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Allen Lane; 496 pages; £25. To be published in America in July by Skyhorse; $24.99 THIS MASTERLY book offers a robust defence of meritocracy. Adrian Wooldridge, The Economist’s political editor, traces the idea from Plato’s “Republic”, through Napoleon’s “career open to talent” to the attack on Victorian nepotism led by Britain’s intellectual aristocracy. He ends with interesting speculation that meritocracy may now have better prospects in Asia than in the West. The term “meritocracy” was coined by Michael Young, a British sociologist, in a book published in 1958. Young...

Pressure to support Tory position on contentious issues such as colonialism ‘cancels honest debate’ Sir Charles Dunstone quit as chair of Royal Museums Greenwich after a trustee’s reappointment was vetoed. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Sir Charles Dunstone quit as chair of Royal Museums Greenwich after a trustee’s reappointment was vetoed. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images Sun 9 May 2021 05.15 EDT Ministers are facing mounting anger over claims that they are deliberately stifling “honest and open debate” as part of a culture war, with a concerted ...

Public schools and the public Why Eton, Harrow, Rugby and the rest thrived. With varying degrees of enthusiasm, Labour leaders have promised for the past 80 years to “do something” about fee-charging private schools. The 2019 election manifesto pledged to “close the tax loopholes” they enjoy and seek advice on “integrating [them] and creating a comprehensive education system”. This was a considerably weaker commitment than the announcement in 1973 by Roy Hattersley, then shadow education secretary, of “our serious intention… eventually to abolish private education” or the ...