The idea that Lily Allen hasn't benefitted from her father (and her mother's) contacts is laughable. For what it's worth an ex-girlfriend of mine is a film producer and knows Keith Allen pretty well. It just so happened that I spent a couple of years hanging out that crew a little - and Lily A was around a lot. She practically grew up in the Groucho Club and probably has more media/industry contacts than the whole of this forum put together. The obnoxious little princess is what you might politely describe as a 'formidable media operator'. And I don't know where she gets that accent from as, believe me, she's a very nicely spoken girl when she isn't faking it for her music.
All of this probably doesn't matter too much except for a wider point: in our still class ridden British society the opportunities for those genuinely working class people to succeed remains painfully difficult. This is especially true for those attempting to succeed in the culture industry. Time and again it seems that all well connected, monied middle-class folk have to do in order to win success is put on an accent, come over all 'street' and act the part. Hey presto, whaddya know, there they are, revelling in their success. Doesn't that make you kinda sick? While Lily A is up there performing the part of a chirpy cockney upstart (or whatever), there are probably many other genuine working class kids who can't get a start or a break and find themselves stuck at the door of exclusion. While that's hardly Lily A's fault as an individual, her cynical 'from the street' fakery is an all too wearying example of an ongoing phenomena that masks a wider story of on-going social exclusion and denial of opportunity for those from the background that Lily A purports to represent...
