Our fascination with sibling rivalry and resentment over the right of the firstborn to succeed wends its way through ancient myth and legend. For every Old Testament Cain that murders Abel, there is a Jacob who outwits a slow-witted, elder brother Esau to win his father’s inheritance.

These archetypes are no less potent today. The runaway success of the HBO series Succession about the Roy family children who plot for primacy in their father Logan’s media empire is built upon it. And real life imitates art. In 2010, the UK’s voters were transfixed by the contest of the two Miliband brothers for the leadership of the Labour Party.

Bloomberg Opinion