To be pleased most of the cabinet are Oxbridge graduates?

[sagerosemaryandthyme]

That's it really. Surely we want the brightest and best in the cabinet.

Because Oxbridge has the monopoly on 'brightest and best' does it?

YABU

YANBU

No, but there's a good chance a decent proportion will be!

Yes, only Oxbridge produces people of any quality whatsoever. That is so obvious it hardly needs saying. To think otherwise is to be deeply and catastrophically stupid and just proves you couldn't get in yourself, innit?

Don't really care where they went to university but pleased that they all seem like very clever people.

YABU and very elitist. Being academically astute doesn't mean you're necessarily the best at everything else.

YAB completely Reasonable. No, Oxbridge doesn't have a monopoly on the brightest and best. But the fact that they are Oxbridge types does at least suggest that they are a) reaonably well educated and b) reasonably intelligent. That is fine by me.

you nob!

What's wrong with elitism, btw? Some people are brighter/faster/whatever than others. It's a fact of life.

Goodness, what a response from Bariatric!

YABU - Didn't Nick Griffen go to Cambridge? Nuff said.

The thing is, it takes some drive a determination to get to Oxbridge. You can't just turn round a month before your 'A' levels and think 'ooh I quite fancy going to Cambridge'.

I didn't go to Oxbridge, but I know tons who did including my brother. As a rule they are more focused, driven, ambitious and determined than the bulk of the population, and that is before you take academic ability into account.
Those are all qualitites I'm very happy to see in the Cabinet!

There's nothing wrong with wanting a set of bright people to run our country but I know of very bright people who've got post-grads from less revered universities. Would OP be as happy if everyone on the cabinet were from ex-polys but of an equal intellect? I don't care which uni' they went to so long as they do a decent job.

Dear God, you cannot tarnish the output of a whole University because Nick Griffin went there!

yes it takes loads of drive to go to eton and then get accepted into oxbridge ffs!

i feel physically sick that you are welcoming a government of patronage. oxbridge is not open to all of society, these people are not the brightest and best they are simply rather bright and very lucky.

I'm not saying i am, i'm saying you can't judge a persons character just because they went to a particular Uni.

'I don't care which uni' they went to so long as they do a decent job.'

Agree with cupcakes.

Plus, might be sibscribing to a very outdated notion here but don't mummy and daddy usually have more sway in getting Timothy/Arabella into Oxbridge than Timothy/Arabella's academic prowess? Obviously lots of genuinely brilliant people come from the red-brick unis but I'm sure that a lot of them are there because daddy was in the Bullingdon club with the dean or whatever.

YABU
Being Oxbridge graduates does not make them the brightest and the best. Sure, it means they must have a level of intelligence. But many of them will, by definition, have got there through privelige and really - do we want a government full of people who were born into privelige? I would prefer a cabinet full of people who pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and have an inkling of what life is like for non-privileged people, yet who are still intelligent and driven.

Sorry but YABU. I cannot deny that being a graduate of Oxford and Cambridge suggests you are bright but as weblette says they do not have the monopoly on intelligence.

Some of the people I went to school were more than capable of going to Oxbridge but didn't apply due to the cost of moving halfway across the country. They went to a more local University, still earned a great degree, and hold down very successful jobs.

Bariatric.

They are probably incredibly clever people, however people who are academically superior are not necessarily the best people to actually organise, make decision and be pragmatic.

I work with exceptionally clever people. However a lot of them couldn't plan or organise a project of any importance.

You need practical people in government, not just imntellectual powerhouses. And to be honest, a third class degree in Geography from Oxford (with a rugger blue natch) does not a genius make.

Anyway, Jacob Rees Mogg is an Oxbridge graduate. Look at him. Does that really give you confidence in your theory OP?

Of course Oxbridge is open to all of society, they have special initiatives to ensure intake of bright kids from state schools.
And it does take drive, they don't just open their doors and automatically let in anyone who went to Public school you know.

Fio you're right, and those things are equally important IMO.