When Napoleon I sneered at England as "a nation of shopkeepers," he was maligning (and at the same time acknowledging the importance of) Britain's middle class, backbone of the nation's social structure since it emerged from feudalism. Nowadays in warbled Britain all classes are having a tough time, but the middle class is having the worst time of all. The moneyed aristocrats (formerly known as the "ruling class") have to dip into their capital, but they are still vastly better off than anybody else. The working classes have had wage raises to meet the...
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