Stiff Upper Lip cover art

Stiff Upper Lip

Secrets, Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class

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Stiff Upper Lip

By: Alex Renton
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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About this listen

This is the story of generations of parents, Britain's richest and grandest, who believed that being miserable at school was necessary to make a good and successful citizen. Childish suffering was a price they accepted for the preservation of their class and their entitlement. The children who were moulded by this misery and abuse went on - as they still do - to run Britain's public institutions and private companies.

Confronting the truth of his own schooldays and the crimes he witnessed, Alex Renton has revealed a much bigger story. It is of a profound malaise in the British elite, shown up by tolerance of the abuse of its own children that amounts to collusion. This culture and its traditions, and the hypocrisy, cronyism and conspiracy that underpin them, are key to any explanation of the scandals over sexual abuse, violence and cover-up in child care institutions that are now shocking the nation. As Renton shows, complicity in this is the bleak secret at the heart of today's British elite.

Read by David Thorpe.

©2017 Alex Renton (P)2017 Orion Publishing Group Corruption & Misconduct Education Europe Great Britain Politics & Government Social Sciences England

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All stars
Most relevant
It makes you realise that maybe by and large you got off lightly, other than a temporary loss of individuality & boredom. The long term effects are more emotionally nuanced...

Harrowing

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Got this in an attempt to get a grasp of our ruling class. I enjoyed listening to it, it was fascinating to hear about how 'they' think and learn about the culture of the boarding system, however, there are a lot of difficult parts. Difficult in the sense of emotional as childhood traumas are relayed, ie. physical and sexual abuse and there's even a transcript of a conversation with a paedophile.

In all though, I enjoyed the book.

A Peak into the Minds of our Ruling Class

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This book almost made me feel sorry for the likes of Boris Johnson, and explains a lot about the fracturing of personality that can occur in order to normalise a culture of abuse. So much to unpack in this book. And so much work to do with regards to attitudes to children

Devastating

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Lifting the lid on what the British elites, and those who ape them, do to their children.

Firstly I admire the bravery of the author, for standing up to a system that privilaged him but damaged him.

The book was quite distressing to read and revealed how psychologically dysfunctional and abusive being raised in an institution from a very young age rather than at home can be.

It's an abusive practise but I think the motive is simply to be part of a superior class, and those who attend often identify with their school more than who their mother was for the rest of their lives. It engenders an obsession with class and maintains a Victorian class system in the UK that I don't think is useful in the modern world.

There is a solution to all of this, get rid of the schools, or have a minimum boarding age, say 15. Though it'll never happen, the privilage offered and brain washing is too great. If you are a parent reading this, I'd say to you class and all its trappings matter less than being a good parent, raise your children yourself, it's what the rest of the world does.

I have a young child and I cook with him, play with him and hug him every day, I tell him stories and instill good values in him and I will do so until he is an adult. That's what normal is and it is what children need and want.

One of the world's most bizarre cultural practices

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An excellent, fascinating book. Let’s hope it helps to unravel and demystify the facade that ruined so many lives.

Excellent

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