Corbyn / BBC declare social class of employees?

I believe he is/or has at least been accused of being, a tax dodger though. Sincere apologies to him if I have mis-remembered or gotten him muxed-ip with someone else. Off to google him.

Don't twist my words Annie I categorically DID NOT say that Stephen Kinnock is posh !

I am stuck in the cogs of the National Statistics who don't seem to want to leave me alone. It started with a letter followed by another 5-6 almost threatening me if I did not take part. Next came an interview, then another a year later and another and now I can't seem to get rid of them.

Stephen Kinnock is posh ? Wow, born in the same labour ward as my younger daughter - labour as in maternity not
Labour HQ

Jeez elegran I had to read that through a few times to digest it. Scary indeed.

At first it all looks very innocent until.......

I wonder if I am the only one who has stopped doing YouGov surveys?

Elegran's post above is not in the least far-fetched. Look at the way Labour is looking for certain qualities when selecting candidates for the party, and the way many are likely to face deselection because they are not what Momentum want. That is a just a tiny example of 'social grooming' I suppose.

YouGov surveys can without doubt place people according to location, gender, wealth, age, house ownership, income, family circumstances, political allegiance and occupation. They know if you use social media, if you are up to date with technical advances, what programmes you watch, which celebrities you like, the hobbies you have, where you go on holiday and how old your car is. They can easily build dossiers on anyone who takes part. They are certainly categorising everyone.

Big Brother is fast becoming a reality with the spread of fake news, and free speech being questioned on social media and elsewhere if you hold views that don't fit a certain agenda. People are unfairly labelled now depending on which way they voted in the referendum. Most of us can remember the days when you voted (for one of three parties usually) and NO ONE questioned your stance or called you out for 'voting the wrong way'. Your voting preferences weren't even discussed. Now at general elections there are furious keyboard warriors on all sides deciding that people who do not think along their lines are beyond the pale.

Personal freedoms are at stake I think, and now Corbyn wants to YouGov us all.

gilly Do you think Hilary Benn and Stephen Kinnock ‘traded on their roles’ as the sons of famous Labour politicians to advance their political careers?

Of course it probably didn't make a fig of difference that Hilary James Wedgewood Benn's father is Tony Benn or that he is the fourth generation of MP's, or that Stephen Kinnock (who describes himself as being from a Labour and Trade Union Family) just happened to fall into the role of MP and had nothing to do with the fact he is the son of Glenys and Neil ?

(I met NK several times and thought he was a really nice, genuine man but that it btw).

We will end up like North Korea but instead of cheering and clapping for Kim we will worship out new leader Corbyn ?. It's enough to give you nightmares.

I think we would all benefit from a gentle fall in our expectations and better sense of living within our means both personal and global.

Well said M0nica. I agree. I think that is the only way there will be any sort of fair progress for future generations.

Just reading the posts here, do some people think that there are no longer class distinctions? Because while we may not be wearing bowler hats and flat caps anymore class is definitely alive and kicking! I’ve moved around a lot so often being a newbie am acutely aware of being judged in this way.

Chilling Elegran

We need to learn from history, not disregard it.

Wow Elegran. well done. George Orwell eat your heart out.

"Will membership of only one political party be encouraged at first, then only that one permitted, that party to be chosen by the government in power?"

That is how it starts, Gilly.

First your social class, political and religious allegiance, sexual bias, and so on are noted so that they can be tools in building a wonderful new society where none of these things will give anyone an advantage over anyone else.

Then someone wants to know your bias and allegiances in a situation where they have no relevance whatsoever to whatever it is you will be doing.

Next your interview is abruptly terminated when you say that you don't see what relevance your politics are to your job selling shoes in the shopping centre shoe outlet.

Then your children come home to say that there will be a camping holiday for members of the XXXX youth group, but only full members can go, and can they join?

Next the XXXX youth group puts on "citizenship" talks. Young members who don't attend these find that they are not picked as office-holders. Senior members get into conversation with them and tell them they were missed at the meeting last week, and remind them that when they joined they did promise to uphold the values of the group, which include regular and prompt attendance. They attend the next "citizenship" talk, which is mostly about how lucky they are to belong to this organisation which is dedicated to raising perfect citizens for the state, unlike certain other groups.

At home the children notice that their parents don't seem quite as enthusiastic about the wonderful new order, and have even been heard to praise one of the "other groups" and to express a preference for a church which is not the established one. At the next meeting the child mentions this to the leader. Their father expects to be promoted this year to a more responsible position, but unaccountably he is passed over for the brother of the leader of the youth group. Mother finds that she is no longer needed at her job so has to apply for benefits. She finds that she doesn't qualify because she is not a member of either The Party or The One True Denomination. Her next-door neighbour cuts her dead in the supermarket.

As for the child's big sister, who would prefer to be a big brother and has been buying illicit testosterone injections on the internet, he/she has been admitted to hospital for emergency oestrogen therapy. Consent is no longer required for this as the area's quota of sex/gender changes (one a year per 500,000) has been reached, so she has broken the law and must return to "normal"

Far fetched?

gilly Do you think Hilary Benn and Stephen Kinnock ‘traded on their roles’ as the sons of famous Labour politicians to advance their political careers?

I don’t acknowledge ‘posh ‘ gilly, wealthy? titled! old money? New money?

gillybob I have to protest, we have it on good authority that it is extremely difficult to get on in the world of acting if your parents are famous.
Emilia Fox said so.
I'm sure so many famous children with famous parents, having a tough time breaking into acting, feel the same.


It's often a case of it's not what you know, it's who you know and that the same in all walks of life.

the point about John Humphries: the show's producers go looking for someone to interview depending on the news topic being covered in the show on a particular day. It's not (usually) a case of volunteering yourself for interview on a day of your choosing in order to avoid ferocious Mr H.

Are you suggesting there aren't any Annie ?

....should have said they are able to trade on their role.

Posh ? Oh Gilly

The children of high profile people will always get on JaneAwhether it be in the BBC, ITV or wherever as they trade on their role as the son or daughter of XXXXX .

I support knowing that our BBC (paid for by the tax payers) is a fair employer Annie employing people on their merit not because of who's son or daughter they are or which posh school they went to.

Why should it make a difference what religion I am or what political party I might belong to ? (especially considering it was a voluntary role) and apparently they welcomed the skills I could give them for free.

Are the children of high-profile people to be banned from working in the BBC then?

Surely having a famous parent (particularly a parent who’s a politician and has a history of being savaged by the media) is a heavy enough burden to carry through life, without your job opportunities being severely curtailed, simply because of your famous parent.

But John Humphries isn’t on 5 days a week, if he was so feared why not be interviewed when he wasn’t in the studio?

But you support knowing the background of people gilly, if ‘where do you live and what work do you parents do’ is acceptable why not ‘do you have a faith and do you belong to a political party, if so, which party ‘