Class is to the British what Race is to the Americans. It is not really discussed, and if it is, it is usually dismissed to foreigners as "not really important, these days".
And of course, by and large it should not be that important- the braying Piers' and Tobys have mostly been expelled from the city for being really quite bad at sums, and now content themselves being estate agents, whether in Belgravia or Bulgaria- much more appropriate for someone educated at Cirencester's Agricultural College.
However amongst the more insecure and driven Middle Classes the fight for good schooling has managed to distort and twist the housing market as well as the University entry system. More than for some time it is wealth and social background that determines academic attainment rather than aptitude and intelligence.
Our society continues to neglect talent because it is from the "wrong background".
The acres of trash journalism concerning the putative relationship between the 24 year old second heir to the throne and his girlfriend seems to have encouraged the very worst in those for whom "it is not really important these days but". Personally I find the drooling drivel from those sad creeps who study the Royal family to be fairly emetic, and the garbage about whether Kate Middleton is the Right Gel to be Our future Queen like this from the Daily Telegraph makes me wonder about the whole question of our Monarchical system.
Personally I respect The Queen, but the antics of some of the Royal family leave me quite cold. I suppose we can hardly blame Prince William for grabbing what comes to him, after all he is young, rich, tolerably handsome and very famous- and many red blooded heterosexual men in the same position would seek to "oblige" as many ladies as possible. However in addition to his choice of women, he is doubtless also surrounded by similar kinds of flunkies- people who believe that the Prince is intrinsically special. I think it would take a character of iron to resist being warped by the constant wave of adulation from a sea of women and an army of toadies. Perhaps then we can hardly blame the Royal Family for being different, when they are constantly treated differently.
The Sovereign is the embodiment of the State and Elizabeth II has handled her role with grace, despite the cacophony of grovelling. However, The Queen grew up in different times, when a degree of privacy and discretion could be relied on. In today's modern world, perhaps the vestiges of our class system, mixed with today's crack cocaine of celebrity is a drug that will be too strong to allow any of the younger members of the Royal family to emerge unscathed.
I would still like to tar and feather the authors of the moronic tosh that declares that the choice of napkin or serviette to describe table linen is the root of a yawning social crevasse that may not, indeed should not, be bridged. These people are not merely pointless toadies, they are actually malign.
And of course, by and large it should not be that important- the braying Piers' and Tobys have mostly been expelled from the city for being really quite bad at sums, and now content themselves being estate agents, whether in Belgravia or Bulgaria- much more appropriate for someone educated at Cirencester's Agricultural College.
However amongst the more insecure and driven Middle Classes the fight for good schooling has managed to distort and twist the housing market as well as the University entry system. More than for some time it is wealth and social background that determines academic attainment rather than aptitude and intelligence.
Our society continues to neglect talent because it is from the "wrong background".
The acres of trash journalism concerning the putative relationship between the 24 year old second heir to the throne and his girlfriend seems to have encouraged the very worst in those for whom "it is not really important these days but". Personally I find the drooling drivel from those sad creeps who study the Royal family to be fairly emetic, and the garbage about whether Kate Middleton is the Right Gel to be Our future Queen like this from the Daily Telegraph makes me wonder about the whole question of our Monarchical system.
Personally I respect The Queen, but the antics of some of the Royal family leave me quite cold. I suppose we can hardly blame Prince William for grabbing what comes to him, after all he is young, rich, tolerably handsome and very famous- and many red blooded heterosexual men in the same position would seek to "oblige" as many ladies as possible. However in addition to his choice of women, he is doubtless also surrounded by similar kinds of flunkies- people who believe that the Prince is intrinsically special. I think it would take a character of iron to resist being warped by the constant wave of adulation from a sea of women and an army of toadies. Perhaps then we can hardly blame the Royal Family for being different, when they are constantly treated differently.
The Sovereign is the embodiment of the State and Elizabeth II has handled her role with grace, despite the cacophony of grovelling. However, The Queen grew up in different times, when a degree of privacy and discretion could be relied on. In today's modern world, perhaps the vestiges of our class system, mixed with today's crack cocaine of celebrity is a drug that will be too strong to allow any of the younger members of the Royal family to emerge unscathed.
I would still like to tar and feather the authors of the moronic tosh that declares that the choice of napkin or serviette to describe table linen is the root of a yawning social crevasse that may not, indeed should not, be bridged. These people are not merely pointless toadies, they are actually malign.
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