Middle-class self-interest

Another great article from David Aaranovitch. He echoes the exact same thought I had expressed to my brother who was at the heart of the Bristol West Labour campaign. Read the whole thing but here is an excerpt:

Take top-up fees, an issue on which the Lib Dems probably gained tens of
thousands of Labour votes. Nowhere during the campaign did I hear or see the
question of support for poorer students raised with candidates or in the media.
I would think that most people simply have no idea that these students will not
have to pay fees and will receive, for the first time for years, a substantial
maintenance grant.

The issue didn't come up because the parents of such
poor students don't work in journalism and they won't write to the papers or go
on marches. The redistributive nature of top-up fees has been successfully
obscured by middle-class self-interest. In the same way, the Iraqis who want
British troops to remain while they build their country are not heard with the
same Lib Dems arguing for withdrawal, no matter what the situation is.

Aaranovitch
Labour