Reply #18: I definitely saw chav types when I was in England last month, but

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I also saw something else: how bifurcated their economy is. There were expensive stores, and there were dirt-cheap stores that make K-Mart look classy, as well as an incredible number of thrift stores. There were few mid-range stores. The real estate was mostly terribly expensive, and then there were the council flats.

There's also a bifurcation in literacy. Over the years, I have been impressed by how erudite and skilled with language many British people are, but at the same time, you see some real borderline illiterates, including some of the people I exchanged e-mail with in preparation for my trip.

This is the legacy of Thatcher's Britain, young people whose parents or even grandparents were thrown out of work by Thatcher's policies and who have grown up without hope or without the life skills to break out of their lifestyle.

People who are stereotyped can easily internalize the stereotype if they aren't savvy enough to break through it.

I would agree that most of the chav types appeared pretty dim, but it looks as if the state schools aren't doing much to enlighten them.