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Features

How to fail upwards

The comical incompetents who give hope to us all

17 December 2022

9:00 AM

17 December 2022

9:00 AM

Steam, which is largely insubstantial, rises. The same goes for soap suds, methane bubbles and numerous politicians. We naively consider 21st-century Britain a meritocracy, yet serial failures still float to the top of our public life.

It has been a good year for these latter-day Widmerpools. Two changes of prime minister provided rich openings.

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