Polly Toynbee: what my privileged start in life taught me about the British class system

It wasn’t just luck that steered the Guardian columnist to Oxford and into a media career ... She reflects on the subtle mechanics of class (and an early encounter with a naked future PM)Children know. They breathe it in early, for there’s no unknowing the difference between nannies, cleaners, below-stairs people and the family upstairs. Children are the go-betweens, one foot in each world, and yet they know very well from the earliest age where they belong, where their destiny lies or, to put it crudely, who pays whom. Tiny hands are steeped young in the essence of class and caste. In nursery school, in reception they see the Harry Potter sorting hat at work. They know. And all through school those fine gradations grow clearer, more precise, more consciously knowing, more shaming, more frightening. Good liberal parents teach their children to check their privilege – useful modern phrase – but it swells up like a bubo on the nose. There’s no hiding it.I can summon up the childhood shame at class embarrassments. Aged seven like me, Maureen, with her hair pinned sideways in a pink slide, lived in a pebble-dashed council house by the water tower. They were at the other end of Lindsey, more hamlet than village, half a mile down the road from my father’s pink thatched cottage set in the flat prairie lands of Suffolk, where I spent half my time, the other half in London, shuttling between divorced parents. I envied Maureen for what looked to me like a cheerful large family... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 12:00:56 UTC ]
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Preserving our digital content is vital. But paying $38,000 for the privilege is not | John Naughton

Storing online data in perpetuity is not just about photos and texts but thoughts and ideas. Platforms such as WordPress are starting to act, but it must be at a realistic priceWay back in 2004 the two founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, thought that it would be a cool idea to scan... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-11-25 16:00:53 UTC ]
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A.S. Byatt, British writer and author of Booker Prize-winning 'Possession,' dies at 87

British author A.S. Byatt, who was known for award-winning works including 'Possession' and 'The Children's Book,' has died. She was 87. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-11-17 17:18:21 UTC ]
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Zeke Caligirui on the Incarcerated Writers Who Edited An Anthology on Class

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-16 09:08:02 UTC ]
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David Ferry, Poet and Translator Who Won Acclaim Late in Life, Dies at 99

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[ The New York Times | 2023-11-11 18:29:17 UTC ]
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It started with a sandwich cookbook from 1909. Now, Barry Enderwick is TikTok's favourite sandwich historian

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[ CBC | 2023-11-08 20:08:50 UTC ]
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British Library Hit by Apparent Cyberattack

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[ The New York Times | 2023-11-03 17:15:37 UTC ]
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Here’s the winner of the £25,000 British Academy Book Prize.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-31 19:20:23 UTC ]
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6 books to get you started with Black horror, classic and new

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-10-26 10:00:53 UTC ]
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‘I thought it was me alone’: how the Black British book festival has grown

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[ The Guardian | 2023-10-20 12:55:16 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2023-10-18 14:56:05 UTC ]
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When Innocent Black People Die, I Mourn The Life, The Potential, And The Art

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[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
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When Innocent Black People Die, I Mourn The Life, The Potential, And The Art

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[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
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Salman Rushdie’s memoir of the attempt on his life will be published next year.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-11 15:03:03 UTC ]
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[ Book Riot | 2023-10-10 10:32:00 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2023-10-10 10:30:07 UTC ]
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[ The Guardian | 2023-09-27 09:00:54 UTC ]
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New Religion Books for Kids Aim to Start Big Conversations

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon’s second Prime Day starts October 10th

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[ PC World | 2023-09-18 13:46:37 UTC ]
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[ The New York Times | 2023-09-15 15:51:18 UTC ]
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Zakiya Dalila Harris' life inspired 'The Other Black Girl.' Why she had to cut the cord

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-09-13 19:57:43 UTC ]
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