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But few will have expected a wave of snobbery in these supposedly egalitarian times, played out explicitly in the callous language of celebrity magazine coverage and in "reality" television shows such as Wife Swap. "I hear a lot of people talk quite straight-facedly about 'trailer-park trash'," says Dr Ruth Cherrington, a cultural studies lecturer at the University of Warwick. "It could be a backlash against political correctness combined with a populist tendency in society."

Or a vent for society's toxins, if the forum in Chavscum.co.uk is anything to go by. This cult website was set up in December 2003 to chronicle the chavs, also known as neds, townies, kevs, charvers, steeks, spides, bazzas, yarcos, ratboys, kappa slappers, skangers, janners, stigs or scallies. "Whatever you know them as, this site is about them," it reads. "Britain's peasant underclass that is taking over our towns and cities!"