Letter: Class of '97

Sir: Joe Ashton MP appears to have a simplistic view of our society and its class structure and I would love to know which class he thinks I belong to.

I was brought up on a council estate but I went to grammar school. I like football (and used to play it) but have a BSc. I am studying part- time for a PhD but enjoy beer and darts when I can. Although Boddingtons is my standard tipple, I am quite partial to a bottle of Rioja.

Where does all of this leave me? It leaves me in the same place as the vast majority of people in this country: if I don't work, I don't eat and neither does my family. A brain surgeon is no different from a bricklayer in this respect and both are therefore working class.

To consider class anything other than a purely economic concept is to indulge in that ubiquitous British vice - snobbery.