“Nick Clegg to send son to state school”, muttered the headline in the “most viewed” column on the BBC News website. This was a not-unpleasant surprise for me – for when a public figure says they are “considering” going private, it usually means the decision has already been made.
It is of course a relief that at least one politician will not go for full-fronted individualism and shamelessly buy into the notion that privilege in our society is bought. Not that privilege needs to be bought for the son of the deputy prime minister, who was himself educated at top private school Westminster. Not that the London Oratory is not a school filled with people whose parents have bought them privilege in another way.
But despite it being treated as the norm for public figures, I’ve found myself asking over and over again: what sort of society do we live in where selfishness can be considered honourable behaviour?
