Telegraph columnist Toby Young likes to boast about how he is a perfect example of how anyone can succeed because he managed to get a place at Oxford despite failing most of his O’ Levels.
In fact, he managed to do this because – according to Toby – Brasenose College, Oxford sent him a letter of acceptance ‘by mistake’.
Well of course Toby was accepted into Oxford ‘by mistake’.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that his father was an MP and life peer, Baron Young, and his mother a well-known artist, writer and BBC Radio producer.
No – it was just a mistake – the kind of ‘mistakes’ which only seem to happen to the children of the rich, the influential or the well-known.
Interestingly, it was Toby’s father who coined the phrase ‘meritocracy‘ – the seemingly radical idea that people’s position in society should be based on merit rather than on what family they were born into or what school they went to.
Which makes you wonder why Toby also thinks disabled children should be excluded from schools.
No, really. He does.
Writing in The Spectator, Toby reckons that wheelchair ramps shouldn’t be included in schools because they are an example of ‘ghastly, politically correct’ inclusiveness.
Toby – I’d like to explain to you why excluding disabled children who use wheelchairs from schools is not one of your best ideas, by making a technical point about human biology – clearly one of the O’ Level subjects you must have failed.
People don’t think with their f***ing legs you bonehead.
