I have read the article, it's a sad piece of right-wing propaganda designed to further accentuate divisions. The idea that everyone who disagrees with the alt-right is part some imagined elite is utterly ridiculous. I'm not; a lower-middle class lad from a solid working-class family who went to a shitty comprehensive on the outskirts of Brum. I was in the bottom class at my school, like everyone in my class I was written off for not being academic, my career aspirations dismissed as the school advisor tried to dump me and my friends into factories in Brum, but over the years have strived to get the education I was denied by a system that only recognised student grades as indicators of ability or potential. I've worked my tits off to get to the level of doing a PhD; and I've been dumped off this because of the idiocy and selfishness of others and the consequences of their actions (which has included the sacking my supervisor). On discussing this on the phone, the first thing the Dean said to me was "how did you get in?" when she saw my lack of qualifications. Because I fucking worked up from the bottom.

Bartholomew is a City of London ex-banker who has never been down at the bottom of the pile, ignored and considered hopeless by so many. His vitriolic attack on education is typical of the privilege of his economic class; he seems a little more than a low-grade hack without any degree of insight or even understanding of what he's talking about. Never had to struggle up the ladder, never had to fight the prejudice of those seen as 'cleverer' or this whose parents had more money. His article is little more than a boorish rant by someone lacking the emotional intelligence to even comprehend how asinine they sound; spoken out loud it would sound like Alf Garnet when pissed out of his gourd. Bartholomew's inarticulate little phlegm-ball of nastiness is a symptom of the times we live in.

This lumping together by the right that everyone who disagrees with them or thinks that human beings have potential beyond their most primal instincts betrays their own shallow wit and lack of critical thinking. Here's why artists, scientists, musicians, dancers, writers, painters, poets, doctors and any number of other professions tend towards what they call 'liberalism': they think. they consider, research, ruminate, reflect and weigh the options. They are naturally more engaged with other people, see beyond the obvious and immediate and are curious and questioning, healthily skeptical and willing to do the research, to put the effort in to FIND OUT FOR THEMSELVES. This leads them to be naturally more empathetic, tolerant and open to ideas, certainly not conservative/Conservative in outlook or opinion.

The alt-right elite cons the gullible and a certain breed working-class inverted snobs in the same way it always has. It is so vitriolic in its criticism precisely because deep down it knows in it's own black heart it's wrong and for society to function we need tolerance and understanding, equality and fairness. However, out there are still millions of working class people who remember the rise of other right-wing authoritarians, who remember why we fought them and why we must not allow their return. Who remember the origins of trades unionism and Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Chartists, the Diggers and Levellers, the Putney Debates and the Suffragettes. See? We're in good company.