Chums cover art

Chums

How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK

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Chums

By: Simon Kuper
Narrated by: Mark Elstob
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About this listen

A damning look at the university clique-turned-Commons majority that will blow the doors of Westminster wide open and change the way you look at our democracy forever.

Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Dominic Cummings, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Whitehall is swarming with old Oxonians. They debated each other in tutorials, ran against each other in student elections, and attended the same balls and black tie dinners. They aren't just colleagues—they are peers, rivals, friends. And, when they walked out of the world of student debates onto the national stage, they brought their university politics with them. Eleven of the fifteen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford. In Chums, Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of this narrowest of talent pools—and the friendships and worldviews it created—shaped modern Britain.

“A searing onslaught on the smirking Oxford insinuation that politics is all just a game. It isn't. It matters”—MATTHEW PARRIS

©2022 Simon Kuper (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd Corruption & Misconduct Politicians Politics & Activism Politics & Government Thought-Provoking Inspiring

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All stars
Most relevant
A really good listen that delves into the personal upbringing of so many of the current policitical class that passed through Oxford in the 1980s and 90s and how the experience shaped them.

Well narrated and really interesting. Highly recommend.

Astonishing

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What you have long suspected is expressed clearly and concisely in this book: how a tiny group of expensively educated Toffs hand power and privilege to each other, while essentially looking down on the rest of us. Wake up, Britain! Let’s not be taken in again at the next election. Get yourself informed and give your vote to someone ethically and morally superior, someone who genuinely cares about the people of this country. 😀

Uncomfortable truths ☺️

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Compelling. Insight into how appearance, behaviour and presentation skills can be more important than intelligence and hard work.

Interesting insightful

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Excellently written book in a semi serious tone;)
Virtually the disaster of Brexit has much to do with poor grasping of analytics by the elite Toffs with their sense and of entitlement. The Oxford union is a debating club mimicking the House of Commons. Kuper delivers us a selected history of Oxford university with focus on the continuing education of Etonians who are honed in debating skills but virtually no substance.
Mark Elstob does a fine job.

No wonder Britain is in such a downward spiral.

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Makes you think about the people you could potentially be voting for. Well worth a listen.

Excellent

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