tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724420627956315838.post1012450934565219769..comments2023-02-13T07:55:41.416-08:00Comments on The Sunday Morning Soap Box: An apology to Balliol MenInnocent Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01304469417246066135noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724420627956315838.post-40114031489260493212010-04-28T01:01:15.068-07:002010-04-28T01:01:15.068-07:00MOTL, we welcome all commentary here, from the spa...MOTL, we welcome all commentary here, from the sparkling variety to rich, well-grounded Mancuniana!Innocent Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01304469417246066135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724420627956315838.post-69177845133968188722010-04-27T14:59:14.063-07:002010-04-27T14:59:14.063-07:00One day I may well write an erudite and sparkling ...One day I may well write an erudite and sparkling comment on here. This however is not the day. My Football Fanatic found herself on the Oxbridge list at St. Bede's. She very politely told them what they could do with their list and went to Salford instead.the mother of this lothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04173598381711792094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724420627956315838.post-59312168499383473522010-04-27T10:22:19.555-07:002010-04-27T10:22:19.555-07:00I hardly feel qualified to answer. But to be hones...I hardly feel qualified to answer. But to be honest, yes, Oxford and Cambridge still attract some of the most extraordinarily gifted people in the country. The trouble I have is the snob value attached to it by the aspirational. In fact the trouble I have with it is in part the image that Waugh created. But BR is about so much more than Oxford.Innocent Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01304469417246066135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8724420627956315838.post-43841766583016371332010-04-27T09:13:25.265-07:002010-04-27T09:13:25.265-07:00Yes, but to pretend that the Balliol of today is t...Yes, but to pretend that the Balliol of today is the Balliol of Belloc's day is just playing into the mythology, isn't it?<br /><br />As a foreigner, I took Brideshead Revisited as the never-changing gospel truth about Oxford, and now I realize that Waugh's nostalgia was for his youth, and had he gone to Aberdeen, we foreigners would be all in love with the mystique of Aberdeen. <br /><br />"The History Boys" is rather savage about Oxbridge snobbery. I suppose the history of Oxford and Cambridge save them from being just two more brand names (Nike, Reebok, Armani, Balliol), but really. Do they really have the same role or importance today that they had in 1906 or 1926?Seraphichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06251504033428511090noreply@blogger.com