflicting the comfortable. For example the majority of ordinary people watch in disbelief when bankers attempt to paint themselves as noble and public spirited by limiting their annual bonus to "only" a million pounds.What people want, demand almost, is that the super-rich should pay more, and that those that got us into this mess should shoulder the responsibility for getting us out of it. The subtext behind the polling is that many people associate class with wealth and see the Tories as the party of the rich, the party that will help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.In the coming months Labour will seek to portray the Tories as the party of the elite, a party that is out of touch with High Street Britain, out of touch with the needs and aspirations of hard-working families on low or moderate incomes. The Tories, committed as they are to deep cuts in public spending, would, if elected, increase the gap between rich and poor even further. If Labour is to achieve a fourth term then its best prospects lie not in appealing to what it has done, not in defending the status quo but rather in campaigning against the ugly realities of health and education inequalities and showing why these warrant further state action.EqualityHealthConservativesLabourGeneral election 2010SchoolsPrivate schoolsMike Ionguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |