What is CH for these days?

[Ajarn Philip]

...indeed, I may be in a better position myself to help those less well off than me.

Excellent, could you lend me a tenner?

[loringa]

...indeed, I may be in a better position myself to help those less well off than me.

Excellent, could you lend me a tenner?

Absolutely, but as I am unable to travel then I'm afraid you'll have to come and collect it.

[Pe.A]

Foureyes invites a debate as to why the international megarich would want to send their children to this country what with Coronavirus, etc. I would submit that the answer is heritage and tradition. The universality of the English language, our well-publicised but now defunct empire, our traditions (well known through our film industry (Passage To India et al), Brideshead, Downton, Hugh Grant......Foreigners from the East seem to be bedazzled by our past. Less so foreigners from developed Western Europe who generally seem to have their own perfectly good traditions, including schooling their children to a decent standard.

The reason I kick up so much about this country is because I truly believe that tradition and heritage have long been used to anaesthetise us to the malign effects of what is happening to us in the here and now. The sixth richest country in the world but with homelessness and food banks endemic. Large numbers of households claiming that they are just one paycheck away from the street. Every time there's an Olympics, Royal Wedding, Royal Jubilee, people crow: "Oh look, don't we still do these things well!" Yes, I sometimes think they're about the only thing we do well, considering our monumental trade gap ("let others run our companies and grow our food," said Thatcher and Lawson in the late 1980s). We are reliant on the kindness of strangers, particularly Chinese investment capital. But what happens if we have a stand-off with China over Hong Kong - which we should do if we had a halfway ballsy Prime Minister (or one who even appeared to be awake) Tradition is fine in its place but its place is not at the centre of things. Useful tradition, yes; but not sentiment which merely holds up progress.

So what does the existence of independent schools got to do with homelessness/food banks etc etc...?

It's central to it. If you can't work that out then your education at CH has been wasted. They're not"independent" schools, they're private schools. The Orwellian title was dreamed up some decades ago to confuse people.

Humour me...