1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/10699476/Michael-Gove-Number-of-Etonians-in-Camerons-cabinet-is-ridiculous.html.
2. For more on the cohort studies see H. Pearson (2016), The Life Project: The extraordinary story of our ordinary lives, Allen Lane. The author discusses in detail the history of the British birth cohort data, stating ‘This is the tale of these studies and the remarkable discoveries that have come from them. Touching almost every person in Britain today, they are one of our best-kept secrets.’
3. It compares the earnings of males at age 42 in the year 2000 with the earnings of their parents when they were aged 16 in 1974. Females are not included in this analysis because so few worked in the first cohort and the sample size is therefore small.
4. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-sunday-times-rich-list-2017-boom-time-for-billionaires-pzbkrfbv2.
5. Our own calculations from the National Child Development Study which follows all individuals born in Britain in a week of March 1958 over time. Sons’ earnings are measured at age 42 in 2000, and parental income when the cohort member was aged 16 in 1974.
6. Our own calculations from the British Cohort Study following all individuals born in Britain in a week of April 1970 over time. Sons’ earnings are measured at age 42 in 2012, and parental income when the cohort member was aged 16 in 1986.
7. Tragically we do not have a national cohort study tracking life outcomes of those born in the 1980s, as the study was axed following Government funding cuts.
8. In other words, this compares the earnings of an individual at the 90th percentile (ranked 10 per cent from the top and therefore earning more than the other 90 per cent of workers) with the earnings of workers at the 10th percentile (ranked 10 per cent from the bottom) in the earnings distribution.
9. Our own calculations from the 1980 and 1990 General Household Survey and the 2000, 2010 and 2017 Labour Force Survey. All full-time workers aged 25 to 64.
10. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-sunday-times-rich-list-2017-boom-time-for-billionaires-pzbkrfbv2.
11. https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/corporate/a-picture-of-over-indebtedness https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/corporate/one-in-six-adults-struggling-with-debt-worries.
12. Our own calculations, using data from the 2014 Wealth and Assets Survey.
13. T. Piketty (2014), Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Harvard University Press.
14. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/07/david-beckham-has-given-hope-knighthood-near-future/.
15. http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2016/04/david-camerons-taxes.
16. Piketty (2014).
17. Samantha met David’s sister at Marlborough.
18. https://www.allaboutschoolleavers.co.uk/news/article/229/david-beckham-and-other-famous-apprentices. Beckham attended Chingford High School in East London.
19. https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/may/17/david-beckham-alex-ferguson-manchester-united. At Manchester United he became renowned for the hard work and dedicated practice that made him one of the best free-kick specialists in the world.
20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_sketch.
21. They are: I – Higher-grade professionals, administrators and officials; managers in large industrial establishments; large proprietors; II – Lower-grade professionals, administrators and officials, higher-grade technicians; managers in small industrial establishments; supervisors of non-manual employee; IIIa – Routine non-manual employees, higher grade (administration and commerce); IIIb – Routine non-manual employees, lower grade (sales and services); IVa – Small proprietors, artisans, etc., with employees; IVb – Small proprietors, artisans, etc., without employee; IVc – Farmers and smallholders; other self-employed workers in primary production; V – Lower-grade technicians; supervisors of manual workers; VI – Skilled manual workers; VIIa – Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers (not in agriculture, etc.); VIIb – Agricultural and other workers in primary production. See http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-Goldthorpeclassscheme.html.
22. G. Payne (2017), The New Social Mobility: How the politicians got it wrong, Policy Press.
23. M. Savage (2015), Social Class in the 21st Century, Pelican; M. Savage et al. (2013), ‘A New Model of Social Class? Findings from the BBC’s Great British Class Survey experiment’, Sociology 47, 219–50. The seven classes are: elite; established middle class; technical middle class; new affluent workers; traditional working class; emergent service workers; precariat.
24. S. Dahou and J. Hamlin (2016), ‘Ow Cockney is Beckham Twenty Years On? An investigation into H-dropping and T-glottaling’, Lifespans and Styles 2, 20–27; http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/beckhams-getting-posher/.
25. http://press.conservatives.com/post/130746609060/prime-minister-conference-speech-2015.