Ignorant Labour MP Chris Bryant has recently been denouncing 'The Arts' as being elitist. He seems to think that you can only advance in either Theatre, Music, or Painting, if you have been to Eton and Oxford. What bloody TOSH.
Frankly I couldn't give a f*ck what school or university an actor or painter attended, even if I do prefer them to be able to speak clearly, and possess a reasonable standard of education. Personally, I would never watch EastEnders or Coronation Street simply because the extreme dumbing down makes me feel ill; apart from which the quality of both the storylines, and the acting, is atrocious.
I quite expect that David Hockney and Damien Hurst are amongst Britain's wealthiest artists. I may be wrong, but I don't think either of them are Old Etonians, nor have they ever set foot inside an Oxford college (other than to give lectures maybe).
What I think Bryant should be looking at is the very obvious, and disgraceful, class barrier in the UK's HIGHEST PAID PROFESSION; FOOTBALL.
Professional Footballers are paid ridiculous amounts of money (far more than those bankers who Bryant loves to hate), but I have yet to find an Old Etonian or Oxford graduate amongst them.
Are the privately educated excluded from Soccer? Is there an unwritten rule than no Football club should ever employ anyone with an Oxford degree? Is being able to conjugate Lūdere correctly, a No-No in 'the beautiful game'?
I think we should be told (maybe by Mr Bryant).
N.B. Before Rachel takes me to task; I am perfectly aware that the Wanderers (Forest Football Club, above) won the FA cup in 1871 and 72, the Old Etonians won in 1878 and 81, and the Old Carthusians won in 1880. But all that was about 140 years ago when Football was still 'a gentleman's game played by gentlemen'. Nowadays it seems as if 'gentlemen' are routinely banned. Maybe that's why they've all migrated towards 'The Arts' instead.
This is very funny. Very Victor Meldrew. I can almost here a resounding, "I don't BELIEVE it!"
ReplyDeleteI'm getting more like Meldrew by the day.
DeleteHow very true. I can't believe the huge amounts of money paid to "sportsmen".
ReplyDeleteForeigners buy football clubs for one reason only, to make money. Literally billions are poured into the game. The footballers re not to blame for what they are paid, it is supply and demand. As for the arts it has always been the same, who could ever afford the fees of The Royal Ballet School or RADA when I was a child, nobody I knew could but grammar schools produced great actors and artists.
ReplyDeleteThey could always say "No, just pay me £50,000; that'll be plenty thank you".
DeleteI wouldn't.
DeleteNor do any of the players.
DeleteI never turned down my annual bonus either even if it was obscene.
DeleteI quit the SE after my bonus. SPEND SPEND SPEND.
DeleteAn interesting take on it!
ReplyDeleteMaybe what Mr Bryant was trying to say was that you need about £250 to go to the opera and sit in the stalls?
ReplyDeleteI'm only acting as Devil's advocate here btw)
DeleteOnly footballers can afford that sort of money.
DeleteWhat a thought - an opera house full of footballers. How many holes does it take to fill the Albert Hall?
DeleteHoles or Goals?
DeleteAnd stockbrokers retired or otherwise.
DeleteHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLE!
DeleteLudos nonullos possum ludere, sed officia plora habeo primum agere.
ReplyDeleteThese days, work takes priority even over Ping Pong.
DeleteFootball seems to be exempt from a lot of criticisms levelled at other professional groups. I'm constantly hearing that those involved in the arts, or at a senior level in medicine or teaching, should be prepared to do what they do 'for love' rather than expecting nasty, distasteful money to spend on nasty distasteful bourgeois things (you know, like not starving or walking around with your arse hanging out of decrepit trousers).
ReplyDeleteNever seem to hear any serious suggestion being made that if a footballer wants to do what they do all the time, they should be willing to do it 'for love'.
I agree.
ReplyDeleteI am either an old innocent ora dimwit Cro - I never thought of their being class barriers (in either direction) in either sport or the arts.
ReplyDeleteTry explaining that to Mr Bryant!
DeleteSurely an artist is an artist is an artist, whether it is with his feet or with his hands or with his brain (or with all three). And of course for 'his' read 'hers' too.
ReplyDeleteOne would have thought so.
DeleteBALDERDASH to Bryant is wot I say.
ReplyDeleteSomeone on LBC Radio has just read out James Blunt's reply letter to Bryant. I've changed my mind about Blunt; he got it spot on!
ReplyDelete