How tragic that the country – and indeed the world – is being dragged rightwards by a bunch of Neanderthal conservatives who relish ignorance and despise experts. That, in as many words, was the argument advanced here by Nick Cohen on Monday, as well as by many others on the Left. Nick wrote:
‘…in Britain and America one trend is clear: the better-educated you are the less likely you are to vote for the right. Like Mill, I am not arguing that educated people are always clever. Intellectuals have always included fanatics and cranks among their number. But I can say this: in a country where ever more people are going to university, no party can hope to survive as a party of government if it sells itself as Michael Gove’s know-nothing party’.
He bases his observation on a genuine statistic: that there has emerged a correlation between academic qualifications and which way we vote.
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