The Narrative

I’m not the first to suggest that the ‘narrative’ transcends partisan politics and that it comes to bear fruit when civilisations reach a point of relative comfort. An extremely prosperous nineteenth century Britain, for instance, had to show off its status to the rest of the world with excessive displays of morality and tolerance. In my humble opinion, multiculturalism, feminism, human rights, environmentalism and gay rights etc., are just part of the same legacy of status posturing.

The trouble is, the new ruling classes no longer have the accountability of past industrialists or land owners, they derive their income from an enlarged and activist state. Therefore the costs of their ‘superior acts of virtue’ are outsourced to the taxpayer and the privileging of one social group will often lead to the detriment of another.

The ‘chattering classes’ have little in common with the wider population and are generally insulated from those they lord over. Their positions are based on being members of a kind of hereditary network – not on merit or struggle alone. The old nobility had to mix with their ‘social inferiors’ on a daily basis, even as children.