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Corbyn / BBC declare social class of employees?

(509 Posts)
POGS Thu 23-Aug-18 00:23:58

It is said Corbyn will today (Thursday) announce how Labour will reform the BBC. If this turns out to be false news then I apologise now.

It is being discussed in the media how one of his /Labours ideas is for the BBC to declare the ' Social Class ' of employees.

If this is even a thought I find that principal very alarming and if true I expect the Labour Party to lead by example and do the same for all employees including the Shadow Cabinet and all MP's.

How do you work out a persons Social Class? By Wealth, Education, Family background?

I would tell somebody requiring that of me to ' Go Forth'.

Elegran Sat 25-Aug-18 19:38:03

POGS the latin word "nepos" means a nephew. A lot of the "nephews" of outwardly celibate and childless mediaeval popes owed the meteoric rise in their careers to the influence of their "uncles" so the meaning of nepotism widened to include other relationships (particularly father/son ones but also family generally)

Elegran Sat 25-Aug-18 19:32:53

Miners contributing to lawmaking:-

Mick Welsh obituary - Miner and politician who fought for greater safety in Britain's pits

Ian Lavery " a leading voice on the Left of the Labour Party,"

Dennis Edward Skinner Chairman of the Labour Party for one year from 1988–89 "and served as a member of Labour's National Executive Committee, with brief breaks, for thirty years. He is known for his left-wing views and is considered by some to have an acerbic wit. He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs."

Geoffrey Lofthouse began as a miner, climbed the political ladder as an NUM official and also became a colliery manager. "He served eventfully in local government before being elected to Parliament. Possibly Lofthouse's great achievement was, appropriately, for workers in the coal industry when he eventually secured a compensation scheme for miners affected by industrial disease."

Jim Hood started his career as a mining engineer

Harry Harpham a coal miner at Clipstone Colliery, in Nottinghamshire

Albert Stanley first worked at Stirchley Coal and Iron Company Colliery alongside his father, After being seriously injured in a mine accident when he was nineteen, Albert gave up his work as a miner and a year later in 1884, he was elected agent for the Cannock miners.

Jennie Lee from coalminer's daughter to trailblazing MP

Sir David Hamilton worked as a miner at Monktonhall Colliery for nearly 20 years

Found in seven pages of Google search for "miner MP" Many (but not all) of these names were unfamiliar to me, all I know about those is what I have copied hastily here on reading that miners do not make laws. I have included links for anyone who wishes to read more.

POGS Sat 25-Aug-18 19:31:42

Hmmm

Interesting Elegran

I thought it depends on whether you take the meaning from The Tirukkural which if I am not mistaken does not say 'nephews' but related to the wider ' friends and family ' as we think of it now. Or later in history from the middle ages and the Catholic practice of nepotism which was related to nephews.

Or am I muddle up?

Elegran Sat 25-Aug-18 19:01:38

Ahemmmm - the literal meaning of nepotisn is "nephewism".

POGS Sat 25-Aug-18 18:33:31

trisher do you have an answer?

" Jon Snow is not ' the daddy ' of Dan Snow so why do you accuse him of nepotism. What information do you have to accuse him of nepotism?"

Do you have any information to substantiate your accusation of nepotism?
----
trisher Sat 25-Aug-18 14:29:23.

" Except no farmer or miner ever changed a law or told others how to live."

What century do you come from? You have obviously little knowledge of the background of many MP's on either side of political divide.


Have you never heard of Patrick McLoughlin,

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 17:29:29

Like your post Elegran

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 17:29:01

Trisher, there never will be , I don’t mean we shouldn’t want the best for every child , the child of a doctor will have more financial support than the child of a labourer . But they can all be given encouragement to have goals to work to/for , not this ‘life isn’t fair’ and ‘you will never achieve what you hope for because of who you are’

Elegran Sat 25-Aug-18 17:09:12

On an even playing field, no-one would know what anyone's "class" was, or whether their grandfather was called Scargill (add 5 points) or Westminster (deduct 10 points) or even Windsor (get out the tar and feathers).

trisher Sat 25-Aug-18 17:03:00

Jalima more up to date info on Dumfries The Academy has been a six-year comprehensive school since July 1985 serving part of the Burgh of Dumfries and surrounding rural communities, with an average roll of over 600 pupils and around 50 teaching staff. Students are placed into one of three houses in their first year; Barrie, Haining and Laurie
So yes its Alumni are great and a real example of the best of the comprehensive system..

Annie no chip I simply like to see an even playing field.

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 16:39:59

If I could be bothered I would look up the beeb presenters and correspondents to see if they all went to oxbridge , waste of time, not all did. Corbyn is playing the ‘class’ card.

M0nica Sat 25-Aug-18 16:10:21

I thought companies, including BBC had been stripping peoples, names, dates of birth, genders and places of education out of their cvs before they were assessed as to whether they were suitable for a job and would be called into interview.

Surely this is the way forward, not positive discrimination, not negative discrimination, but people judged on their cv alone.

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 15:18:36

Yes Jaycee, but they are not the majority , 650 MP’s are not descendants of politicians

Jaycee5 Sat 25-Aug-18 14:58:03

Anniebach Are you joking when you say that there is not much nepotism in politics? I'm afraid I don't get the joke.
My own MP is Nick Hunt, third generation Tory Minister. Too lacking in talent to be anything other than a junior minister but always offered at least that because of his background.
It isn't just amongst MPs, although it is pretty bad there, staff, councillors, etc. all contain a good number of dynastic people. Of course there are reasons that people follow a family trade and people should not be excluded because of what their parent did, but there should not be shortcuts either.

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 14:53:37

Trisher, it is natural to mix in the circles you grow up in, and often marry within that circle ,

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 14:42:28

Trisher, you really do seem to have a chip on your shoulder . Has every one involved in law been to oxbridge ?

I think Corbyn is belittling the many who live in streets not mansions, go to university but not oxbridge

Jalima1108 Sat 25-Aug-18 14:41:12

I knew about the connections between the Callaghans, the Jays and the Bottomleys.

Virginia Bottomley is also a cousin of Tristram Hunt, the ex Labour MP I think.

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 14:37:15

Quite probably so janeainsworth. Such a pity this class thing and oxbridge has been dragged up again.

Gordon Brown didn’t let ‘class’ bother him, not from a wealthy family, went to a Scottish university , same with Neil Kinnock, went to a Welsh university .

Attention is drawn to those who went to oxbridge

Jalima1108 Sat 25-Aug-18 14:36:51

I have to admit to being To the Manor Born
sluttygran - I'm practising my curtsey

I think I posted on another thread that I was told it's not what you know, it's who you know - that is small town 'politics' too.

Neil Oliver attended Dumfries Academy
The Academy operated as a grammar school for those in Dumfries deemed academically gifted as based on exam results until July 1983. The most gifted students from three surrounding secondary schools transferred to the Academy after second year. As a result, Dumfries Academy had the highest rate of university entrance of any state school for many years

It produced many other famous alumni.

trisher Sat 25-Aug-18 14:29:23

Except no farmer or miner ever changed a law or told others how to live.

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 14:25:15

No different to generations of farmers and coal miners trisha

janeainsworth Sat 25-Aug-18 14:24:44

Perhaps one problem of repeated assertions and claims that public-school educated, Oxbridge graduates get the best jobs in politics and journalism is that state school pupils then start to believe they will be discriminated against and their self-belief is diminished.
They then don’t bother applying, or if they do, appear less confident at interview and don’t get the job.
So the situation is perpetuated.

trisher Sat 25-Aug-18 14:21:02

This is so interesting. I never knew half the family connections- the Callaghans and the Jays for example. Do look en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_families_in_the_United_Kingdom

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 13:57:51

There isn’t much nepotism in politics Jaycee

Jaycee5 Sat 25-Aug-18 13:47:31

There is too much nepotism which is part of the same problem, both in politics and journalism. I have always thought that MPs should follow the same rules that Councils have to when employing staff. That would stop them both employing relatives or employing each other's relatives unless they can prove that they are the best person for the job which, in most cases, would be difficult.
The fact that someone themselves went to private school does not mean that they cannot see the problem that too many people like themselves in a field can cause.

Anniebach Sat 25-Aug-18 13:46:29

And does Dan Snow influence your thinking Trisher ?

So elite now means high salaries ?

TV journalists influence your thinking, not mine