old boy network

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old boy network

informal Brit the appointment to power of former pupils of the same small group of public schools or universities

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

old boy network - an exclusive informal network linking members of a social class or profession or organization in order to provide connections and information and favors (especially in business or politics); "professional women have developed an old boy network of their own"

network, web - an interconnected system of things or people; "he owned a network of shops"; "retirement meant dropping out of a whole network of people who had been part of my life"; "tangled in a web of cloth"

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References in periodicals archive ?

From the weird goal that settled it, to the decent chances Everton created, the control and quality of their game and the type of football Evertonians want to see, the old boy network should be shut down on that comment alone.

Silva lining stops fans feeling Blue

In a swipe at his political foes, Mr Flynn added: "People are fed up with politicians from political parties and their failed promises, expense scandals and their cliquey old boy network."

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We agreed it was rich the old boy network was trying to write it off as youthful exuberance.

Revenge is rasher move for Cameron

Others, meanwhile, said there is a perception in the community of an "old boy network'' in which those hired for key municipal positions are based on who they know.

'Old boy network' blasted; Spirited session over next city manager

This is because the parents who pay for the independent schools, buy not just a particular type of education, but for an enormous social capital, the old boy network.

Learning a lesson from state schools; Views of Wales

* 2 Which actor appeared as Lucas Frye in Old Boy Network? * 3 What was the name of the Steve Coogan character in Saturday Zoo and Three Fights, Two Weddings And A Funeral...?

SCREEN TEST

I AM puzzled by JAH Porteous' last few words of his letter of January 30 headlined "Cash crisis and the old boy network", when he writes a certain secret society will offer Gordon Brown directorships for his looking after them.

Letter: Bamboozled by 'secret society' VOICE OF THE NORTH

"This person will come to Washington and the old boy network had better look out - because change is coming" - John McCain, the Republican nominee for the US presidency, on his running mate.

They say

All this twaddle smacks of the old boy network and the fawning and erchie-licking that characterised the sport several decades ago.

Time to tie a knot in this bunch of snobs

This 'get your hair cut, lad' attitude typifies the anachronistic, forelock-tugging outlook that regards racing in Britain as the exclusive province of the old boy network and keeps new - and, more especially, younger - customers from flowing through the turnstiles.

Letters What we need is more individuality

I suspect the problem is not the money but the class snobbery still prevalent in Oxbridge colleges where the old boy network is alive, well and operating against young people from poor backgrounds and education establishments without the social connections of expensive public schools.

Stotty on Sunday: TOP THE SNOBS

With the decreased availability of traditional CEO directors, some boards have had to diversify their membership beyond the bounds of the Old Boy network.