During a rushed lunch I watched the news on Sky which included a discussion about the monarchy.
Polly Toynbee was saying that social mobility in the United Kingdom is held back by the symbolism of the monarchy.
No acknowledgement that Polly Toynbee only has a position as a commentator because she is her father's daughter, and grandfather's grand-daughter.
And how did she get into St Anne's College Oxford with only one A-level if the family name did not magically open doors?
Almost all the complaints about "undeserved" privilege Polly Toynbee makes about the Royal Family in her Guardian article today (which I have skim read on the web - I will read it more carefully tonight) could be made about the Toynbee family.
But double standards and double speak are not really the issue.
We are all human and we are all hypocrites because to be human includes being hypocritical to a greater or lesser extent.
To understand the hostility of the "left" towards the Royal Family we need to understand that socialism is a totalitarian system encompassing every single facet of life (cradle to grave). No institution, however popular, can survive socialist scrutiny unless it subscribes to socialist ideals. Therefore ultimately there is no place in socialism for monarchy, religion, private capital, private property, even distinction by merit or individual expression.
This is one of the great dividing lines in British politics - Socialism as a philosophical system depends entirely on logic; Conservatism and Liberalism both rely on common sense.
Therefore logic tells us an hereditary monarchy is indefensible whereas common sense tells us it works (and works superbly well).
That is why on the approach to the Jubilee holiday (2nd to 5th June) this blog is enthusiastically royalist, the Jubilee bells are metaphorically ringing, and the Jubilee beacons are being metaphorically lit up.
Polly Toynbee was saying that social mobility in the United Kingdom is held back by the symbolism of the monarchy.
No acknowledgement that Polly Toynbee only has a position as a commentator because she is her father's daughter, and grandfather's grand-daughter.
And how did she get into St Anne's College Oxford with only one A-level if the family name did not magically open doors?
Almost all the complaints about "undeserved" privilege Polly Toynbee makes about the Royal Family in her Guardian article today (which I have skim read on the web - I will read it more carefully tonight) could be made about the Toynbee family.
But double standards and double speak are not really the issue.
We are all human and we are all hypocrites because to be human includes being hypocritical to a greater or lesser extent.
To understand the hostility of the "left" towards the Royal Family we need to understand that socialism is a totalitarian system encompassing every single facet of life (cradle to grave). No institution, however popular, can survive socialist scrutiny unless it subscribes to socialist ideals. Therefore ultimately there is no place in socialism for monarchy, religion, private capital, private property, even distinction by merit or individual expression.
This is one of the great dividing lines in British politics - Socialism as a philosophical system depends entirely on logic; Conservatism and Liberalism both rely on common sense.
Therefore logic tells us an hereditary monarchy is indefensible whereas common sense tells us it works (and works superbly well).
That is why on the approach to the Jubilee holiday (2nd to 5th June) this blog is enthusiastically royalist, the Jubilee bells are metaphorically ringing, and the Jubilee beacons are being metaphorically lit up.
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