Luxury!

[perrykneeham]

The clip is for the benefit of our overseas (and rather more literal minded, culturally impoverished members) in order to give the context for this thread.

I thought it would be fun to call out particularly cringey attempts to play the ordinary man or woman on the street.  We've heard Rishi Sunak's harrowing tale of a childhood deprived of SKY TV.  Have you spotted any others?  The more contrived and sophistry-reliant, the better.

[flatandy]

Socially, I’ve met a number of people who’ve been desperate to show how tough they had it while growing up staunchly - family had second home level - part of the moneyed class.

[flatandy]

They will reach back to their parents having working class “backgrounds” as evidence that they are in fact deprived peasants who have elevated themselves through their own endeavors.

[mids]

Richie is clearly a long way from the man on the Clapham Omnibus. Not many MPs are though. It's not so much income, although that's part of it. It's more that being an MP is just not like other jobs and these days so many of them haven't done the sorts of jobs that most people do. I know it's hard to say what a "normal" job is as there's a lot of variety but just getting up every day, going to work (in pants and spare room if in the public sector) etc will give you a bit more of an insight into how most of the country lives than PPE at uni, followed by a few years as a spad, maybe a councillor, followed by a stint as an MP if you show enough loyalty.

I do also think too much is sometimes made of the whole "man/chick of the people". I doubt if Richie knows what it's like to die in childbirth but he can probably still empathise and imagine legislation to reduce such things.

[voice]

I see an odd mix of expats over here, those who are obviously from money pretending they are self made, salt of the earth types and those who, like me were obviously lower class scum back home, putting on all manner airs and trying to look and sound posh, but who are obviously all fur coat and no nickers.

[Repat Van]

Jun 13, 2024 13:20:53 GMT flatandy said:

They will reach back to their parents having working class “backgrounds” as evidence that they are in fact deprived peasants who have elevated themselves through their own endeavors.

I have never genuinely known anybody like this.

The middle class / posh people I know are fine identifying as such (even though one of the posh women tries to downplay just how wealthy her family is - she does not pretend to be working class but she will just whisper that she spent summer in the south of France on the yacht of family friends.)

And even the people I know who have solidly middle class lives but claim to be working class do so on the basis of being raised in a solidly working class / underclass family (living on a council estates, qualifying for free school dinners, first / only person in family to go to uni, often raised on benefits etc.)

[perrykneeham]

Here's one from today's topics:

"Dale Vince OBE is the founder of Ecotricity and a United Nations Climate Champion. Born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, in 1961, he left school at 15 with no qualifications and spent the next decade living on the road in a variety of unusual vehicles."

www.ecotricity.co.uk/our-news/2021/dale-vince-our-founders-story#:~:text=Dale%20Vince%20OBE%20is%20the,a%20variety%20of%20unusual%20vehicles.

Now, what's astonishing about this is that it could be true, but is heavily engineered. I know from other sources that this bloke went to a local "grammar school" and achieved nine o-levels. Had I not stayed on for sixth form, this would be true for me too, as my birthday was after the end of term so, while I had left school, I had not yet had my results.

[unclejunior]

images.app.goo.gl/H3QZ5PsXoGEPEM3J6
www.threads.net/@political.satirical/post/C8IUchdiPm7

[Repat Van]

Another dodgy link from UJ