Class

A couple of Labour bloggers, Antonia Bance and Kerron Cross, are having a bit of a spat at the moment which started with a discussion about All Women Shortlists but it now seems to have developed into a discussion about class and how it is defined.

My background is solidly working class. My dad was a bus inspector and my mum a housewife. We lived in a council house in an area of Glasgow which is one of the most deprived. I went to the local comprehensive. I had two holidays before the age of 18 because that's all my parents could afford.

I then went to University (only one of three from my year at school) and immediately got a job working for the Conservative Party. I left there after five years and got a job in a charity. My salary now is almost 3 times what my dad earned when he was made redundant - although I still can't even consider buying a house. I live in a two-car family and go on good holidays - in the past three years I have been to Barbados, Kenya and Cuba. I like going out to dinner and the theatre. I would appear to be middle class.

So what am I? I don't know and that's one of the reasons I don't like categorising people by "class" - it doesn't take into account individual circumstances and ghettoises people in one of three very indiscriminate categories.

But I would like to know - background or current status, which is more important?