After hearing an interview with a head of department in the Bank of England. <br /> 'There are five or six of us in my department. <br /> There's myself and four other members of staff.' <br /> <br />How proud his parents were <br />When he landed the job with the Bank of England <br />How vindicated their sacrifices <br />In sending him to Eton <br />The headmaster of his Prep. school had told them <br />'Your son is not academically gifted, <br /> - better send him to a decent public school.' <br />How right he was - you don't get a plum job <br />With the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street <br />If you're a prole <br />No matter how academically gifted! <br />But he'd sailed through the interview on his old school tie <br />Joined all the right clubs (golf and gentleman's) <br />Regularly played eighteen holes with his boss <br />And lost, narrowly, on the last three <br />Married well and bought a fine house in Esher <br />Mortgaged, on very favourable terms, to The Bank <br />Kept his nose clean and rose steadily through the ranks <br />To become, eventually, head of his own department. <br /> <br />And he reached these dizzy banking heights <br />In spite of his inability <br />To add one and four and arrive <br />At a precise, mathematically exact answer <br />But relies instead on giving <br />In an expensive cut-glass accent <br />An estimate of... five or six. <br /> <br />Close enough old boy <br />Close enough.<br /><br />Tony Ladds<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/thoughts-on-the-english-class-system/
