Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
It’s liberating to recognise that there only two classes – us and them
There’s a growing class consciousness in Britain and it’s a powerful force, argues GFTU general secretary DOUG NICHOLLS

QUACK sociology and shallow political analysis have always sought to confuse and distort the nature of class in Britain.

“Political theorists” rummage through our dustbins to see if we drink Chianti or Carlsberg and grade our lifestyle differences to try to split us into subclasses on the basis of whether we eat sausage and mash or foie gras and fenugreek. 

This approach is an essential part of the culture of divide and rule, and reaches artistic levels of subtlety in Britain as reflected in the positioning of food shops — are you Waitrose or Asda? — and the location and pricing of housing. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (centre front) stands with L
Features / 16 July 2024
16 July 2024
DOUG NICHOLLS, chair of the think tank Rebuild Britain, encourages creative engagement with the new government on economic matters particularly
Jacques Delors, President of the European Comission, address
Features / 30 December 2023
30 December 2023
DOUG NICHOLLS, former general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions and lifelong campaigner against the European Union, reflects on the recent death of one of the main architects of the EU
U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Ji
Features / 16 November 2022
16 November 2022
The GFTU has been running education courses on what is really happening in China and the US, Doug Nicholls reflects on some of the learnings and the importance of the recent US-China talks in Bali
Community organisations Acorn and Southwark Defend Council h
Features / 19 October 2022
19 October 2022
In the second of a two-part feature for TUC week, DOUG NICHOLLS, general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions discusses the underestimated strength of community organisations and the value of a new working relationship with trade unions
Similar stories
Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves the end of a press conference on the Immigration White Paper in the Downing Street Briefing Room in London, May 12, 2025
Features / 19 May 2025
19 May 2025

ALAN SIMPSON warns that Starmer’s triangulation strategy will fail just as New Labour’s did, with each rightward move by Labour pushing Tories further right

US President Donald Trump speaks before Steve Witkoff is sworn as special envoy during a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 6, 2025
VE Day 2025 / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

DOUG NICHOLLS argues that to promote the aspirations for peace and socialism that defeated the Nazis 80 years ago we must today detach ourselves from the United States and assert the importance of national self-determination and peaceful coexistence

Features / 3 November 2024
3 November 2024
In the first of two articles, ROBERT GRIFFITHS argues that despite a parliamentary majority, Labour’s timid Budget fails to seize a historic opportunity and lacks the ambition needed to address Britain’s deep social and economic crises
A TELLING GRAPH: From Brownlie and DBIS (2012) and Thomas Pi
Books / 27 September 2024
27 September 2024
ALEX HALL recommends a concise summary of Thomas Piketty’s forensic examination of inequality and how it is produced