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 ]
News tagged with: #harry potter

Other news stories related to: "Polly Toynbee: what my privileged start in life taught me about the British class system"

Coronavirus Puts Abrupt End to Good Start for Lagardère Publishing

In the first two months of 2020, sales in Lagardère's worldwide publishing group were up 5.3% over the comparable period in 2019, but fell 19% in March. For April, Lagardère said it expects global publishing sales to be down 45% from April 2019. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #lagardère #good start #lagardre publishing

Imagine 'life beyond corona', Geller urges publishers

Jonny Geller has advised publishers to see lockdown as a time of change and "experiment". Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-28 17:27:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #jonny geller

Two Used Book Chains Start to Reopen

Gottwals Books reopened two stores in Georgia yesterday, while Half Price Books is planning to reopen some stores this weekend. In both instances, reopening has resulted in difficult discussions between employees and management. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

In ‘How to Pronounce Knife,’ stories of Lao immigrants reveal everyday moments of racism, classism, power and privilege

Souvankham Thammavongsa’s debut collection investigates how work shapes the immigrant identity and how erasure and invisibility lead to isolation. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-23 05:40:55 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #souvankham thammavongsa #pronounce knife

British Book Award chats kick off with Rónán Hession

The Bookseller is to launch a series of weekly Twitter conversations with the authors shortlisted for this year's British Book Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-22 18:15:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book award #bookseller #authors shortlisted #rnn hession

‘It would be all right’: Novelist Susanna Moore finds solace in a sometimes troubling life story

In the memoir “Miss Aluminum,” the writer and former script reader for Jack Nicholson shares a #MeToo moment, and more. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-22 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #memoir

Longlist announced for Spread the Word’s Life Writing Prize 2020

The 12-strong longlist for this year's Spread the Word Life Writing Prize has been announced, with the prize open to UK writers who do not have an agent or have yet to publish a full-length work. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-21 20:48:32 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #full-length work #uk writers

Profile Books to publish 'much needed' celebration of British farm produce

Profile Books will publish a new book by Ned Palmer, author of A Cheesemonger's History of the British Isles. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-20 02:27:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #british isles #profile books

‘Practical, life-affirming, positive’: How Hearst UK is creating more uplifting content

The magazine group has been publishing more positive, feel-good content based on audience research. The post ‘Practical, life-affirming, positive’: How Hearst UK is creating more uplifting content appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2020-04-16 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #hearst #magazine group #uplifting content #hearst uk

Publishing's First Quarter in 2020: A Good Start, Then the Virus

Publishing sales got off to a decent start in 2020—but as the new coronavirus increased its grip on the country’s economy, sales have softened. The business outlook for the second quarter is, at best, uncertain. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #good start #publishing sales

‘Hood Feminism’ makes a convincing — and urgent — case about how race and class divide women

Mikki Kendall’s bracing collection explores raging disparities and the limits of a movement Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-04-08 18:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |

PRH UK Starts Furloughs

Penguin Random House UK is the latest U.K. publisher to take cost out of the business in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-04-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #penguin random house

A Reading List for Your Quarter-Life Crisis: Critical Linking, March 29, 2020

An awesome daily roundup of the most interesting bookish links from around the web! Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-03-29 10:30:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #critical linking #quarter-life crisis

An unvarnished look at the troubled life of novelist Robert Stone

Madison Smartt Bell’s “Child of Light” is a revealing biography of the author of “Dog Soldiers” and “A Flag for Sunrise.” Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-27 17:30:40 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #dog soldiers

Alexandra Chang’s ‘Days of Distraction’ experiments with form to reveal the complexities of modern life

The debut novel intersperses the story of a tech reporter in Silicon Valley with Facebook posts, tweets, Google results and other fragments. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-27 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #debut novel #facebook posts #silicon valley #tech reporter #modern life #alexandra chang

The Best Roald Dahl Books: 5 Books to Get You Started

This prolific children's book writer is beloved by many generations of readers, and we've rounded up some of the best Roald Dahl books. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2020-03-25 10:35:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #children's book #ve rounded #book writer #prolific children

Scholastic Starts Temporary Staffing Reductions

The publisher is looking to reduce labor costs by temporarily closing some distribution centers and implementing measures including a combination of furloughs, shortened work weeks, and voluntary unpaid leave. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-25 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #temporarily closing

An Attentive Memoir of Life in Parma

The value of “writing a life” that Wallis Wilde-Menozzi undertook a quarter century ago is now the model to express our times. Continue reading at The Paris Review

[ The Paris Review | 2020-03-20 16:10:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #memoir

Gratitude as a Way of Life: PW Talks with Galen Guengerich

Guengerich, a senior minister at New York City’s Unitarian Church of All Souls, sets out to create a modern template for spirituality based on gratitude in 'The Way of Gratitude: A New Spirituality for Today' (Random House, June). Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-03-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #random house