Great excitement at LiS HQ - the Sloanes are back! (Clarification: Marina and I meant to discuss this on Monday when the news first broke but we were recovering from our awwwwwwful hangovers post Sunday's Cartier Polo Match. Honestly, you should have seen Jemima and Cosmo and Blandford hacking at the divvets - it was a RIOT!)
Anyway, it has to be said, we were a little surprised by this 'news' at first. "But," we asked each other as one, looking across our desk at one another, "had posh people ever gone away? Has this country not been just as bloody class obsessed as it ever was for the past decade? Have Tatler and Harpers Bazaar only just been revived? What the flipping heck is this summer filler news story on about?" And then our heads turned to the side in bewilderment, which is just when the photo at the top of your screen was taken.
But then, all soon became rapidly clear. It's not that Sloanes ever went away per se, but that Mr Rent-A-Quote himself, Peter York, has bashed out a new Sloane Ranger's Handbook. Ah so, it must be true!
"The hunger to make money has remade the Sloanes," said Olivia Stewart Liberty, co-author of the new book with the aforementioned and indefatigable York. Obviously, this totally zeitgeisty feeling has absolutely NOTHING to do with the rehash of this decades-old tosh 'tall, does it, Olivia?
Anyway, it's not EXACTLY the same as it was before, this man does work for his money, you know. There are now eight tribes of Sloanes. Let's see, there are Eco Sloanes (Zac Goldsmith), Thumping Sloane (Prince Harry), Sleek Sloane (Not-Queen Camilla), Bongo Sloane (Tara Palmer-Tompkinson), Chav Sloane (Victoria Hervey), Euro Sloane (Prince Summatorother) and on and on it goes. LiS would like to add some categories of our own: how about Shagger Sloane (Boris Johnson), Emotionally Connected Sloane (David Cameron), Random Sloane (Ben Elliot), Allegedly Acceptable Sloane (Tom Parker-Bowles), Party Picture Filler Sloane (Any Pair of Blonde Sisters), Sycophantic Sloane (Magazine Editor Chap), Child of Famous Person Sloane (any progeny of the Rolling Stones and Richard Branson) and Really Can't Be Bothered With This Story Any Longer Sloane (LiS.)
Will that do?
