James Blunt, the self-deprecating musician who may or may not have stopped World War III, has written an open letter to Chris Bryant calling him a ‘classist gimp’ after the politician named him among the list of unacceptably posh people who dominate the arts.
The (privately-educated) Labour MP complained that the arts were too full of Blunt and his ‘ilk’, which the singer criticised as narrow-minded and self-defeating.
Before commenting, I should add here that my parents sent me to a state secondary school, but only so I could win ‘prolier-than-thou’ contests on the internet when I’m older.
Blunt has a point. Firstly the idea of ‘access’, the idea that theatres are dominated by well-educated, middle-class people because it’s too expensive for everyone else; even when it’s the same well-educated, middle-class people who take up theatre tickets when they’re put up for £10.
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