Lisa Hilton

Society news

Despite its increasing resemblance to ‘Heat’ magazine, I was reassured on Tuesday morning that my beloved Guardian has not lost the courage of its convictions. Running an ill disguised-spoiler of next month’s Tatler cover (ha ha, vile toffs, we know who Daisy Lowe is, too!), Hadley Freeman pondered “that almost parodic monthly recorder of Britain’s class system’s” new best friendship with Peaches, Pixie and co. – that’s Bob Geldof’s daughters for those of you who have lives- over more traditional aristocratic totty. The Guardian seems a teeny bit obsessed with the Tatler at the moment; Charlie Brooker was banging on about its list of  “waddling bags of arseflesh” aka eligible bright young things on November 17, while Hadley was at it again on October 20th, wondering whether the blazer trend was a form of class treachery.  The problem with Tatler’s apparent show of meritocracy, Hadley concluded, that it was all about money, which has replaced breeding as a criterion for entry into the beau monde. Er, yes. Tatler is gleefully unapologetic about being more interested in cash than coronets. It’s only the dear old Guardian that still believes in Norman blood. Or at least that there is something inherently virtuous about being working class, and that it’s perfectly reasonable to sneer at people because of where they come from- so long as it is a castle rather than a council house. 

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