Aeron Davis has drawn on numerous interviews and written sources to construct a considered and original take on Britain’s (or, really, England’s) modern day movers and shakers. His argument, in a nutshell, is that the rise of both neoliberalism and irresponsible self-interest has resulted in a weakening of the traditional establishment as a new elite of reckless opportunists has taken centre stage. He illustrates this theme with detail drawn from just five areas of what might be called public life – big business, the top of the civil service, finance, the media and, of course, politics – but he is not overly constrained by this and ranges pretty widely over society in general, from Eton to Grenfell. In each of these sectors, he suggests, the old order is increasingly being displaced by an even more destructive and more disparate crew of internationally based, highly mobile and self-serving operators who are only in it for the short term, who are quick to salt away their overblown and undeserved bonuses (often offshore) and who have a diminished sense of public service. (I particularly enjoyed him quoting George Orwell – in “England Your England” from 1941 – on the old establishment: “One thing that has always shown that the English ruling class are morally fairly sound, is that in time of war they are ready enough to get themselves killed.”) As such, his analysis includes a significant focus on leadership, emphasising the decline of expertise in everything except the task of climbing to the top and flitting rapidly between roles before being found out by their own failings. The result, of course, is a race to the bottom in terms of standards in each of the five areas on which he focuses and, as he puts it, the “…that erosion of the public base also means the disestablishment of those same institutions through which elite power is wielded.” If nothing else, then, this should make the book required reading for those about whom he is writing.
If the “systems and principles for reigning in the elite” in his final chapter seem a little lightweight, this isn’t to decry what is a perceptive, prescient and subtle examination of a society which, even more than usual, is set up for “the exploitation and oppression of the majority through systems of political force dictated by an elite, enforced by thugs, uniformed or not, and upheld by a wilful ignorance and stupidity on the part of the majority whom the system oppresses.” *
*Richard Morgan, discussing his brilliant, dystopian novel, Altered Carbon in 2002.
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Top reviews from other countries
Chris H
Great cover, great title, great book!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2018GrahamM5
The baleful influence of public schools, good for the 7 percent.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 2, 2019Margarethe
The apogee of the posh boys
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2022Mike S
Interesting, not Enlightening.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2018