Tabloid money… jolly good riddance to the British class system

⬤ A survey by the New Statesman has found that young people are much more likely than their elders to associate social class with salary and income, rather than family background, says Tom Utley in the Daily Mail. By this logic, former footballer David Beckham (pictured) belongs to a higher social class than the impoverished members of the once-landed nobility who appear in the new ITV series Keeping Up With The Aristocrats. On the other hand, “I’m almost sure” that Beckham, the son of a gas fitter, would “proudly” describe himself as working class. As for his wife, “my late grandmother… a crashing snob… would have thought it a hilarious joke that the daughter of an electronics engineer and a hairdresser ever bore the nickname ‘Posh’”. Regardless, the British class system, “as I was brought up to understand it”, seems to be on the way out. And a jolly good thing that is, too.

⬤ One of the last three largely original Spitfires is for sale and it is expected to fetch £4.5m, says Frederick Forsyth in the Daily Express. It was flown by two aces during World War II, and supposedly by Michael Caine in the 1969 film The Battle of Britain, although it was actually piloted by an American, who was allowed to keep it. In 2020, it returned to Britain. “For boys of my generation, those who flew Spitfires in the 1940 Battle of Britain were the ultimate icons, far ahead of any pop star or footballer.” The snarl of the Rolls-Royce engine still brings a lump to the throat. “So, if anyone wants a real head-turner and happens to have a large front garden and an even larger bank account, it will soon be there for the buying.”

⬤ The government’s new Way to Work scheme “can only be a good thing”, says Karren Brady in The Sun on Sunday. It will support people back into work and fill the 1.2 million job vacancies more quickly, while slashing the amount of time Universal Credit claimants can look for a role in their “preferred sector” from three months to four weeks. The “dignity of working” should never be underestimated. Many people who have started at the bottom in the kind of jobs we now have lots of vacancies for have gone on to climb the career ladder, some even becoming millionaires. Along the way, they will find that “earning your own money builds self-esteem, keeps you busy and gets your mind working”. And besides, one job very often leads to another.