Wednesday 24 January 2018

All the Presidents Men - one boys club about to be judged by the biggest one of them all



The Dorchester Hotel. I will think about The Presidents Club the next time I am invited to an event here.    The British Guild of Travel Writers have sometimes held their annual dinner here and there's been nothing like that going on at our events, mainly because it would be tweeted, instagrammed and facebooked and snap chatted quicker than you can say PC.

Where is the list of these financially functional, emotionally dysfunctional men who attended this event?   I understand there were some big names, really big names at this event, but for legal reasons these have not been disclosed but it would be wonderful to see the list printed up. And what happened there was far, far worse than Madison Marriage could reveal.  No wonder she looked shaken.  This list should be published.  Heads should roll but they won't because it will be for the greater good - or so they will argue - that they should remain anonymous. Any names which are mentioned will be the patsies who don't have the friends or the money to pay their way out of this association. But it seems they all have the money as they wouldn't have been there in the first place. I suppose there is a pecking order for billionaires though, and there may be someone who has annoyed someone more important at some stage.  We will in the next few days see whom is out of favour.   They will be a token head but not the ones which should fall. 

This is one of so many events, around the country, which occur on a regular basis.  You can stop the events, but they will find a way to emerge elsewhere.  But it is the broken values which need to be addressed.  It is the sense of entitlement which needs to be nullified.  This sense of entitlement is filtered down through the generations from father to son.  Gentlemen who are nothing of the sort, looking mildly amused, confused and irritated by women wanting to be treated as equals when their wives, and partners have quite happily over the years put up with their rubbish like some Handmaid's Tale but without the uniform.

Even the media who will be reporting this event, have senior management who secretly or not so secretly, are in the same boy's club as those who attended the event last night.  In spirit if not in person.  Look at the way the media continues to patronise women.   And our children and our sons who watch on as their role models show them how to behave. And misbehave.   

And it is the largest boys club of them all - the Houses of Parliament - who will be judging this Presidents club on this behaviour.   The ultimate in hypocrisy.   The politicians may say one thing but they are educated and brought up in a way to see women as anything but their equals.  This annual dinner is the type of event Trump would revel in.    The world of politics is a gentleman’s club, as is finance, as is commerce, as is media, as is the law.   The women who make it to the top or get anywhere near it in any establishment, are newsworthy because they are rare.    In politics, it is a place where women are still in the minority and the ones who do have power are harder on their own sex than those of the opposite sex.  

So how is one boy’s club legitimately able to judge another boy’s club  – especially if they secretly believe there was absolutely nothing wrong with it (even if they are unable to admit it in public)?  And anyway, it was for good cause. And raised so much money, didn't it?    So what's the fuss? 

That is the problem. The values are completely messed up. Money makes the world go round but the wrong way.   The boys club mentality feeds off the cobweb of contacts and collusion which has been handed down through the generations.  

This is why the list of those who attended will not be released because those on it have the money to prevent it from coming out and/or will have the ability to carry out the threats on those who want to release the list, if they do. There will also be a trade off of information.  They will release news stories in order to hold others back.   This was Max Clifford's stock in trade.   And its going to happen all over again. Watch out for the exclusives which emerge in the next few weeks. They are hiding bigger ones.  

The Presidents Club is one of many 'boys only clubs' in the country, and it is about to be judged and held to task by one of the biggest and most puerile boys clubs of them all.  The Houses of Parliament.