But it is doubtful whether they can long resist the blandishments. Last month Dulwich College in south London opened a sister school in Shanghai, the most phenomenal city in China, complete with a tall bell-tower “This is a huge, booming area,” the local head explained. But it was no ordinary franchise: it had an English headmaster and teachers, and the boys were taught the same A-levels as Harrovians in England. The Bangkok school has grown to 1,000 pupils, with its own English-style campus and sports fields, together with the Harrovians’ straw boaters and the school song “Forty Years On”.And now Harrow has taken a step which may be far more significant: to establish a school in Beijing, to cater for the children of both expatriate and Chinese parents who want the benefits of an English education, without going to England.Harrow’s expansion is only part of a wider spread of British public schools into the highly profitable new areas of Asia. But the school’s alumni have also spread through the rest of Asia. The royal family of Thailand always favoured Harrow; as did the Hashemite monarchs in the Middle East: King Hussein of Jordan and his brother Prince Hassan (who until recently had hopes of becoming King of Iraq) were both models of the Harrovian ideal, with their cool courage and impeccable manners.With such memories, it was not surprising that Harrow should now have a greater resonance abroad than inside Britain. Seven years ago the school established another Harrow in Bangkok, with local backers who were allowed to use its name.It was established under franchise, like Kentucky Fried Chicken, with standards and methods dictated by headquarters.

It was associated with firm and decisive rule, and respect for law and order in countries always threatened by chaos. And it was natural that the school at Harrow-on-the Hill should look abroad for its future expansion. For it has established a different and more lasting reputation abroad, of which Englishmen are much less aware – as the nursery of the new elites in Asia.With its military traditions and its links with Sandhurst, Harrow has long provided the kind of discipline and style which was very useful for rulers of emerging nations, and in many developing countries it became the symbol of English assurance and sangfroid.Harrow’s most impressive and influential product was Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, whose English education proved crucial to British-Indian relations. And Harrow today, like some other public schools, provides an easy butt for jokes about arrogant young cads who are quite unequipped to make a living in the modern world.But that is only an insular part of the story, and it is important today to realise how Harrow looks to much of the world outside. (“One of my first thoughts,” wrote Baldwin, “was that it should be a government of which Harrow should not be ashamed.”) Since then Harrow has given way to Eton as the nursery of Tory politicians, while now both schools have lost most of their influence on political life, and on business But much of the old commanding style remains. It’s also a reminder of how old-established public schools can still give their pupils a dangerous confidence, unrelated to the outside world, even when they lack the necessary ability and brains.
Harrow may have faded since its heyday a century ago, when it educated Winston Churchill and five members of Stanley Baldwin’s cabinet. More than 100 died during a botched raid by the Russian security services.Leaders who build their power on the promise of security and stability can certainly rally their nations in moments of attack.

But their weakness is that the ground on which their leadership is founded is so narrow If they fail, the consequences are dramatic Russian society is slow and people are patient. But sooner or later that patience will run out.The author is a staff writer for the Russian newspaper ‘Kommersant’. The anger felt at the ongoing vulnerability to terror may eventually spill out on to the streets; ethnic tensions will rise, perhaps resulting even in pogroms against Chechens or others from the Caucasus.But for Putin and the siloviki, Beslan could be as devastating a blow as the humiliation for the Kremlin in 1995 when the Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev took hundreds of patients hostage in a hospital in Budyonnovsk. Of course they were shocked and appalled, but they saw no point in manifesting that anger in public.The reason is that Putin and his hardline factions have done much to eliminate civic society.

We the Russian people, as if hypnotised, have handed over control and responsibility in exchange for the promise of security. The trouble is Chechnya keeps on exposing the brutal truth that security is an illusion. Yet for Putin and his closest associates, to negotiate with terrorists would be a sign of weakness.In any case, even this latest tragedy will not make Russians reconsider their attitudes to Chechnya. What most of them want is for Putin to adopt an even tougher line.