11-20-2004, 06:56 PM
Before anybody gets their knickers in a twist, I was born in England and partly raised there (which explains a lot... :roll: :lol: ) so I do have the right to talk frankly about this. Oh, and by "do away with", I don't mean the way the Russians did away with their last Czar in 1918...I mean kick these people out on the street and tell them to lose the accents and get real jobs.
By PAUL MAJENDIE, REUTERS
With one gruff memo about not all men being equal, the heir to the throne has tarnished his populist credentials.
In a battle of aristocracy versus meritocracy, the "philosopher prince" is being pilloried as a bastion of outdated privilege by a Labour government whose Holy Grail is equal opportunity.
From organic food to alternative medicine, the prince is an environmental crusader who has even admitted talking to the plants in his garden.
The Prince's Trust, one of the projects dearest to his heart, has won plaudits for giving young entrepreneurs a start in business.
Once eclipsed by his glamorous young wife Diana and pilloried for his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles had been winning over his doubting subjects as a caring single parent after Diana's 1997 death in a Paris car crash.
But now his spin doctors are in a spin themselves over a row that has highlighted social divisions in this class-conscious land.
In the true blue corner stands Charles, exasperated by a suggestion from one of his personal assistants that she and people like her should be trained for more senior positions in his household.
"What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things beyond their capabilities," he asked in the memo read out as evidence at an employment tribunal.
"This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centred system which admits no failure."
"People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities ... without even putting in the necessary work or having natural ability."
Roaring out of the red corner came Labour's blunt-spoken Education Secretary Charles Clarke.
"To be quite frank, I think he is very old-fashioned and out of time and he doesn't understand what is going on in the British education system," Clarke said. "We can't all be born to be king..."
The spat has provoked debate across Britain.
Millionaire businessman Alan Sugar had no doubt: "Everybody should have ambition so I don't see where Prince Charles is coming from."
Television writer Jimmy McGovern, brought up in a cockroach-infested Liverpool slum, complained: "In theory I can aspire to any position in the land except his -- so how dare he say that?"
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said "It was pretty rich coming from his extraordinarily privileged background."
But she did have a sneaking admiration for the prince who has been a king-in-waiting for decades and once freely admitted: "My great problem is that I really don't know what my role in life is."
By PAUL MAJENDIE, REUTERS
With one gruff memo about not all men being equal, the heir to the throne has tarnished his populist credentials.
In a battle of aristocracy versus meritocracy, the "philosopher prince" is being pilloried as a bastion of outdated privilege by a Labour government whose Holy Grail is equal opportunity.
From organic food to alternative medicine, the prince is an environmental crusader who has even admitted talking to the plants in his garden.
The Prince's Trust, one of the projects dearest to his heart, has won plaudits for giving young entrepreneurs a start in business.
Once eclipsed by his glamorous young wife Diana and pilloried for his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles had been winning over his doubting subjects as a caring single parent after Diana's 1997 death in a Paris car crash.
But now his spin doctors are in a spin themselves over a row that has highlighted social divisions in this class-conscious land.
In the true blue corner stands Charles, exasperated by a suggestion from one of his personal assistants that she and people like her should be trained for more senior positions in his household.
"What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things beyond their capabilities," he asked in the memo read out as evidence at an employment tribunal.
"This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centred system which admits no failure."
"People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities ... without even putting in the necessary work or having natural ability."
Roaring out of the red corner came Labour's blunt-spoken Education Secretary Charles Clarke.
"To be quite frank, I think he is very old-fashioned and out of time and he doesn't understand what is going on in the British education system," Clarke said. "We can't all be born to be king..."
The spat has provoked debate across Britain.
Millionaire businessman Alan Sugar had no doubt: "Everybody should have ambition so I don't see where Prince Charles is coming from."
Television writer Jimmy McGovern, brought up in a cockroach-infested Liverpool slum, complained: "In theory I can aspire to any position in the land except his -- so how dare he say that?"
Former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond said "It was pretty rich coming from his extraordinarily privileged background."
But she did have a sneaking admiration for the prince who has been a king-in-waiting for decades and once freely admitted: "My great problem is that I really don't know what my role in life is."
