Monday's Guardian today lamented the lack of diversity in ten new judges - all white males, only one from a British state school, three from from Oxford, two from Cambridge. But this does not mean the selection was not based on merit, and "affirmative action", US style, might give us a Clarence Thomas (see review of "My Grandfather's Son" in Sunday's Observer which, says Andrew Stephen "points up all the ills that bedevil present-day America"). No, it's a long-term and wider problem, starting with education. I don't usually admire George Monbiot but his article in the Guardian on 22nd January "Only class war on public schools can rid us of this unhinged ruling elite" hit the nail on the head.
What could be done about it? As a first step, private schools should lose charitable status and their profits be taxed like any other business. But is there any chance of this or any other government doing this?
25 years ago, Mary's Uncle Syd gave us a black bottle of German wine:
1982 Albiger Petersberg
Auslese
Anbaugebiet Rheinhessen
For some reason we didn’t drink it soon after. It was marked “Qualitatswein mit Pradicat”, but what was its real quality? Twenty-five years ago, German wine was out of fashion anyway. It lay on the bottom shelf of the wine storage cabinet for as long as we have had the cabinet. But last night, 23rd January 2007, I opened it – with difficulty: the cork disintegrated. So I strained it through a tea-strainer into a jug and then into a decanter. We drank it with neighbours Beryl and John. It was a honey-golden colour and tasted as it looked, not cloyingly sweet, but smooth, delicate and delicious.