Meritocracy and fair play

From The New Statesman:

"...it is enough to strike fear into the heart of every defender of those great British values: meritocracy and fair play."

Wow, so meritocracy. Such fair play.

I suppose Prime Minister David Cameron, descendant of King William IV, and the Rt. Hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Gideon Oliver, prospective 18th Baron Osborne, are examples of this fine and laudable meritocracy at work.

And no doubt the Battle of Omdurman, where twenty-five thousand Sudanese Dervishes were ruthlessly mowed down by some splendid chaps with Maxim guns, serves to illustrate the much vaunted British sense of fair play.