4 ms·

Would love to have this conversation about the US but UK class system just doesnt influence enough to be so complicated

exdsq 5y ago
In what way doesn’t it influence enough? The political system in the UK is fairly broken such that PPE at Oxford will get you a long way in your goal to being an MP, and going to a public school gets you a long way towards getting into Oxford, which is a classist system with practical output
- vmception 5y ago
  I was thinking enough outside of the UK, or that the UK isn't big enough and more irrelevant with its new isolationist direction
  - exdsq 5y ago
    Still the 6th largest economy with seats on the UN Security Council and others - it might be going the way of Switzerland (that’s the model most Brexiters I know want) but that doesn’t mean it’s fading away into obscurity on the global stage (This is coming from someone who left the UK for the US and hopes to move to Asia afterwards, so mildly biased but not that much)
- nailer 5y ago
  So does doing well at a grammar school (which in turn is determined by your ability rather than your class).
  - exdsq 5y ago
    Doing well in a grammar school works to an extent but still disproportionately less than say Eton. You can see this by just looking at current cabinet ministers
ghaff 5y ago
I registered for a The Economist event a while back. I have never ever seen such a laundry list of titles you had to choose from. And I don't think not choosing one was even an option. Basically the usual few plus pretty much every aristocratic and clergy title you could think of.
- dcminter 5y ago
  It doesn't necessarily mean much - I think there's some standard (ISO?) list somewhere. I remember many years ago when the www was new and spiffy the British Airways booking website had a drop-down title selector that included "Pope" but I can't imagine he ever flew with them!
  - ghaff 5y ago
    I'm sure there's an ISO standard :-) I've never seen that anywhere else though. Admittedly, tech has generally gotten away from emphasizing titles much to the point that it's sometimes a slightly contentious topic.
- showerst 5y ago
  I'm from the US, and when I was in college I took a British Airways flight for the first time, and on the way home I got a stern talking to from the gate agent in London about fraud because I chose some random foreign (to me) royalty title. For a few years after that I got random junk mail addressed to the Viscount =).

In what way doesn’t it influence enough? The political system in the UK is fairly broken such that PPE at Oxford will get you a long way in your goal to being an MP, and going to a public school gets you a long way towards getting into Oxford, which is a classist system with practical output

vmception 5y ago
I was thinking enough outside of the UK, or that the UK isn't big enough and more irrelevant with its new isolationist direction
- exdsq 5y ago
  Still the 6th largest economy with seats on the UN Security Council and others - it might be going the way of Switzerland (that’s the model most Brexiters I know want) but that doesn’t mean it’s fading away into obscurity on the global stage (This is coming from someone who left the UK for the US and hopes to move to Asia afterwards, so mildly biased but not that much)
nailer 5y ago
So does doing well at a grammar school (which in turn is determined by your ability rather than your class).
- exdsq 5y ago
  Doing well in a grammar school works to an extent but still disproportionately less than say Eton. You can see this by just looking at current cabinet ministers

ghaff 5y ago

I registered for a The Economist event a while back. I have never ever seen such a laundry list of titles you had to choose from. And I don't think not choosing one was even an option. Basically the usual few plus pretty much every aristocratic and clergy title you could think of.

dcminter 5y ago
It doesn't necessarily mean much - I think there's some standard (ISO?) list somewhere. I remember many years ago when the www was new and spiffy the British Airways booking website had a drop-down title selector that included "Pope" but I can't imagine he ever flew with them!
- ghaff 5y ago
  I'm sure there's an ISO standard :-) I've never seen that anywhere else though. Admittedly, tech has generally gotten away from emphasizing titles much to the point that it's sometimes a slightly contentious topic.
showerst 5y ago
I'm from the US, and when I was in college I took a British Airways flight for the first time, and on the way home I got a stern talking to from the gate agent in London about fraud because I chose some random foreign (to me) royalty title. For a few years after that I got random junk mail addressed to the Viscount =).