The squeezed muddle

I think the saddest part of that is that while he's trying to stand up for a group, he's too fearful of making that claim publicly. I don't know if that's him being weak or clever. He wants to stand up for the group Healy identified, I don't doubt that. But he wants to do it without alienating the groups either side, especially the ones higher up for fear of a backlash.
I personally think that Cameron is in No. 10 because the Tories were the only party to put together a coherent philosophy at the last election, and the reason Clegg is there is because Cameron tried to please too many people rather than being bold and brave, alienating some and securing others. It's certainly far too early to judge miliband, or to start backing yourself into a corner by making pledges. Sadly, policy must wait, and wait years. Cameron did the right thing in not committing to policy for years but rather rebranding and all that stuff I hate. While I don't think Miliband should start wearing converse or proclaiming love for the Smith/Killers/popular music group of the week, he should be vague at this point, dealing with philosophy rather than policy detail. At least that's what I think.

Is the class issue dead in UK politics?‏

Is class dead? I don't think so. It would be nice if it was and we lived in a true egalitarian meritocracy, but we don't. my example is to compare my schooling with Eton. If Cameron had gone to my schools rather than his he wouldn't be in the running to be PM. I'm not saying I would be if I'd been to Eton, and sure as hell not for the Tories. We should look at people themselves rather than as the result of their backgrounds, but it is a factor. The problem is that people pay lip service to equality, but that's about it.

"What if the Daily Telegraph always prefaced the name John Prescott with the words "Labour oik"? It would sound really mean."
How about Gorbals Mick about Michael Martin? The Daily Mail is full of class hatred. Well, full of hatred generally.

Ethnic minorities 'no longer always disadvantaged'‏

So class is the defining factor, more so than race.
That much is bloody obvious, always has and maybe always will.
Success in just about any area of life, from income to longevity, comes down to class. Class and race may be linked, so certain ethnic groups may do better or worse, but class is the one that is always there.
It's a shame that Labour hasn't really tackled it in their 12 years in power, but not too surprising given the New Labour ideology.
The Tory take on this is pathetic opportunism, perfectly exemplified by the quote in this piece.

Labour battles the BNP on class and race‏

It says "there has been a renewed recognition of the importance of class", arguing that in schools, for example, "there are greater similarities between black and white children from working class families than between working class and middle class children from the same ethnic group".

Very much so.
I remember attending a Fabian event where there was a fair spread of ethnic minorities. Given the population statistics I would say they were over represented.
Yet me and the mrs were the only ones there from a lower middle-class background. It seemed that everyone else there was pretty posh, public/private/independent school educated, and groomed and bred for power from an early age.
That to me is going to be key in the future. Ethnic divisions of all colours and styles should be properly represented but class is also an issue. Say that parliament was arranged so that it was fully representative along ethnic lines: if that Fabian meeting was a template then the class issue would not be represented as the upper classes would remain over represented even if the ethnicity question was addressed properly.
So yeah, class still matters. More than anything else.