UK SOCIAL CLASS The social structure of the United Kingdom has historically been highly influenced by the concept

of social class, with the concept still affecting British society in the early21st century. Although definitions of social class in the United Kingdom vary and are highly controversial, most are influenced by factors of wealth, occupation and education. Until recently the Parliament of the United Kingdom was organised on a class basis, with the House of Lords representing the hereditary upper class and the House of Commons representing everyone else, and the British monarch is often viewed as being at the top of the social class structure. British society has experienced significant change since the Second World War, including an expansion of higher education and home-ownership, a shift towards a services-dominated economy, mass immigration, a changing role for women and a more individualistic culture, and these changes have had a considerable impact on the social landscape. However, claims that the UK has become a classless society have frequently been met with scepticism. Research has shown that social status in the United Kingdom is influenced by, although separate from, social class. Underclass The "underclass" was first identified in the 1990s, a group consisting of the long-term unemployed, elderly pensioners, economic immigrants and those dependent on state benefits, typically living in public housing or council estates, though these have since been replaced largely by housing association properties. Fictional character Frank Gallagher from the television programme Shameless would present a stereotyped example of life in this stratum of British society. Typical Mosaic Geodemographic types for these people are Tower Block Living or Sharing a stair case. The identification of an 'underclass' is controversial, and some have attributed the term more to right-wing rhetoric than reality. Working class Unskilled and semi-skilled working class Traditionally, these people would work in blue collar jobs. They would typically have left school as soon as legally permissible and not have been able to take part in higher education.[11] Many would go on to work semi-skilled and unskilled jobs on the assembly lines and machine shops of Britain's major car factories, steel mills, foundries and textile mills in the highly industrialised cities in the West Midlands and North of England. However, since the mid-1970s de-industrialisation has shattered many of these communities, resulting in a complete deterioration in quality of life and a reversal in rising living standards for the industrial working class. Many either dropped in status to the working poor or fell into permanent reliance on welfare dependence. Some dropped out altogether and joined the black market economy, while a limited few did manage to climb up to the lower middle class.

Some examples of Mosaic geodemographic groups for these people would be Coronation Street or Rustbelt Resilience. Fictional stereotypes include Andy Capp and Albert Steptoe, who is not only unaspirational himself but crushes the aspirations of his son Harold. They are the mainstay of the trade unions and Labour Party vote, but there are also working class conservatives, particularly in the South East of England in the Medway towns of Kent and the east London border areas of suburban Essex, as exemplified by Alf Garnett. It has been argued that with the decline in manufacturing and increase in the service sector, lower-paid white collar jobs are effectively working class. Call centres in particular, have sprung up in former centres of industry. Terraced housing in Loughborough, built for the working classes. Skilled working classThis class of people would be in skilled blue collar jobs, traditionally in the construction and manufacturing industry, but in recent decades showing entrepreneurial development as the stereotypical white van man, or self employed contractors. These people would speak in local accents and have craft apprenticeships rather than university education. Typical Mosaic types for this group include White Van Culture or Affluent Blue Collar. Trade union membership and Labour Party support is high, but some elements, particularly those located in the South East of England and the West Midlands are slightly more likely to vote Conservative than the unskilled working class. Lower middle class The British lower middle class primarily consists of white collar workers and their families living in less affluent suburbs. They are typically employed in white-collar but relatively unskilled service industry jobs such as retail sales, rail ticket agents, railway guards, airline stewardesses and ticket agents, travel agents, hotel clerks, shipping clerks, factory and other industrial building owners and low level civil service jobs in local and regional government. Prior to the expansion in higher education from the 1960s onwards, members of this class generally did not have a university education. Member of the lower middle class typically speak in local accents, although relatively mild. Typical Mosaic Geodemographic types for this group include Sprawling Subtopia or for successful British Asians Asian Enterprise. Votes in this area are split and minority parties will have a stronger proportion. The comedy character Hyacinth Bucket is a satirical stereotype for this social group. Middle class The middle class in Britain often consists of people with tertiary education. They speak in accents which could range from received pronunciation, to provincial as well as Estuary English. They may have been educated in either state or private schools. Typical jobs include accountants, architects, teachers, social workers, managers, specialist IT workers, business people, engineers, or civil servants. Displays of conspicuous consumption are considered vulgar by them; instead they prefer to channel excess income into investments, including and especially property.

Members of the middle class are often politically and socially engaged and might be regular churchgoers, sit on local committees and governing boards or stand for political office. Education is greatly valued by the middle classes: they will make every effort to ensure their children get a university education; although they are sometimes unable to afford private schooling, they may go to great lengths to get their children into good state schools, such as moving house into the catchment area.[14] They also value culture and make up a significant proportion of the book-buying and theatre-going public. They typically read broadsheet newspapers rather than tabloids. Typical Mosaic geodemographic types would include Provincial Privilege. The comedy character Margo Leadbetter is a satirical stereotype for this group, as is Jilly Cooper's Howard Weybridge. Upper middle class The Public School is traditionally one of the key institutions of the upper-middle-class in Britain. The upper middle class in Britain broadly consists of people who were born into families which have traditionally possessed high incomes, although this group is defined more by family background than by job or income. This stratum, in England, traditionally uses the Received Pronunciation dialect natively and was traditionally frequently associated with professionals with tertiary education. The upper middle class are traditionally educated at more prestigious private schools, called "public schools". These were predominantly founded to serve the educational needs of the upper middle class, whose children have always constituted the majority of their customers. Many upper-middle-class families may have previous ancestry that often directly relates to the upper classes. Although not necessarily of the landowning classes - as a result, perhaps, of lack of a male heir - many families' titles/styles have not been inherited and therefore many families' past status became dissolved. Although such categorisations are not precise, popular contemporary examples of upper-middle-class people might include Boris Johnson, Nick Clegg and David Cameron (politicians), Helena Bonham Carter (actress), Matthew Pinsent (rower and TV personality) and Nigella Lawson (television presenter). Upper class Woburn Abbey, family seat of the Duke of BedfordThe British "upper class" is statistically very small and consists of the peerage, gentry, and hereditary landowners. The majority of aristocratic families originated in the merchant class, and were ennobled between the 14th and the late 19th century. Those in possession of a hereditary peerage (but not a life peerage) for example a Dukedom, a Marquessate, an Earldom, a Viscounty or a Barony are typically members of the upper class. Traditionally, upper class children were brought up at home by a nanny for the first few years of life, and then schooled at home by private tutors. From the late 19th century, it became increasingly popular for upper-class families to mimic the middleclasses, in sending their children to public schools, which had been predominantly

founded to serve the educational needs of the middle class. Nowadays, when children are old enough, they may attend a prep school or pre-preparatory school. Moving into secondary education, it is still commonplace for upper-class children to attend one of Britain's public schools, although it is not unheard of for certain families to send their children to state schools. Continuing education goes can vary from family to family; it may, in part, be based on the educational history of the family. In the past, both the British Army and clergy have been the institutions of choice, but the same can equally apply to the Royal Navy. Sports particularly those involving the outdoors are often regarded as a popular pastime of the upper class. Popular sports include lawn tennis, croquet, rugby, cricket and golf. Equestrian activities are popular with both sexes. Men will more often participate in polo. Hunting and shooting, too, are favoured pastimes. Some upperclass families with large estates will run their own shoots, but many will know someone who keeps pheasants, or other game, and may instead shoot with them. Accent and language and social class Received Pronunciation, also known as R.P. or BBC English, was a term introduced as way of defining standard English, but accent has acquired a certain prestige from being associated with the middle (and above) classes in the South East, the wealthiest part of England. Use of RP in by people from the 'regions' outside the South East can be indicative of a certain educational background, such as public school or elocution lessons. "The Queen's English" was once a synonym for RP. However, the Queen and some other older members of the aristocracy are now perceived as speaking in a way that is both more old fashioned and higher class than "general" R.P. Phoneticians call this accent "Conservative Received Pronunciation". BBC English was also a synonym for R.P. At one time people seeking a career in acting on broadcasting would learn R.P. as a matter of course if they did not speak it already. However, the BBC and other broadcasters are now much more willing to use regional accents. U and non-UU Non-U Vegetables Greens Scent Perfume Graveyard Cemetery Spectacles Glasses False Teeth Dentures Napkin Serviette Sofa Settee or Couch Lavatory or Loo Toilet Lunch Dinner (for midday meal) Pudding Sweet Language and writing style have consistently been one of the most reliable indicators of class, although pronunciation did not become such an indicator until the later 19th century. The variations between the language employed by the upper classes and nonupper classes has, perhaps, been best documented by linguistic Professor Alan Ross's

1954 article on U and non-U English usage, with "U" representing upper and upper middle class vocabulary of the time, and "Non-U" representing lower middle class vocabulary. The discussion was furthered in Noblesse Oblige and featured contributions from, among others, Nancy Mitford. The debate was revisited in the mid-1970s, in a publication by Debrett's called 'U and Non-U revisited'. Ross also contributed to this volume, and it is remarkable to notice how little the language (amongst other factors) changed in the passing of a quarter of a century. English regional accents In England, the upper class or prestige accent is almost always a form of RP; however, some areas have their 'own' prestige accent, distinct from both RP and the working class accent of the region. England has a wide variety of regional accents for a small country, most of which have working class or lower middle class connotations: Scouse The accent and dialect of Liverpool, especially strong in Merseyside's working-class population. Brummie The accent and dialect of Birmingham and surrounding areas. Geordie An accent and dialect of north-east England, particularly the Newcastle/Gateshead area. Cockney is traditionally the working class accent of East London. It also has distinct variations in grammar and vocabulary. The London accent is a more broadly defined working and lower middle class accent than Cockney. Estuary English A working class and lower middle class accent from Southeast England, basically a milder (closer to R.P.) form of the London accent, showing a tendency to supplant received pronunciation. Mockney is a term used in popular media for a deliberate affectation of the workingclass London (Cockney) accent by middle-class people to gain "street credibility". However, phoneticians regard the infusion of Estuary features into received pronunciation among younger speakers to be a natural process. Multicultural London English (abbreviated MLE), colloquially called Jafaican, is a dialect (and/or sociolect) of English that emerged in the late 20th century, and is used mainly by young, inner-city, working-class people in inner London. It is said to contain many elements from the languages of the Caribbean (Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago), South Asia (Indian subcontinent), and West Africa,[21][22] as well as remnants of traditional Cockney.[22] Although the street name, "Jafaican", implies that it is "fake" Jamaican, researchers indicate that it is not the language of white youths trying to "play cool" but rather that [it is] more likely that young people have been growing up in London exposed to a mixture of second-language English and local London English and that this new variety has emerged from that

LIVE FOREVER A polypill, containing a number of drugs all in one capsule, could delay death from heart attacks or strokes by 11 years. That is good news and bad news. Taking medicines all in one go is helpful, particularly for older people whose memories may not be as sharp as they once were. Living for a further 11 years, when the current average expectation of life in the UK is already over 80, raises a number of challenging questions: 11 years of what sort of mental and physical life? Where? With what support and by whom? At whose expense? Yet again, medical researchers may have tunnel vision, focussing on their own field of special interest, without awareness of wider implications. On the other hand, if what is on offer is an additional 11 years of healthy and productive life, it would be a wonderful gift to those who could take advantage of it. Delaying a heart attack or stroke from one's fifties or sixties to one's sixties or seventies would be a major clinical and personal benefit. Even so, these 11 years only delay the inevitable end result. We shall all die, just as expensively, eventually. No lives are being saved for ever. No cost is saved. Medical costs will be increased within these 11 years. More...All over 50s 'should be offered polypill': Four-in-one drug could extend life by 11 years and prevent thousands of strokes and heart attacks 10p 'polypill' that could halve the risk of heart attacks and strokes Furthermore, in general for most people, these are unlikely to be financially productive years so someone else will have to pay for them. Extending the longevity of people who are already wrinkly, if not yet crumbly or powdery, is not good news for young employed people. The tax burden on them is already considerable. What will it be in this gerontocracy? The recent research evidence shows that a polypill containing three tablets to lower blood pressure and one tablet to lower cholesterol, taken every day for 12 weeks by people over 50, resulted in blood pressure falling by 12% and harmful LDL Cholesterol falling by 39%. Professor Sir Nicholas Wald, who created the concept of the polypill, suggests that it could be given as a routine to everyone over the age of 50, regardless of whether the blood pressure or cholesterol is raised. Earlier this year, another study of a polypill containing aspirin as well as two ingredients to lower blood pressure and one to lower cholesterol resulted in a 50% reduction in the risk of a heart attack or stroke. As always, I judge these research findings by whether I would myself follow the recommendation. My parents both lived into their nineties. My blood pressure and cholesterol levels are low. I appear therefore to have good cardiac genes. On that basis, I probably wouldn't bother to take a polypill. However, there is another consideration. My wife, Meg, died two years short of our golden wedding anniversary. If I were to pass that milestone with my wife, Pat, I

would be 125. I'm so happy every day that I think another 50 years like this would be a very good idea indeed.