Thoughts on equality

Patricia Gosling reflects on the idea and everyday reality of equality

My maternal family was Welsh and their attitude, although living in England, was that the English class system was a nonsense. They felt they were as good as anyone. This attitude must have rubbed off on me, in spite of my innate shyness and lack of confidence when young. I suspect it is what enabled me to move, during my lifetime, from somewhere near the bottom of the social pile to somewhere near the top. When I found myself at dinner conversing with a bishop, an MP or a business tycoon, I somehow managed this without disgracing myself – and discovered in the process that the more eminent the person, the more kindly and courteous they usually were.

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