There’s a little story that’s been bubbling away on the periphery of the news over that past couple of days and Charles Clarke, our Education Secretary has picked up on it. Today, on the BBC, he accuses the Prince of Wales of being out of step with the modern world.
Now the cynic in me is tempted to come out with a facetious remark such as "Well, there’s a newsflash." But I won’t…
You see, there’s an underlying irony here and it’s worth considering for a moment. It seems that one of Prince Charles’ erstwhile members of staff, a Miss Elaine Day, suggested changes in the household promotion policy. This was rejected by the Prince in a memo in which he criticized the learning culture in schools that encourages ambition beyond capability. Whether that is actually true or not, I really cannot say – I left school some 30 years ago and things have changed since then. But from someone who achieved his position through accident of birth rather than hard work, ability and application this is a bit rich. To compound matters, the Windsor family are not exactly the sharpest tools in the box. No, this is someone with an Edwardian mentality trying to impose his outdated ideas onto the proles who really should know their station in life.
Yup, it really is about time we had a head of state decided upon ability not DNA.
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