The new Archbishop of Canterbury went to Eton...

[JustGiveMeFiveMinutes]

...so did the PM, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Mayor of London and Prince William, our future King.

I'm not sure this is a particularly healthy state of affairs...

Why should we be prejudiced against him just because he went to Eton?

Frankly I want the people in positions of power and influence to have had a good education.

Justin Welby intrigues me. Rowan Williams had a vast opinion of himself from what I can see. Welby seems to be cut of slightly different cloth, but his actions will tell.

I wouldn't want his job for all the world though, he is potentially going to be damned whatever he does with regard to women bishops and gay marriage.

Domjolly are you aware there was a general election in 2010 and your information is three years out of date?

Forgive me if I fail to consider you a first-class political pundit.

No, I'm not saying that. It grinds my gears to see people post "sure what do they know, bunch of Etonian knobs, never done a hard day's work in their life" etc. when complaining about the present government. Because the educational background of much of the party they often put forward as more "representative", ie. Labour, is broadly the same as the Conservative Party. It's a lazy argument.

I'd hardly call Westminster and Fettes minor public schools.

All this I inverted snobbery and politics of envy will do us no favours in the long run . We need to let go of all of these things and judge Justin Welby on his merits , he seems a very interesting choice but I don't envy him .

Margaret Thatcher purged her Cabinet of people who weren't like her. I don't like people with the idea of noblesse oblige. But I didn't like Tebbit either.

People in the current government, from poshos such as Dave and Gideoit, through craven hangers-on such as IDS to chancers and idiots such as Grant Shapps and Eric Pickles make me despair.

I thought Gideon Osbourne went to Eton. My apologies.

I agree limitedperiodonly that Justin Welby seems nice enough. I'm not going to slate private education or anybody who chooses that for their dc. I do wonder however if so much of how we are being governed is influenced by one particular school. In a sense it doesn't matter if it's Eton or the comprehensive school I attended.

My understanding is that the appointments people took soundings from all areas of the Church before making a recommendation to Cameron (who gives it to the Queen - the ultimate decision-maker). Apparently the African Anglicans swung it for Welby. I don't think they all went to Eton.

But there was a great interview with him I the Sunday Times that I have just read today. Very interesting chap and background. It did change my views on him. I quite like the fact that he is not a "career" vicar and has some real life experience. Personally I think the Etonian connection is a bit of a red herring and we need to look at what he can bring to the church.

outtolunchagain, I was being facetious.

Surely the question is why are our state schools failing to produce strong leaders?

The politics of envy is an interesting term.

Thirty years ago it was used to condemn people who objected to the practices of the private sector.

Now I notice it being used against public sector workers who are trying to defend the employment rights that people in the private sector have lost.

I went to Coventry Poly.

I can't see any of my peers amongst the MP's listed (Thank Christ!)

Thisis - because a broadly left-leaning ethos pervades, IMO. It encourages children to sink back into the pack, to be ashamed of being bright, and for achievement to be measured against the lowest common denominator. There is poverty of aspiration right across society.

Grammar schools are largely the exception, and it is a depressing state of affairs.

eton is a good school.

the question should be: 'how can we make state education as good so everyone has access to it?'

'There is poverty of aspiration right across society.'

so true. so true.

I totally agree claudedebussy

Very true Alibaba.

You do realise Welby's a screaming socialist right? Have you paid any attention to his life past his childhood years when his parents made his schooling decisions?

If I gave you a room full of the students I work with, and you picked out the arrogant ones, they wouldn't be the Eton boys. If you picked out the nice, unassuming polite chaps, who know how to write a good thank you letter, they'd be the Eton boys.

Perhaps we select our students well.

Because there is wide accepctance of low standards any any move to make state schools anything like private or gammer in its content is meet with talk of trying to turn the clock back elitism ect

Also displine in many schools is below par

Also far to many schools in LONDON allowed to uses the excuse that they have BME students and ESL students as a reason for not doing well which they are allowed to get a way with

When we know many schools have a similair intake my sons school for one how are doing very well and would give any grammer school a run for there money

justgivemefiveminutes Robert Runcie became a hero of mine in his Falkland address in Westminster Abbey.

He wasn't my faith but any former WWII army chaplain who socked it to Thatcher about the importance of mourning the deaths of all young men in war has to be celebrated.

Regarding Cameron, Osborne, Johnson. I don't think somebody needs to be exactly like me, or come from exactly the same background as me, in order to represent me. Indeed, nobody does. A man can represent me, somebody of a different ethnic background can and somebody who has come from a different social background/educational experience can.

However, Eton/St Paul's to Oxbridge then straight to Central Office does not exactly suggest somebody with much interest in what the real world is like, does it? I don't quite understand why Cameron, for example, thought he would be a good person to do this job, having had very little contact with people who aren't very very similar to him.

Prince William and the AoC are politically neutral so I think the long post on the Labour Party is a bit pre-emptive. This wasn't about the Conservatives was it? Only people in perceived positions of power.

thehumanstain someone starting going on about gidion and dave going to eaton so i was just pointing out that the labour lot hardly went to sink schools on the estate

Screaming socialist is just as ignorant as calling someone a rabid Tory dolomitesdonkey

If someone posted something negative and prejudiced against someone who had come from the country's most deprived schools with awful results, the reactions would be very different.

Yet it's ok to slag someone off simply because their parents made a choice to send them to a good school.