Transcending aristocracy
From Sir Peregrine Worsthome Sir: Robert Salisbury, in one respect, has taken hold, with a characteristically firm grip, of the wrong end of the stick (Books, 15 May). No, I am not calling for a revival of hereditary aristocracy but rather for an appreciative inscription to be put on its tombstone — i.e., for the end of anti-aristocracy. Every country needs a political class, and the current prejudice against aristocracy in England, which in turn has bred a uniquely vicious strain of English anti-elitism, is a barrier to this country producing a good one. Hence the collapse of our political institutions. Only by doing justice to what aristocracy stood for in the past can we hope to transcend aristocracy in the future.
Peregrine Worsthome
Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire
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