MATTHEW HAWKINS applauds a psychotherapist’s disection of William Blake
The fatal continuity of the British ruling class
WILL PODMORE is intrigued by a study the British ruling class that follows statistical analysis with totally inadequate proposals for change
GROOMED TO RULE: Eton College pupils taking part in the ‘Procession of Boats’ on the River Thames during 4th of June celebrations in 1932
[Bundesarchiv/CC] 
New releases from Christina Alden and Alex Patterson, Odette Michell, Clementine Lovell
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet
GORDON PARSONS acknowledges the authority with which Sarah Kane’s theatrical justification for suicide has resonance today
RON JACOBS welcomes a timely homage to one of the IWW and CPUSA’s most effective orators
Born to rule: the making and remaking of the British elite
Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman, Harvard UP, £20
THIS study of Britain’s ruling class is based on an analysis of the 125,000 entrants in Who’s Who since 1897. The two authors, professors of sociology at Oxford and the LSE, ask, “Who really rules Britain today? Unsurprisingly, the answer is a very small number – about 6,000 individuals... 0.01 percent of the UK population.” This is the real ruling class.
Within the wider British elite of some 33,000 people sits a wealth elite of around 6,000 people. The wealth elite are in Who’s Who, and they are also in the top 1 per cent of the national wealth distribution. They are 20 times more likely to reach the ruling class than other people.
The authors examine how the propulsive power of family wealth, elite private schools, and Oxbridge ensures that those born into the top 1 per cent are still just as likely to get into that tiny group today as they were 125 years ago: “The main picture our results paint, spanning 125 years of elite recruitment, is one of powerful continuity.”
More from this author
WILL PODMORE peruses a new history of the opening weeks of conflict between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia
WILL PODMORE recommends an excellent and useful introduction to a lesser-known giant of the scientific revolution in Britain
WILL PODMORE is enthralled by the convincing case that guilds of Islamic craftsmen were responsible for the European gothic style
WILL PODMORE welcomes a demonstration of the incomparable virtues of rail travel, and the political obstacles to realising its potential
