The end of the British Establishment?

The failings of British elites are damaging not only wider society but are undermining the very foundations of the Establishment itself.

That's according to Professor Aeron Davis, of Goldsmiths, University of London, whose new book Reckless Opportunists analyses the actions of the Establishment since the 1980s.

Davis argues that the great transformations that have taken place since the 1980s have not only upended societies, they have reshaped elite rule itself.

He suggests too many leaders today, regardless of intent, are ignorant, precarious, rootless and self-serving - getting what they can amid the chaos they have created.

Based on interviews with over 350 elite figures, the book poses the question how did we end up producing the leaders that got us here and what can we do about it?

Read a chapter from Reckless Opportunists: Elites at the End of the Establishment in the Guardian's Long Read section here.

Reckless Opportunists: Elites at the End of the Establishment is available from 12 March.