Keeping it in the family
|
There was quite a lot about nepotism in the news recently - first in the proper news about British members of parliament giving jobs to their sons and wives, and then in internet news about a lad called Max getting a blog on the Guardian website, while his Dad is an occasional writer for the paper. And as so often happens when you hear about something, I've started noticing it everywhere now. It seems that nepotism is rife not only in government and the media, but in every profession. On the main shopping street near me, for example, you find nepotism proudly displayed on shop fronts, almost as if it's nothing to be ashamed of: Gribble & Sons the grocers; Champion Bros ironmongers; a butcher's called Milligan's, which I suspect is run by a husband and wife team. They look like they're married. Not happily, but then hacking bits off corpses every day probably has a subtle effect on one's demeanour in the long term. And thinking about it, nepotism runs all the way through history. The common surname Baker, for instance, originally travelled through time attached to people who really did make bread - and they probably only got the position they held because their fathers had made bread before them and passed on the secrets of the trade. Which would be something to do with how much yeast you add, and when you add it, I assume. Also, their fathers probably had all the necessary equipment for bread-making to hand, so it probably seemed natural to teach the kids how to use it. So I don't really see what's so bad about nepotism. Is there really any difference between a candlestick maker handing his business over to the son who has watched him make candles throughout his childhood, and an elected parliamentary representative handing over taxpayers' cash to his son for "research"? Is there? |
1 comments on "Keeping it in the family "