JOINT honours as my pick of the week go to two of TCW’s longest-standing and most erudite writers, Chris McGovern and Paul T Horgan.
In his post on the devaluation of university degrees, Chris takes When Money Dies, a book by Adam Fergusson published in 1975 about the ruinous impact that out-of-control public spending can have on an economy, as his metaphor for the current state of British education. He writes:
‘The book’s underlying message concerns us all – successful economies can be built only on sound currencies.The same is true of education. The sound currency on which schools and universities build their credibility is, fundamentally, examinations. When this credibility collapses so, too, does confidence in education.’
You can read the rest of his elegant argument here.
Paul responded to my plea to subject the Boris Johnson/Winston Churchill resemblance asserted by the Telegraph’s Tim Stanley to proper scrutiny. He did so, concisely, clearly and factually, showing that such judgement is not just ill-founded – Boris, beyond the superficial, does not stand up well to blow-by-blow career or courage comparison – but premature.
It was sheer joy to read, and awash with both facts and wonderful lines:
Churchill’s Britain was for the most part united in war against Germany. Boris’s Britain is at war with itself.
Boris has written a book about Churchill. Churchill, no longer being with us, has not returned the compliment.
While Boris is no Churchill, and Brexit is no Dunkirk, there is still a Battle of Britain in progress.
Do read it yourself if you have not yet done so.
