Living in class limbo
The journalist and author Danny Lavelle has long been fascinated by the concept of class because of the way his life has unfolded. Moving between foster care, university, sleeping rough and becoming an Orwell prize-winning writer has led him to question how much the notion of class can help us understand life in 21st-century Britain.
Lavelle tells Helen Pidd about his experiences, while unpacking ideas around social signifiers, demographics and relationships to labour. They discuss how the idea of 'working-class interests' sits with the notion of individualism, and explore whether a person's quality of life or lifestyle is more important than their class.
Lavelle, the author of Down and Out: Surviving the Homelessness Crisis, talks about life on the streets and the impact of UK government cuts in a previous episode of Today in Focus.
Support the Guardian today: theguardian.com/todayinfocuspod
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Can do: the rise of tinnification
I've been asked about the 'tinnification' of drinks pretty much everywhere else, so it feels only apt to talk about it here, too, because producers are putting just about everything they can in a can these days. Obviously, canned drinks aren't anything new – the first canned beer went on sale in 1935, when post-prohibition America saw Krueger's Finest Beer punted to drinkers in Virginia. Similar attempts had been made many years earlier, but it wasn't until after two years of testing that the boffins finally developed a special coating that prevented the beer from reacting with the tin can. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. And it's not just beer that's getting the aluminium treatment. Canned cocktails and canned wine are now going from strength to strength, too (and irrespective of whether you view the latter as a marvel of modern science or a vinous abomination) . Time was when only Provençal rosé and New Zealand sauvignon blanc got the tinned treatment, but now everything from orange wine to English sparkling is getting tinnified. The reasons for this are many, and all are inescapably tied to modern drinking habits. The Silicon Valley Bank's 2025 state of the US wine industry report recorded a rise of 29.3% in the uptake of so-called ready-to-drink (RTD) products, citing convenience and cost as two of the main factors for that increase. I mean, yeah, we're all broke right now (although you don't need me to tell you that – you need only look at the emergence of the £7 pint). And although we might end up drinking a bottle of tequila over the space of a couple of months, a £3 pre-mixed can is far more appealing to the wallet than a £30 bottle. It doesn't just cost less; there's less liquid, too. Well, obviously – but at least that means it's easier to track how much you've had, particularly for RTD cocktails. And, for the mental and physical health-conscious drinker, it's much easier to quantify the units in three cans of spritz than it is to eyeball a bottle of Campari to work out the same metric. There are many new brands that, effectively, have been launched to meet this purpose, but there are also plenty of existing brands that have pivoted to meet demand. But does tinnification affect the drinking experience, and does it affect the liquid itself? New Zealand wine producer Villa Maria, known for its supermarket sauvignon, started putting its stuff in cans a couple of months ago. They've kept dissolved oxygen levels below 0.5 parts per million to protect aroma and flavour, and they claim this was noticeable during a six-month comparative trial between canned and bottled wines. David Roper, the group's winemaker, also notes the reduced ecological impact of cans over bottles, because they're lighter, infinitely recyclable and have a lower carbon footprint than glass, so benefit both the producer and the consumer. It seems the age of aluminium is only just beginning: better make room in your fridge. Fever-Tree & Papa Salt Blood Orange Gin Spritz £3 (250ml) Waitrose, 5%. A Sicilian orange tipple featuring my new favourite saline gin. Vinca Organic Rosé £3 (187ml) Tesco, 12.5%. 100% syrah from west Sicily made in a pale Provence style. Whitebox Freezer Martini £5.80 (100ml) Delli, 34.4%. A punch in the face at that ABV, and an excellent freezer standby. El Rayo Tequila Tonic £39 (12 x 250ml, or £3.25 a can) El Rayo, 7%. El Rayo's Plata teamed with Indian tonic water: clean, citrussy, crisp.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
The 'simple' maths puzzle from The 1% Club that's leaving adults baffled - so, can YOU work it out?
A seemingly simple primary school maths question has left hundreds of adults scratching their heads. The game show question, which was featured on the ITV program The 1% Club, has caused widespread confusion after circulating online - and, while some have been able to work out the answer in seconds, others admitted to struggling. The puzzle asked players to identify the largest number from a series of digits, fractions, and percentages. Players had to choose the highest value from either A: one-third; B: 0.0330; C: 30 per cent of 10; D: three-tenths; or E: 3.01. The tricky question could easily be solved by converting each option to decimal numbers, but the equation had many confused and 'seeing threes'. Some shared their guesses while others speculated they had been given a trick question. 'Is it not C? 3.33333? Or have I had a long day?' one asked, and another said: 'None of them are the largest number'. 'Bit confusing. There are two numbers, two fractions and one percentage. I'm going with the biggest number... E,' a third predicted. However, most people agreed the true answer was E: 3.01. One person explained the solution by showing each answer as a decimal number: '0.333, 0.0330, 3.0, 0.3 or 3.01 - That will be E then'. 'E. Is the answer. 30% of 10 is 3.33% would be 3.33 recurring,' another clarified. 'It's E. You C guys are dividing 10 by 3 instead of multiplying 10 by .3 to get 30% of 10,' a third agreed. Despite the clarification, some were still sceptical, sparking a heated argument. 'People saying .33333 is larger than 3.01?! Hmmm...' one person wrote. 'This show should be called "Who can't be trusted to do their own tax return/benefit application",' a second quipped. 'Wow, the amount of people who don't know 1/3 is less than 1 is staggering. Answer is E as it's the only answer greater than the whole number of 3,' a third complained. 'One third of what? Three tenths of what? Everyone seems to be assuming one-third of one and three-tenths of one, but it doesn't say that. Not enough information to properly answer the question without making assumptions,' someone added. 'A lot of people are messing up the answers for option A and C, and that's okay! Some people have not done math in quite some time or have made a silly mistake,' one chimed in. Saturday night's 1% question proved to be so difficult that some TV watchers were left completely stumped This isn't the first time The 1% Club question has caused a stir among viewers. The quiz show, hosted by Lee Mack, sees 100 contestants battle it out to get to the final round and answer a question that only 1% of the country can answer. In one episode, viewers were left baffled by a hidden sequence question worth a whopping £93,000. Four contestants made it to the final question in the recent instalment and chose to play for a chance at bagging a share of the jackpot, but only two, Maisy and Jasmine, answered it correctly - taking home £46,500 each. The question read: 'Peter has recently found his old diary that he'd written in secret code, but he can't remember how to decipher what he wrote. 'Can you crack the code to find out what the underlined word is? WH89 I GR1W UP I WA92 21 B8 A 5L1RI72.' Lee revealed the answer, 'When I grow up, I want to be a florist' and explained how Peter had replaced a letter with a number that started with that letter where possible. Some took to social media to share their verdict on the tricky question, with one posting: 'Nowhere near the 1% question this week, well done to the two who spotted it ..'; Some took to social media to share their verdict on the tricky question, with one posting: 'Nowhere near the 1% question this week, well done to the two who spotted it' 'I didn't get the 1% question, but my 11-year-old did.'; 'Was close to working it out, but not in the time!! Congratulations to the 2 ladies.'; While others found the question easy, with one penning: 'The 1% Club' fans are buzzing—last night's 1% question was a breeze! X users say even kids could nail it. Are the quizzes softening up, or are we just geniuses now?' In the same episode, Viewers were left fuming after a 'nonsensical and stupidly worded' question wiped out a wave of players early on. The 90% question read: 'Which of these is the largest? A) Circle, B) Triangle, C) Rectangle, or D) Square.' The correct answer was C, Rectangle, because it was the longest word. However, despite it being the first and supposedly the easiest question of the game, 12 contestants answered incorrectly. Afterwards, some fans took to social media to share their thoughts on the question, expressing how 'outraged' they were on X.
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
Sudoku 7,008 hard
Click here to access the print version. Fill the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 to 9. To see the completed puzzle, buy the next issue of the Guardian (for puzzles published Monday to Thursday). Solutions to Friday and Saturday puzzles are given in either Saturday's or Monday's edition.
