Most western, iustrialized countries have particular academic institutions that produce a disproportionate number of influential people. But do youthink there is something exceptional about the phenomenon we have where your schooling and university education makes the act of governing seem like second nature or an inevitability? The two parts you'll question are: Do other countries also have their oxford? And the other is about the oxford union, which he is talking about there now.
Across Britain, it’s no secret that the people who make up the country's elected government have gone through the same familiar educational pipeline. Eton, Oxford, Westminster. Born into families of privilege, it’s unsurprising that these men, and it is largely men, have risen to the top in a country obsessed with social class. But while it’s clear how they got there, we should ask how does this affect the way that they run the country today? To help answer these questions and understand the tiny world of the uber elite, Simon Kuper, FT columnist and author of Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK, joins us on the podcast. Our host for this episode is Gabriel Pogrund, Whitehall Editor for The Sunday Times.
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