
Snobbery, the national sport we Brits are most famous for, never went away, it has shape-shifted, metamorphosed and re-emerged in a different form. The British class system isn’t dead, it has been reimagined.
But it is no longer your physical characteristics that can be mocked for being naff, or your car or your kitchen or your accent; it is your beliefs. Thoughts and political opinions are the new class signifiers in Starmer’s Britain.
Think immigration is too high? You might as well be driving a white Range Rover with teeth sparkling from a trip to Turkey. Voted for Brexit? You may as well have concreted over your front garden in order to use it to park your car. Not enthusiastic about the gender diversity agenda? Unbelievably common.
Being on the wrong side of the culture wars is the new Non-U.
The American historian Christopher Lasch argued that modern global elites have more in common with each other than the poorer people from their own countries and this is true too of our new class overlords.
This story is from the September 17, 2024 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 17, 2024 edition of Evening Standard.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In

Arteta's five-year Lewis-Skelly plan pays out in gold
Teenage star's precocious talent and fearless nature justifies the hype in breakthrough season

The Hill Garden and Pergola
Can heritage be romantic? Without a doubt.

Reallife calling: don't let AI suck the love out of online dating
In Spike Jonze's 2013 film, Her, Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with the AI chatbot inside his phone.

Why Space X could destroy the fragile Musk-Trump bromance
The race to Mars could make or break Elon Musk's special relationship with the President

At home with...Sarah CorbettWinder
The stylist is creating a playful escape for her family
How a cancelled cult designer rose again
The rise, fall and rise of Art School's Eden Loweth

The bill wasn't the only hard thing to swallow
Let's get to it: the bill was a horror. £309 for two. For a night of fried chicken and snails and no pudding. For God's sake.

Is there anyone left in London who hasn't got ADHD?
We're reaching a saturation point of over-diagnosis and the internet is to blame, say psychiatrists

Sophistication andwitare in short supplyin this tired sequel
To paraphrase her own mode of self-criticism, this latest instalment in the saga of hapless London singleton Bridget Jones is v v poor.

facing Oh, baby! London's the mother of all problems
We're having fewer and fewer children. Why, and what does it mean for our city?