Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

I think you'll find that Osborn was given a Demyship to attend Magdalen College, Oxford University.

His 2:1 was in Modern History, and his aspirations have always been in Journalism... Just the guy for Chancellor I reckon.... lol...

Quote:

A demyship is historically a form of scholarship at Magdalen College, Oxford. Oscar Wilde, Lewis Gielgud, Lord Denning, and T. E. Lawrence were famous recipients. It is derived from demi-socii or half-fellows (being historically entitled to half the allowance awarded to Fellows). Recipients (known as demies, pronounced to rhyme with "surmise") are still admitted to the College's Foundation (in increased numbers, following recent changes to the system of scholarships) and are entitled to attend certain ceremonies and dinners. Recent demies include the historian Niall Ferguson, Kenneth Tynan and George Osborne.

When the College of St Mary Magdalen was founded in the reign of King Henry VI by William of Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, the Founder ordained that in addition to forty senior scholars, or Fellows, there should be thirty poor scholars, commonly called Demies, of good morals and dispositions fully equipped for study. (Compare "postmasters" at Merton College, Oxford).

Hmmm?

So is this an implication that George Osborne actually came from a poor family?

If so, that and his membership of the 'elite' Bullingdon Club don't seem to equate.

Obviously, a demyship scholarship would have saved half of his fees but, if he came from an affluent family, why would he need to take it up?

Aha! Got it! The answer is just plain good old financial common sense.

Hey! We have got ourselves a Chancellor with financial common sense! Yes?

The poor ones turned into the Labour party.

Osborne is heir apparent to the Irish Baronetcy. He is descended from aristocracy.

some of you peasants really should ditch the chips - nay, logs - you carry on your shoulders
you might then find you can look and aspire upwards instead of preaching a mantra of falsely based and unwarranted jealousy and attaching tosh

Doc,

It's not related to means. They're awarded after the first year exams to the best performing students, based on performance in those exams (ie. you need to get a first).

I don't know how much Magdalen demyships are worth, but it's probably only £100 or £200. My son's scholarship paid something like £100, half of which went on the special gown that he was then entitled to wear. The idea is that it's a little extra which is intended to help you do well in your finals, based upon the early promise that you've shown. It's certainly not going to fund your passage through a 3 or 4 year course.

The point is that Osborne would have only been awarded his demyship for academic excellence, and not for anything else.

hilary (aka ermintrude) - see above

Hilary,

Many of my school friends went to Oxford and Cambridge etc..

Looking back and talking to others the intensity of academic teaching at the school I attended was far greater than the majority of other schools.

One of my grandchildren attends one of the better schools in London and again the intensity of teaching, facilities and out of hour "societies", groups are "superior", to what I would think sourceable for the majority of the country. He is very happy with the intensity, but he is advantaged now as probably he will be in future.

It seems to me a hothouse has advantages and disadvantages in that it spurts growth by its advantages and may offer protection against the outside environment, but has disadvantages when planted in the outside environment without necessary preparation and “conditioning”.

=-=-=-=-=

(Although I like Shirley Williams and understand what her “intentions” were when “Comprehensive Education” was pushed through, I think the preparation necessary for an effective system were not in place and cause of much of the failings in “school” education. (Revolution instead of evolution.)

Concentration should have been on raising standards of “Secondary schools” up to those of “Grammar schools”, with the gradual introduction of purposely built and organised comprehensive "buildings" suitable for the intended education.

See what above, Cyners?

Yeah right, course he was awarded it for academic excellence... lol

as for Poor? He’s the millionaire son of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet, who co-founded the firm of fabric and wallpapers designers Osborne & Little.

Concentration should have been on raising standards of “Secondary schools” up to those of “Grammar schools”

quite right fred, but of course it wasn't by ANY of those in power
instead, we have seen a steady dumbing down in all sorts of ways, accompanied by a widespread parental denial of responsibility - not so much among the asian and some of the other immigrant communities it must be said

=======

54914 hilary :-)

Hmmm? That MeetInvest site above has some pretty good investment tools.

Goldfinger: You might just like to take a look at some of them.

The point the toffs are missing here is that opportunities are opened up for the likes of Osbourne Camoron etc, no matter what exams or colleges they have attended.

Neither of them have ever filled in an application form or had to compose a CV (osbourne admits this) and its just DADDY who gets them a position with a fellow purple nosed boozer from the Bullingdon Club or the like.

Its very much like arranged marriages.

On the other hand the working classes have to go through inferior schools and work harder to get there places at Oxford or Cambridge colleges and then have £50 grand to pay off before even applying for a mortgage and have to tottle off down the Job Centre and all the hardship and stress that involves.

They dont walk into jobs/positions they have to fight against hundreds of others who are queing up for the same job.

Why on earth anybody votes for posh snob boys who have been given all these privileges is beyond me. They certainly have nothing in common with 95% of the population.

You could say that about the labour party gf, full of toffs.

GF,

Once again agreed!

Very Small % of what the Tories have Im afraid Max.

Exec........meetinvest where????????????

I'd say it about all parties! Most politicians aren't cut out for anything more than debating... Osborne should have been a journalist, no doubt he'd have shone far brighter if The Times had of accepted him... Just seams that all these politicians fall into politics once they fail at what they really wanted to do, its as though publicly running the country has become the career safety net of the privileged.

The biggest problem in the UK is that there is too much of a (legalised mafia) of a sort in politics, journalism and with royalty and with a few other privileged sections of the community ; they are all much too content to carry on running the country as it is with nobody stepping out of line and rocking the boat a little : the way we are governed suits everybody within this circle.