It’s good to know that, in spite of our still-present class system and the difficulties for many in getting on in life, there are still those who manage to make it against all the odds. However, there can’t be many more eye-catching examples than that of the young boy from a rough inner city estate in Newcastle  who recently managed to bag himself a scholarship to Eton.

Tyrese George, aged 11, apparently watched a television programme on England’s premier public school and decided that he would quite like to go there, irrespective of the £34,434 yearly fees and the fact that the estate he lived on had nothing in common with the kind of family estates from where most Eton pupils originate!

He sent off an application for a brochure and then, amazingly, was asked to visit for an interview and some preliminary exams, which he waltzed through. Evidently his dancing and singing skills as a rapper impressed the interviewers too!

Tyrese will move down to Eton as a boarder when he reaches 13 which, not surprisingly, has filled his mother, a care worker struggling to make ends meet, with great pride although she did say she wasn’t particularly surprised at what her clearly gifted son had achieved!

If that story doesn’t give encouragement and confidence to those seeking  to advance themselves and reach for the sky then nothing will. A story, possibly, to warm the hearts of even the most embittered socialists –  but probably not!