Can’t we judge people on their merits, instead of their genes? | Catherine Shoard

The obsession with pedigree as an explanation for success and failure is just a present day form of narcissism

Are the novelist Anthony Powell and the actor Danny Dyer related? The biology has yet to be checked, but the evidence is compelling. Spiritually, at least, these two are blood brothers, intimately linked. Both are entertainers, both are fans of the pithy putdown (Powell: "His mastery of the hard-luck story was of a kind never achieved by persons not wholly concentrated on themselves"; Dyer: "Mate, you look like an earthworm who's whacked a hoodie on"). And both are raging snobs. For Powell, lineage was of paramount importance, Burke's Peerage his favourite book. Between writing, he devoted his studies to his own ancestry. The pedigree of others determined his attitude to them, from aristo pals to the postman. For all, he endeavoured to trace their descent back as far - and as posh - as possible.

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