Britain’s inequalities are spelt out in its surnames
Shapley, Evershed and Charter are among the most fortunate
“AM SURPRISED TO realise that anybody ever goes to, lives at, or comes from, Norwich,” wrote the novelist E.M. Delafield in 1930. The town is not Britain’s only one to find that its charms elude outsiders. There are also Slough (John Betjeman invited “friendly bombs” to fall on it), Hull (“a dump”, said Philip Larkin) and Bromley (“suburb of the damndest”, according to H.G. Wells). These opinions are abrasive, but hint at an abiding mystery. The world is our oyster. And yet people happily spend their lives in such unremarkable places.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “What’s in a name?”
Britain November 20th 2021
- The NHS faces a bleak winter
- Azeem Rafiq claims anti-Asian abuse is widespread in English cricket
- British Indians are emerging as an important group of swing voters
- Britain’s economy does not lack oomph, but productivity is lagging
- Britain’s inequalities are spelt out in its surnames
- The government wants to ensure that tax breaks for freeports aren’t wasted
- Britain’s establishment has split into two, each convinced it is the underdog
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