Quote of the day

From Gordon Brown, aka the man with the tin ear, writing in The Guardian (here):

"Our values demand a genuine meritocracy for all British people ..."

Of course, the original definition of a meritocracy (see Michael Young) was of a political system whereby certain groups in society maintained strict control over access to the means (notably education) by which merit might be secured, thus enabling the creation of a self-perpetuating elite and condemning the masses to be forever second-class citizens. But I don't suppose that this is what Mr Brown means by the term; at least, I don't think so ...

I do sometimes wish that Labour politicians were more conscious of political history, particularly Labour political history. If they were, they might be more careful in their use of language.