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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How author Jarrett Krosoczka illustrates gratitude – on the page and in life

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[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2018-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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British Book Awards Expanded for 2019 in Children’s Books, Small Presses

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Grand Central Publishing to Close Life & Style Imprint

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ad buyers: Don’t blame us for the death of the publishing middle class

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[ Digiday | 2018-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Profile wins auction for 'compelling' UK prison system investigation

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Salt snaps up Virago founder's memoir about the 'messiness of life'

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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‘Becoming’ Gets the Holidays Off To a Good Start

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mike Huckabee Shares Advice for a Life ‘Well Done’

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Becoming' Gives a Strong Start to Holiday Sales

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-11-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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My Brilliant Friend director talks about bringing Elena Ferrante’s beloved novel to life for HBO

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[ Fast Company | 2018-11-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Prometheus Sells Fiction Imprints to Start Publishing

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Doubleday bags 'heart-wrenching' debut Shelf Life in 'speedy' pre-empt

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ BBC World | 2018-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Universal Credit threatens to drive working-class writers from profession, warns SoA

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kassabova wins British Academy's £25k Prize for Global Cultural Understanding

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[ The Bookseller | 2018-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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