The Old Boy Network (Poetry)

Boon if you’re in it
a bane if you’re not
a fast-track ladder
non-members go rot
it’s just who you know

from your old college
those fellows who row
meet up at Ascot
tophatted for show
all toffs-in-a-box

The brash nouveau riche
plus silver spoon lot
with country estates
fat ponies to trot
and money to burn

A seat on some board
a yacht moored at Cannes
steaks done to a turn
each string-pulling man
who’s in on the deal

He’ll put the word out
to tilt fortune’s wheel
odds-on there’s no risk
this brotherhood’s real
outsiders can’t win