Gina and Oxford PPE

[Possiblynotever]

My DD is in year 12. She is currently thinking about a History degree and her State school is (heavily) pushing her towards Oxbridge and a double honours. She is giving her best and her results are very good, so she probably will have the marks (although this is no guarantee). She chose a Maths A level and she is finding it hard - she reached an A but with a lot of sweating which in my mind is quite normal. She has decided not to do anything at Uni requiring further maths. Apparently, some of her classmates are amazing, especially those who want to apply for PPE at Oxford, which seems to be the achievement of all achievements. Those who get in are the best of the best, at least in my DD mind. Now, Gina Colandangelo gained an Oxford PPE which means she must have been bloody talented. The only thing she will ever be remembered for was snugging the Health Minister in his office.
What a waste. Why? AIBU in thinking that there is still a cohort of women who work bloody hard to get into the most difficult jobs and then just sit on their achievements? And why do they do this?

@SadinOxon

First ever post on Mumsnet but the events of the weekend were so depressing I had to get this off my chest. An earlier post said that GC cheated because she was lazy, but I'm not sure that's right. She cheated because she was careless - not careless in the sense of she got caught, but careless with other people's lives, including (which I can't comprehend) the lives of her children. It's a kind of carelessness that comes with arrogance and being very accustomed to getting what you want.

I strongly suspect GC has been at this with all sorts of people for years (no evidence, granted) and that gave her the confidence to have an affair in the full glare of the public spotlight. But she's well and truly kippered now and her reputation is being trashed in the most abject and humiliating way I can think of. For my money, she's had a brilliant career - but that's all a footnote now. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and two minutes to lose it... The whole thing is so depressing and tragic - two families destroyed through carelessness and indifference.

Why are you focussing all your criticism on her, but not on her affair partner?

@Blossomtoes

I do not think she has had a successful career

Please share with us what you see as a successful career. And perhaps you could tell us all about yours while you’re at it. I don’t know about anyone else but I’m getting seriously pissed off by your derogatory remarks about a career very similar to the one I followed (sadly no multi millionaire husband though).

Incidentally this is “real life” and yes, I can imagine a man with a very successful well-paid job taking up a non executive directorship in a female minister’s department. Apparently Philip May gave a lot of unpaid advice to his wife.

You are right, Philip May gave a lot of unpaid advice to his wife. But he was not employed as a consultant while still being employed in investment management, was he? He gave it to her out of love.

If you have had the same career as Gina, without the millionaire husband and without shagging your boss, then I would consider you very successful indeed. You got there because you are good.
And you would probably get out of this mess without calling on your privileged friends.

If you have had the same career as Gina, without the millionaire husband and without shagging your boss, then I would consider you very successful indeed.

She was an executive director at her previous company, nothing to do with husbands or lovers, so this makes no sense.

She’s successful by any reasonable standards. It’s idiotic to deny that.

There’s no winning with this one @TheKeatingFive. I notice she still hasn’t told us about her fabulous career.

Yeah funny that 😆

@Possiblynotever

It is not about the behaviour (which is unforgivable btw). It's just that this woman does not seem to have done anything with her degree really, apart from working in a leading communication firm quite some time ago. She certainly had the privileges of the University she went to and of her circle of friends (and see where it got her). Why wasn't she the one in the office snugging her consultant? Was it because she had three kids and she got out of the rat race?

Like any of us, Gina can fuck whichever consenting adult she likes, regardless of which degree she read, and where. Like us, Gina is responsible for her own actions, but not anyone else.

I have an excellent career which allows me to live in a great place, pay my mortgage, provide for my children without shagging my boss at the taxpayer expense in a taxpayer funded beautiful office.

But shagging the boss seems fine by your standards ... to you it is an acceptable way to climb the ladder, even if you have an Oxford PPE.

Which is therefore no guarantee of success unless you open your legs.

Gina got it right.

@pastabest

I'm quite impressed you have managed to combine a stealth boast with a bitch/gossip about someone in the news AND a query about her mothering choices.

That's some serious mumsnetting skill level achieved.

Why are you so bothered by her? Her achievements (or lack of in your view ) have absolutely no bearing on the choices available to your daughter whatsoever.

All of this ^

But shagging the boss seems fine by your standards

She’d done very well for herself long before that. Executive director in a large company. Salary would be well into 6 figures.

Are you a bit hard of thinking that you don’t understand that?

@Possiblynotever

I have an excellent career which allows me to live in a great place, pay my mortgage, provide for my children without shagging my boss at the taxpayer expense in a taxpayer funded beautiful office.

But shagging the boss seems fine by your standards ... to you it is an acceptable way to climb the ladder, even if you have an Oxford PPE.

Which is therefore no guarantee of success unless you open your legs.

Gina got it right.

Hate to tell you this but you sound like a bit of a twerp

@TheKeatingFive

But shagging the boss seems fine by your standards

She’d done very well for herself long before that. Executive director in a large company. Salary would be well into 6 figures.

Are you a bit hard of thinking that you don’t understand that?

This.

And I don’t think those offices on Victoria Street could be described as “beautiful” by anyone’s standards. That building was a shithole when I worked there.

I really don't see what the relevance of her degree course has to her affair with Matt Hancock. They met at university and took the same degree course in the 1990s. That's a long time ago, so she has built up her skills and experience over the last 20 odd years.

Her husband set up an extremely successful retail brand. Why would you work elsewhere if you can have a successful career in the family business? It worked well for Ken Morrison joining his father's retail business.

You don't seem to understand what NED is. They are appointed to challenge and support execs. Many people Gina's age don't have the time or money available to do such a role, even if they do have the skills. She's lucky she can afford to do the role, which is why so many Boards lack diversity and are full of white men in suits in their 50s & 60s. A NED is an extremely part time position on a fixed fee, hence £15k for 15 days attending meetings. Gina already has executive directorships, so this is the equivalent of a project on the side, a bit like a working mum taking up a governor's position at a school. Do you bitch about them not making use of their degrees as well?

Oxford takes around 250 PPE students each year. The majority are now from state schools. It's not the bastion of privilege you describe.

MH behaviour is totally unacceptable and he resigned.
But here it seems that GC behaviour is acceptable and it is not.
It is not acceptable to bed your boss.
And there is NO WAY you have had a successful career if you go to bed with your boss.
Some of you say that they did it so that they could be together- fine, but then why accept the 15k?

@Possiblynotever

MH behaviour is totally unacceptable and he resigned. But here it seems that GC behaviour is acceptable and it is not. It is not acceptable to bed your boss. And there is NO WAY you have had a successful career if you go to bed with your boss. Some of you say that they did it so that they could be together- fine, but then why accept the 15k?

Nobody’s saying her behaviour is acceptable. You’re being challenged on your assertion that she hasn’t had/got a successful career.

She accepted the salary as a NED because she earned and was entitled to it. You were whinging about her providing free advice earlier. I guess you’ll make up your mind soon.

@Possiblynotever - you're really not listening are you? Gina has worked successfully in Comms for many years. She was a Partner (Equity) in an extremely successful consultancy. She got to the point in her career where she moved towards a portfolio career including a NED position. That's a great career trajectory.

Her affair has nothing to do with that. As someone who works in Comms I can assure you she's made good use of her education.

Some of you say that they did it so that they could be together- fine, but then why accept the 15k

If you mean me, I really don’t think it’s fine - I think it is unforgivably corrupt of MH to appoint her, in order to give cover to taking his mistress on work trips instead of his wife.

I just don’t think it has any bearing on how successful her actual career has been over the past 20 years. Shagging Matt Hancock is not her career.

And there is NO WAY you have had a successful career if you go to bed with your boss.

This makes no sense whatsoever.

Gotta think before you post OP.

Unfortunately it’s what she will be known for by 95% of the public (including future employers)

As a pp said it takes 20 years to build a reputation and 2 minutes to lose it

You're confusing ability with privilege. Both Colandangelo and Hancock have achieved their positions in life through privilege, not through ability.

Can’t speak for Colandangelo - but definitely the case for Hancock. No way would he have got to Oxbridge (and he’s - inexplicably - attended both Oxford AND Cambridge) without an independent education behind him - the guy is the very definition of mediocrity.

@Possiblynotever

I have an excellent career which allows me to live in a great place, pay my mortgage, provide for my children without shagging my boss at the taxpayer expense in a taxpayer funded beautiful office.

But shagging the boss seems fine by your standards ... to you it is an acceptable way to climb the ladder, even if you have an Oxford PPE.

Which is therefore no guarantee of success unless you open your legs.

Gina got it right.

Not a nice post OP. Both of them had an affair and you seem to be really spiteful against just her.

You can be successful without shitting on her.

@Possiblynotever

I have an excellent career which allows me to live in a great place, pay my mortgage, provide for my children without shagging my boss at the taxpayer expense in a taxpayer funded beautiful office.

But shagging the boss seems fine by your standards ... to you it is an acceptable way to climb the ladder, even if you have an Oxford PPE.

Which is therefore no guarantee of success unless you open your legs.

Gina got it right.

I'm not opining on whether it's acceptable or not. (Personally I'm not a fan of adultery or corruption).

What I'm saying is that noone is obliged to have a particular sex life or career by dint of their education.

Must all Oxbridge graduates go into politics? Is it only those without GCSEs who are allowed to make questionable relationship decisions? Since when are women allowed only to be EITHER successful OR sexual?

I don't hear you complaining that Matt Hancock has wasted his Oxford PPE degree by shagging around.

Just here for the drama but also wanted to say - politics, media communications are professions built on whom you know. It’s very difficult to have an objective indication of ‘ability’ because the performance metric is pulling strings - and people from privileged backgrounds are better able to do that. Ditto people who attended Oxbridge which is basically a giant networking event. The quality of education for undergraduates anyway isn’t so stellar thats it’s better than a top RG uni for example.
A possible alternative is to make political positions prefer people who have had real jobs and not politics as a career.

This happens to a lesser degree in STEM subjects because while privilege helps you also very much need the raw ability..

*that it’s miles ahead of

I think MH is a waste of space and of what should have been a good education. He should have not appointed GC and she should have been contented of giving free advice to the man she loves. Like Theresa May husband did.

But no, GC who has an amazing education ( or maybe not) accepted, a NED role, as she has now embraced a portfolio career, being paid 15K of taxpayer money for 15 days a year bedding the man who appointed her - and you call this successful?

Those who have a successful career, men or women, set an example and honestly she may have earned money but certainly no reputation.

Big failure