As for my insistence on retaining the label "working class," I'll continue insisting on it as long as the majority of people have to work for a living, and a tiny minority continue to get rich as a result.

That doesn't really help though. For example, my sister's a solicitor specialising in company law. She works *seriously* hard - 60 hours a week in the office is normal, and then she takes work home in the evenings and weekends. And she had to pay for 2 years of training herself. She's earning a bloody fortune now, but by god she's working for it.

Is she working class? Knowing our family, I'd say that by the traditional definitions she's middle-middle or upper-middle. By income and profession, she's completely upper-middle. But by work done, she's twice as working-class as a Tesco's shelf-stacker or a McDonald's Johnny-No-Stars.

As Giok says, it's really an outmoded concept. When only the middle-class got to do middle-class jobs and only the upper-class got to do upper-class jobs, it was true. But today, when anyone with the brains can become a stockbroker or solicitor or doctor if they choose, it's a pointless exercise.

More important really is "class" as in "style". Everyone can recognise a chav, and it doesn't matter how much money you have or what your job is, you'll still be a chav unless you have (or acquire through self-knowledge) the values that pull up your personal standards. Think Paris Hilton - chav to the max, in spite of all daddy's money.

Graham.