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Jan 15, 2025 | 
lrb.co.uk | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman |Jonathan Parry
When we think of the fashions of the 1890s, several objects come to mind: the tennis racquet, the golfing cap, the Daily Mail, a full-length Singer Sargent portrait, The Diary of a Nobody. In 1896, A. & C. Black purchased the rights to a dull annual almanac called Who’s Who and relaunched it the following year in a format designed to appeal to contemporary taste.
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Jan 7, 2025 | 
jacobin.com | Sam Friedman
Interview by Hugo de Camps Mora The term “elite” is used by the Left and Right to label vastly different groups of people. This liberal usage of the notion of an elite has given rise to some distorting ideas about politics and society.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
literaryreview.co.uk | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman
Our ruling class has lost its sprezzatura. To Baldassare Castiglione, who coined the word in 1528, this signified ‘the effortless resolution of all difficulties’. At Eton only a few decades ago, the watchword was ‘effortless superiority’. These days, however, it might as well be ‘effortful superiority’. More than ever, the British elite want to convince the proles that they are tireless workaholics. Equally, they want us to believe that they aren’t elite at all.
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Jul 12, 2024 | 
taipeitimes.com | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman
By Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman The UK will have a new Labour government whose class composition would be radically different from previous ones. About 46 percent of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s likely Cabinet members were raised by parents with “working class” occupations, Project Syndicate’s analysis of Labour’s shadow Cabinet showed.
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Jul 9, 2024 | 
almendron.com | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman
El Reino Unido va a tener un nuevo gobierno laborista, y su composición de clase será muy diferente a la de los anteriores. Según nuestro análisis del «gabinete en las sombras» laborista, un 46% de los probables ministros de Keir Starmer procede de hogares de clase trabajadora; cifra muy superior al promedio, en términos de la población trabajadora general, y en marcado contraste con el 7% de miembros del mismo origen presentes en el gabinete conservador saliente.
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Jul 7, 2024 | 
japantimes.co.jp | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman
The United Kingdom has a new Labour government whose class composition is radically different from previous ones. According to our analysis of what was the Labour Party’s shadow Cabinet, some 46% of the members selected by Keir Starmer, the new prime minister, were raised by parents with working class occupations. That figure is well above average in terms of the broader working population and it stands in stark contrast to the 7% of outgoing Conservative Cabinet members of working-class origin.
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Jul 6, 2024 | 
thedailystar.net | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman
The United Kingdom will have a new Labour government whose class composition will be radically different from previous ones. According to our analysis of Labour's shadow cabinet, some 46 percent of Keir Starmer's likely cabinet members were raised by parents with "working class" occupations. That figure is well above average in terms of the broader working population, and it stands in stark contrast to the 7 percent of outgoing Conservative cabinet members of working-class origin.
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Jul 3, 2024 | 
newstatesman.com | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman
The siege is finally over. Yesterday it was reported that Dame Judi Dench and Siân Phillips had become the first women to be admitted to private members’ club the Garrick, the culmination of a campaign sparked by a series of Guardian articles. Most commentators and many members have welcomed the move as long overdue and called for other male-only clubs such as White’s and Boodle’s to follow suit.
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Jun 7, 2024 | 
portside.org | Sam Friedman
Before the Gaza Genocide: Thoughts on Hersey’s the Wall Published June 7, 2024 By Sam FriedmanRelentless sun. Dust. Homeswithout water,without electricity,without walls. Before October, the Wall watched workless weeks,watched walkers seeking food,watched belts shrink inwardswhile children birthed in dirty ruinsgrew gaunt,birthed babies,died,while watched by the hungry eyes of well-fed sharpshootersseemingly safe beyond the Wall. Before the breakout. Before the Genocide.
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May 15, 2024 | 
waterstones.com | Aaron Reeves |Sam Friedman
A uniquely data-rich analysis of the British elite from the Victorian era to today: who gets in, how they get there, what they like and look like, where they go to school, and what politics they perpetuate. Think of the British elite and familiar caricatures spring to mind. But are today’s power brokers a conservative chumocracy, born to privilege and anointed at Eton and Oxford? Or is a new progressive elite emerging with different values and political instincts?
