Robert Webb had a devastating response to Julia Hartley-Brewer and it prompted quite the debate
Julia Hartley-Brewer had this contribution to make to a discussion about whether the media is dominated by people who have made it because of their connections and/or personal background rather than merit.
My route into journalism? Comp school, state sixth form college, writing for the uni paper while at Oxford, work experience at the Times while I stayed in a squat, journalism college, a year on a local newspaper in East End of London on £9k… Yep, privileged all the way. https://t.co/DxrxeBj90w
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) April 20, 2018
Someone challenged her by saying going to Oxford was the very definition of privilege.
I’d say going to Oxford in what, the eighties, when only 10% or so of all kids even went to ANY university, is in itself quite privileged. I’d imagine you made a few ‘contacts’ there who came in handy somewhere down the line.
— Alasdair Murray – The Recruitment Copywriter (@Alconcalcia) April 20, 2018
To which she replied …
I didn’t go to Oxford because I was privileged. I went to Oxford because I was clever.
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) April 20, 2018
And Peep Show’s Robert Webb was having none of it.
https://twitter.com/arobertwebb/status/988156361681920000
Ouch. Hartley-Brewer went to Magdalen College, Oxford, in case you’re wondering, and Webb to Robinson College, Cambridge.
Here’s a flavour of the debate it prompted on Twitter.
1.
My comment on this thread
I thought I got into my very selective course on my own merit. Then remembered we had books and a newspaper and plenty to eat and I wasn’t responsible for looking after anyone. Privilege doesn’t get you in but lack of it certainly keeps you out.— Robin Hargreaves (@HargreavesRobin) April 22, 2018
2.
Precisely.
— Robert Webb (@arobertwebb) April 22, 2018
3.
Agreed. But *anyone* with loving parents is privileged on that definition. Millions of people have the privilege you describe. It’s not just a lucky elite. The start of this debate was people only getting to Oxbridge cos privately educated & from wealthy families. Which I’m not.
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) April 22, 2018
4.
I went to Oxford. I don’t describe myself as intelligent, but as someone who was fortunate to be given opportunities which meant I could apply.
I know many intelligent people who had far less opportunities than me and never went to Uni.
Education does not dictate intelligence.— perry (@wordsfromperry) April 22, 2018
5.
It’s actually depressing hearing these media types giving us their own personal ‘hard up’ stories (heavily doctored to remove all trace of helping hands and opportunities they actually did have) as though this contradicts the statistics which prove the exclusivity of journalism.
— Phil Creased-Smock (@redsoct1974) April 22, 2018
6.
Julia, if you had grown up on an inner city estate you would not have gotten in to Oxbridge. No matter how educated you were. Education alone does not guarantee access. Your background carries a lot of weight.
— james green (@Stroud_Green) April 22, 2018
7.
There are some amazing schools doing just that for kids from those backgrounds right now. But yes, of course being a middle class kid makes it FAR easier. But that isn’t the same as being “privileged” in the way that was originally being implied.
— Julia Hartley-Brewer (@JuliaHB1) April 22, 2018
8.
Lol, that’s almost the dictionary definition of privilege.
— Jonathan (@Nendick) April 22, 2018
9.
“I’m not privileged, things are just easier for me because of my background”
— Jonathan (@Nendick) April 22, 2018
UPDATE
The Peep Show star later had this to say …
When tweets go big. Bored by the sight of my own voice. Like Global Thermonuclear War off of WarGames, it sometimes feels like the only way to win Twitter is not to play.
— Robert Webb (@arobertwebb) April 23, 2018