The more that I think about the Bullingdon Club, the nastier it appears. Yes, I am a founder-member of, and indeed named, a thriving (mixed) dining club which now has chapters internationally and even a Wikpiedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Club). And yes, I am a Past President of an all-male one, and seem to have become the de facto Life President thereof, at least while it remains in exile and continues to await its glorious restoration to its rightful place upon the casting down of The Enemy.
But there is no similarity at all between either of these and an organisation which exists specifically in order to commit criminal damage and other offences, even including assault, just so that its members can prove their ability to pick up the bill.
Imagine if a group of youths the same age, but who got up at six o'clock in the morning to pay for universities, were to organise themselves into a club (complete with a membership list, officers, some sort of uniform, the works) for the express purpose of smashing up pubs. They would rightly be prosecuted as a criminal conspiracy, and could reasonably expect to be imprisoned.
Well, living in rural England, as I have done most of my life and which is a very different matter from merely owning great swathes of it while living in Knightsbridge or Notting Hill, I suspect that the publicans of Oxfordshire are not without connections in the local constabulary and magistracy. How would it look for Cameron if the Bully Boys were to be locked up for just long enough to have themselves sent down? Or how would it look for the University of Oxford if they were not sent down under such circumstances?
Oh, and in light of recent events, how many black members has the Bullingdon Club ever had? Has it ever even had one?
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