Boris

It probably rankled that Cameron did get a first.

Apparently he thought he should have a first as well!!!!
He was a member of the Bullingdon Club so maybe he was too busy drinking and vandalising things.

With that scholarship record he should have got a first, which suggests that without the discipline of school his innate buffoonery and wish to show off got in the way of his application. Then as Foreign Secretary he couldn't be bothered to read his briefs....

He won a scholarship to Eton and then one to Oxford. He graduated with a 2/1 so he can't be stupid.

How do we know he is very clever?

trisher

after all there must surely be some reason why an apparently very clever man just keeps on opening his mouth and putting his foot in it.
Either, as my mother would have said "he's too clever for his own good" or, as DH would say "suffers from verbal diarrhoea"
(sorry)

Need there be a reason? So ‘nature or nurture’

I don't think it's fair to dismiss possible abuse for Boris, after all there must surely be some reason why an apparently very clever man just keeps on opening his mouth and putting his foot in it. Of course it might be his early career in HIGNFY which convinced him everything he says is funny.

I would imagine the younger ones learn that their parents don't parent and the victim becomes the perpetrator.

Think we can dismiss fagging linked to abuse for Boris, ?

Not the abusive relationship that happened in the past, but it obviously still existed
fetching errands, polishing shoes, being at the beck and call of an older pupil - but not necessarily providing sexual favours we hope.

Does it do any harm? Do the younger ones learn that we have to work and life is not just handed to us on a silver plate, and that their turn for privileges will come?

There are some people who could be thought to exhibit behaviours that fit the criteria used to describe sociopathy, these include:

Being glib and superficially charming
Lack of empathy
Lack of remorse
Grandiose sense of self
Manipulative
Poor behavioural control
Impulsivity

Perhaps it's not their "fault". Maybe it's something in their background/schooling that has made them that way (though I don't think psychologists have been able to definitely and specifically attribute personality disorders to either nature or nurture). Personally, I don't think people with a fair proportion of these traits are the ideal people to be in positions of power, even if some people find them entertaining.

Forgot to do link!! www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7607920/General-Election-2010-Nick-Cleggs-fag-had-an-easy-ride.html

Interesting article about Louis Theroux being Nick Clegg's fag. Not the abusive relationship that hppened in the past, but it obviously still existed. Theroux is 48.

Yes, poor little boy

Published in 1857 and featuring the 1830s to 1840s.

Tom Brown !

Except that fagging ended decades ago, only occurred in a handlful of top schools so that anyone under 50, currently climbing the greasy pole probably never experienced it and the majority of boarding school never had the system anyway.

After reading trishers post on fagging, perhaps we should consider the possibility that Boris suffered abuse, may explain his eractic behaviour

Well recorded Churchill suffered much at school , he was damaged .

My Mum went out with the most lovely man who was kind, considerate and if he hadn't been the most boring man on the planet, he would have been perfect, I thought. He had the most lovely manners, had been to Public School, worked quite high up in the bank and was generous in spirit. You can imagine my shock when I asked him to sign a petition about domestic abuse (which I had actually suffered in my previous marriage) whereupon he smiled nervously, declined and said, "I'm sorry, I would but I don't believe it happens or the women wouldn't stay." I was speechless. He just had no idea and he rapidly fell in my estimation.
One thing I did think though, was that some of the stories I heard about the antics in and out of the fagging system was just how abusive it was but that he didn't seem to recognise it even when it was happening to him. It just makes me wonder how many of the people in power who boarded in Public School really have any concept about what constitutes abuse. To have their eyes opened would mean that they perhaps had been abused and it would diminish their sense of self.

Flashman

I relied on WIKI Jalima1108- but please note I did say "Could have"
Under school rules, fagging might entail harsh discipline and corporal punishment when those were standard practices. Fagging was sometimes associated with sexual abuse by those older boys.
The practice of personal fagging faded away during the 1970s and 1980s,
Boris is 53 so would have been there in the 70s before the practice disappeared.

Of course he could have been the one in charge at his school and the one forcing someone else to fag for him. (maybe that's why he doesn't want historic investigations.)

Do you understand the 'fagging' system trisher?
It may possibly and occasionally have meant sexual favours but generally did not.
I am not saying that this was right, btw.

Although, think Boris is crass and vulgar, I am going to say something in his favour, because even he has some redeeming features.

At one point he was MP for Henley and I was a volunteer Home Advisor for Age Concern (as was). I was trying to get someone's house insulated and draft proofed under some government scheme, that, as ever was badly run and incompetent. After three months of ringing them and hanging on for hours, emailing them, and getting only a standard acknowledgement , I finally asked the client if I could contact her MP (Boris). She agreed and I did, and within days the company was in touch and within three weeks the insulation was in. Even if he didn't do it himself directly, he had an extremeely efficient constituency office, who knew people would jump to, if his name was mentioend.

Cyril Smith was alive when the police investigated the allegations against him.

trisher read POGS post, some alledged cases listed there