Brideshead Revilified: Back to College. Lack of Class. Older But Not Colder. And the Secrets of Living to 100. Plus more! #225
Also putting wifi into sci-fi on moon bases.
Gruezi!
1️⃣ The Specific Gravity of British Social Class
Escaping social mobility.
My college reunion. Richard Hoggart escaped his working class upbringing for university in the 1930s. He called socially mobile people ‘the uprooted and the anxious.’
There were a few of us at university. One story from dinner? An 80s comprehensive kid became a lawyer at a big four firm.
He thought he was the vanguard of the classless society, when we were the fag end of the meritocracy.
At the end of his first year at work, legal colleagues kindly presented him with a book – How to Dress Like a Gentleman.
Oxford could rinse a little off your awkward accent, your lousy clothes, your chav roots. A City lawyer’s salary might mitigate the sympathy and compensate for snide remarks. But the classless society?
In 1989 Hoggart wrote: “Each decade we swiftly declare we have buried class; each decade the coffin stays empty.”
By the way, if you look carefully on the back wall, you’ll see a solitary picture of a woman – Marilyn Butler. Women were sympathetic but supporting characters in Hoggart’s story of class. But more on that next.
⏩️ Richard Hoggart’s class classic is ‘The Uses of Literacy.’
2️⃣ The Old Boys Club
Brideshead Revilified.
My once all-male college started enrolling women in 1979. When I arrived in the mid-80s, fewer than a fifth of undergraduates were women. The pace of change? Glacial.
Just because you allow something, doesn’t equalise it.
What struck me returning was how hard it must have been for those few women. And how much tougher we – their fellow students – made it for them.
There was a kind of wilful blindness by me and my peers. We thought ourselves progressive but were angry that issues like mass unemployment and social inequality were being ‘pushed aside’ by gender, race and sexuality.
The reality was that elite institutions were no more interested in minorities than meritocracy. Their inner logic was survival and that meant access to power and whichever boxes required ticking for the continued nurturing of those relationships.
And in today’s Britain, the relative global power of those elites is less.
⏩️ “Born to Rule – The Making and Remaking of the British Elite.”
3️⃣ My Back Pages
What will remain of us is…
Lastly, some thoughts on the fascination of fondly reconnecting with fossilised adolescents from decades ago.
Everyone has experienced disappointments and successes. Some people are in poor health. Some have gone. Some have lived lives of diligent dullness. Some have been adventurers.
Every rock has been smoothed to a pebble. Every passion dimmed. No one is handsome or beautiful. And no one cares.
These same people still have decades of potentially productive life stretching ahead of them. They command considerable resources.
Whenever you read about policy dilemmas brought on by ageing populations – it’s always real people. And four out of ten Brits are now over 50…
⏩️ Older voters are gaining power around the world.
4️⃣ China’s Economy Just Got a Massive Boost
But sometimes globalisation bites you in the balance sheets.
Back to the real world. The head of the US’s Central Bank is a lawyer, Britain’s is a historian, China’s? He’s actually an economist, educated in China, the UK and America.
Now Pan Gongsheng is tasked with getting China’s economy back on track, cutting interest rates and pumping money into the economy to stimulate growth.
The country’s biggest problem? Its people – afraid of being old and poor – spend too little and save too much.
But there’s an interesting twist:
This has created an opportunity for foreign investors to make easy money through a financial manoeuvre called a “carry trade.”
Investors borrow cheap US dollars, convert them to Chinese yuan, and invest in Chinese bonds for higher returns.
While this brings money into China short-term, it could cause problems later if these investors suddenly pull out.
It’s like China is trying to fill a leaky bucket – pouring in stimulus, but some of it might flow out like this.
Policy making in a globalised world isn’t like pulling levers…
⏩️ Why Chinese economists with ‘views’ on policy will be keeping quiet.
5️⃣ The Psychology Behind Far-Right Voting in East Germany
Grievance!
“Goodbye Greens! An obituary” – that fun video is from Germany’s far-right AfD party who narrowly missed out on becoming the #1 political force in Brandenburg, the German state that surrounds Berlin.
Why do East Germans vote for the far-right AfD party? Some academics ran an experiment and the answer? They have grievances!
A third of East Germans feel like second-class citizens. But they ‘think’ that nearly two thirds of people share this feeling. The sense that more people feel ‘hard done by’ drives support for the AfD.
During the recent Brandenburg election when researchers informed voters that only a minority of East Germans feel like second-class citizens, they saw a significant drop off in AfD voting intentions.
Correcting misperceptions about collective grievance can have a real impact on far-right voting behaviour.
Does this open up new avenues for addressing political extremism through targeted information campaigns? Maybe.
But what it does show is that amplifying grievances is a sure-fire way to drive up far-right support…
⏩️ TikTok has been pushing young people to AfD accounts.
6️⃣ The REAL Secrets to Living to 100
Award-winning research has some insights.
Ever wondered how to hit triple digits?
Okinawa, Ikaria, Sardinia – these are all Blue Zone locations, where people seem to live far longer than average. The reasons? Diet, social ties, you name it… scientists have come up with a reason for it.
Saul Justin Newman’s Ig Nobel Prize-winning research has the dirty secret. Lousy record keeping and pension fraud.
The best predictor of Okinawan centenarians? Where WW2 bombing destroyed records.
Okinawans have actually eaten the least vegetables in Japan since 1975, and have the worst health outcomes.
A 2010 study in Japan, 82% of reported centenarians were actually dead.
According to Newman:
“The designated ‘blue zones’ of Sardinia, Okinawa, and Ikaria corresponded to regions with low incomes, low literacy, high crime rate and short life expectancy relative to their national average.
“As such, relative poverty and short lifespan constitute unexpected predictors of centenarian and supercentenarian status, and support a primary role of fraud and error in generating remarkable human age records.”
Instead, Newman suggests longevity is tied to wealth. So, Bryan Johnson is doing something right…
⏩️ With modern record-keeping, life expectancy in Okinawa is falling.
5️⃣ The Next Frontier of Great Power Rivalry: The Moon 🌕
The good news? Sci-Fi comes with WiFi.
China’s ambitious lunar exploration programme launches its next phase as early as 2026, with plans to establish a permanent moon base by 2035.
This move signals a new era in space exploration and potential geopolitical competition.
• China will launch Chang’e-7 in 2026 and Chang’e-8 in 2028
• These missions will lay groundwork for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS)
• The ILRS, a joint initiative with Russia, could be operational by 2035.
• Plans include Wi-Fi networks on the lunar surface (yes, you read that right!)
• Potential for growing vegetation on the moon is being explored.
• Over 10 countries and 40+ international organisations have joined the project.
As major powers vie for lunar dominance, we’re witnessing the dawn of a new space race. The moon is no longer just a scientific frontier—it’s becoming a strategic asset in the great power competition of the 21st century.
⏩️ #SpaceExploration #LunarBase #GeopoliticalStrategy #FutureOfSpace #MoonWiFi
If you enjoy this newsletter – please recommend it!
Best,
Adrian
“And is that child happy with his box of lucky books
And all the jokes of learning?”