The playing fields of Eton...
I have not previously thought much about Eton but all of a sudden I am beginning to worry about it. After all running a business, (sorry charity) where customers are almost literally queuing up to spend £30,000 a year on something that is available for free everywhere can’t be that hard.
But now the marketing has got more difficult; “Two of the last three Prime Ministers went to Eton and the other one was a girl”, has now become “David Cameron and Boris Johnson are our two most successful old boys.” This sudden concern for Eton was brought about by a comment on twitter that Boris Johnson only looked competent when he was up against David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn. Once he came up against anyone serious, competent and well educated, Keir Starmer perhaps or Michael Barnier; you see him for what he is.
Not only has marketing got slightly more difficult, surely this charity needs to spend far more on its character development programme? It will be hard work I am sure, but producing people who leave your charity and immediately join the Bullingdon Club is not really a mark of success. Producing people who rise effortlessly to the top despite never having had a real job or had to worry about money is certainly a sign that you can imbue confidence in rich young boys, but not much else.
Still effortlessly rising to the top is worth £30,000 a year to many parents, so Eton will flourish. Perhaps I should worry about other charities instead?
https://jonty.substack.com/