Sorry, Jane Horrocks, but it's you who's being common | Barbara Ellen

Jane Horrocks doesn't do things by halves. Some people bite the hand that feeds them, she rips off the whole arm at the shoulder. Or so it seemed with her comment about Tesco being "full of chavs". Not forgetting the "pensioners holding everyone up" and "screeching kids". Wow, such contempt, even though their commercials bought Horrocks the home she dubbed "Tesco Towers" and, as she said herself, gave her the financial security not to have to do "crap" work.

I wasn't surprised. I interviewed Horrocks years ago, presuming she'd be nice, but she was awful. With every question, she eyed me like a cobra weaving up out of a basket. I asked at one point whether she'd ever fancied doing my beloved Corrie, and she was really snotty about it. "Why would I do Coronation Street?" (Erm, because it's a British institution, because it's well written and acted, because the likes of Sir Ian McKellen don't seem to think it's beneath them.)

Shortly after we'd spoken, I got word not to write up the interview, because of lack of space. What a relief. It was as if Horrocks had been given myriad blessings (talent, intelligence, quirky beauty, that engaging Lancashire accent), and instead chose to turn her back on her own working-class background, and become a dreary snob. Talk about going over to the luvvie dark side. On a wider level, how depressing that this is what "doing well" means to some people – the opportunity not to look back in anger, so much as to look around and sneer.

There has always been mockery for people, who bang on about their working-class origins, their impeccable council house credentials – guilty! And I get it, I understand why this kind of thing (competitive retro-poverty?) can seem hilariously overdone, in that Monty Python "We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank" kind of way. The question is, do you "get" us? Do you register that it's not all about chippy chest-beating and mindless class war, great sport though that undoubtedly is?

Rather it's an intricate jumble of memory, insight, respect, affection, identification, and even survivor's guilt. Never mind that some of us feel as if we're only a couple of paychecks from ending up back there anyway. There's the sense of not wanting to forget where you "came from" (maan), because this feels like betraying the people who are still there.

This is why the casual contempt directed at the "masses" never fails to make you flinch. I always thought "common" was the truly offensive C-word, but it was a dark day when "chav" showed up – simply because it was a new way to make sneering sound respectable. These days, Horrocks might think twice about using the word "common", but it's fine to speak of "chavs" marauding around Tesco.

Thing is, I remember Horrocks talking about "Tesco Towers" in our interview, how the commercials freed her to be more choosy with work. Then, as now, there seems nothing wrong with that – I'm sure many actors do commercials for the same reasons. It wasn't Horrocks's view, it was the charmlessness, which I know wasn't a one-off.

It's easy to lampoon those who are misty-eyed for the working class. But I'd still take their good hearts any day, over those who seem to think their success is a free pass to opine on the horror and hilarity of the "lower orders" they once belonged to. Note to Jane Horrocks: the only people who are truly common, are those who stoop so low as to call others common – or chavs, or whatever the hate-lingo is these days. If you don't know that by now, Ms Horrocks, you're as thick as Bubbles, your character in Absolutely Fabulous.

The latest list of the most popular baby names is out. A fascinating barometer of changing times, it's usually studied with shrieking anxiety by parents, hopeful that their children's names aren't positioned too high (too ordinary?) or too low (they're freaks!).

You can tell how "hot" your child's name is by whether it appears on novelty key rings or drinks bottles. Adults also like to check how their own names are doing, but I have no sympathy for the once dominant, now fallen, Susans and Pauls. They have had their moment.

Barbara (and variants thereon) never made it on to popular names' lists, drinks bottles or even those ceramic plaques for the bedroom door.

Barbara was considered tragic and passe when I was born and remained so through many different eras.

There seems no male equivalent to its enduring low-level unpopularity (Barry? Derek? Ken?). Consequently, I love my name, simply because someone has to. It's got two Bs, two Rs and three As; it means "foreign or stranger"; what's not to like?

Obviously I would appreciate a mention of Barbara in the next list, even if it is just a pity party.

Baroness Scotland, chair of the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission for England and Wales, and its child protection chief have said that churchgoers should take Roman Catholic priests to football matches, or invite them to have a glass of wine, as this would stop them feeling "lonely, isolated and unsupported emotionally" and turning into paedophiles. Hmm.

This past year, abuse allegations have doubled against the Catholic church, which Baroness Scotland rightly cites as a positive sign that victims are less afraid to come forward. However, is she seriously suggesting that, if people were more sociable towards priests, the molesters wouldn't be sexually attracted to children any more? That the occasional fun night at the bingo with worshippers would be enough to unravel the complex psychosexual tangle of the average pederast? As in: "Invite me around for Christmas drinks or the kid gets it"?

It's arguable whether loneliness is a reliable indicator of paedophilia. While one could accept the direct link between loneliness and general depression, child abuse seems rather too specialised. Paedophiles often choose professions that give them access to children, also the kind of status that makes them slow to spot and hard to catch. While some may be loners, other paedophiles are gregarious and charming, duping adults as well as children. All this sounds less "isolated" and "unsupported" than chillingly well-organised.

Whether such levels of sickness, calculation and cunning could be neutralised with an invitation to watch a footie match or share a glass of sancerre seems unlikely. Baroness Scotland makes a valid point about the isolation of Catholic priests, but twinning it with paedophile tendencies seems random to say the least. Conviviality is a wonderful thing, but, the last time I looked it wasn't a cure for paedophilia.

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Students given tips to stop gap year travel being 'a new colonialism'

Volunteering in developing countries such as Nepal can help young people gain confidence and a sense of self-reliance. Photograph: Jonny Cochrane/Alamy

The multi-million pound gap-year industry is in danger of damaging Britain's reputation abroad and raising fears that the west is engaged in a new form of colonialism, according to a leading thinktank.

Young people planning a gap year should focus on what they can offer their hosts in order to discourage the view that volunteering is merely a new way of exercising power, says a new report by Demos.

Those who carefully select the projects in which they take part are likely to make the most of their time, while doing the most to dispel the belief that their trips are merely self-interested, says the report.

Nine out of 10 young people surveyed by YouGov for Demos said they had improved their self-confidence, self-reliance and sense of motivation following a stint of volunteering in a developing country.

However, the gap-year industry is a ?6bn business for western companies, costing volunteers between ?1,500 and ?4,500 for a mere two-month experience. One in five people who took a gap year said they believed their presence in the place they visited made no positive difference to the lives of those around them.

Jonathan Birdwell, author of the Demos report, said there was even evidence that an ill thought-out gap year could be bad for local communities and Britain's relations with other countries. "There is a risk of such programmes perpetuating negative stereotypes of western 'colonialism' and 'charity': a new way for the west to assert its power," he said.

Birdwell added that "projects that do not appear to have benefits or make a difference for communities abroad leave volunteers unmotivated and disillusioned".

One respondent to the survey's report said: "I felt that the local community could have done the work we were doing; there were lots of unemployed people there. I'd have preferred to work with local unemployed and helped them in some way to benefit their community."

The study comes in the wake of the government's launch of the International Citizen Service which, in the words of the prime minister, is designed to "give thousands of our young people, those who couldn't otherwise afford it, the chance to see the world and serve others".

The scheme is means tested, allowing those who come from families with a joint income of less than ?25,000 the chance of a gap year for free. The pilot of the scheme will involve 1,080 young people visiting 27 different countries.

The Demos report found that 64% of 3,000 parents surveyed want their children to take part in the ICS scheme. However, Demos's research indicated that there were key factors which make a gap year successful and the report recommends the ICS should incorporate them.

There should be post-placement support, which allows the young person to continue the work they started abroad once back home, it claims.

The report says there should be pre-departure training to ensure that young people are able to offer relevant skills. It says placements which are short are just as likely to have positive outcomes in personal development and civic participation as long-term ones. Young people who live with a host family are also more likely to report positive outcomes in "skills, identity and values".

The report found that the typical UK overseas volunteer tended to be young, affluent, white and female, although those with few qualifications and those from low-income backgrounds reported the most positive experiences.

Birdwell said he hoped the ICS would grow to help around 3,000 young people a year and that these would be the least well-off in society. He said: "The new International Citizen Service is an exciting opportunity for young British people to experience the world and gain invaluable experience and skills while helping to contribute to the UK's international development goals.

"However, the ICS is competing with an already crowded gap-year market. In order to be successful, it must ensure that activities benefit communities abroad and it must target recruitment to young people who couldn't afford commercial gap year programmes."

Harry went on an expedition with funding from the charity Raleigh International to Costa Rica and Nicaragua before starting at Manchester on a business studies course. "I wanted a gap year which gave me work experience, a chance to travel and the chance to give something back to a community. When I returned, I managed to get on to an internship with IBM. I could have just travelled to Australia like everyone else, but how often do you get to trek through rainforests, build a community centre for a remote village or reforest a national park?"

Amy spent eight weeks in Nakavika village, Fiji, in 2008 before studying English at Nottingham. "I learnt nothing. By and large, the villagers living there seemed really happy. Probably earlier projects would have been rewarding, when you helped to build their toilets and when they didn't have sports equipment and text books already. I felt the only impact I had was the money I paid. Realistically, my presence only positively impacted the children there, as we played with them a lot when we were meant to be 'building'!"

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Mephedrone is more popular than ecstasy among UK clubbers despite being banned

A gram of Mephedrone bought in London for ?15. Photograph: Ben Graville /eyevine

Mephedrone, the former "legal high" sometimes referred to as "meow meow", has become the clubbing scene's favourite drug, according to the first research of its kind.

A new paper, published in the online version of the Journal of Substance Use, found the drug was more popular than cocaine and ecstasy among clubbers – despite being made illegal in April 2010. The research, carried out by a team at Lancaster University, raises important questions about drugs policy and the impact of classification on substance use.

It has been suggested that legal highs – substances that share many of the properties of illegal drugs but have not been classified – have become popular because their use carries no criminal sanctions. But Fiona Measham, a senior lecturer in criminology who led the research, said there was little evidence that making mephedrone illegal had affected its popularity among users.

"The legal status wasn't considered important," Measham said. "Among the people we spoke to, I was surprised how much they liked it, how much they enjoyed it. They wanted to take more and were prepared to seek it out and buy it on the illegal market."

Of the 308 people questioned in a survey at two clubs in south London one night last summer, 89% revealed that they had tried an illegal drug at least once in their lifetime. Half of the sample, 154 respondents, reported that they intended to use drugs that night – mephedrone was the most common drug, with 27% planning to take it.

Significantly, mephedrone was found to be the second most commonly used drug within the past month and past year (41% and 52% respectively), with only cocaine being used more frequently (44% and 59% respectively).

The surge in the drug's popularity on the clubbing scene appears to have been rapid. In 2009, an online survey of 2,220 readers of Mixmag, the clubbing magazine, revealed that mephedrone had emerged from nowhere to become the fourth most popular drug among British clubbers, with 42% reporting that they had used it at least once, 34% reporting that they had used it in the past month and 6% within the past week.

Surveys suggest that gay clubbers take more drugs than the general population, but Measham said her findings may be indicative of wider trends in substance abuse. "Gay clubbers tend to be early adopters, so from studying this group you may get an indication of future drug trends in the general population," said Measham.

Mephedrone's price appears to have remained stable since possession of it was criminalised with a gram currently costing between ?20 and ?25. Significantly, the findings did not suggest that users of mephedrone – which Measham said was sometimes referred to as M-Cat, but was only called meow meow by newspapers – switched to other legal highs when the drug was made illegal.

"Part of the legal highs debate is this idea that if you ban one, people move on to another," said Measham. "But this didn't happen. People liked mephedrone and were prepared to buy it on the street if they could no longer get it legally online. But the fact people hadn't started taking MDAI or naphyrone [now banned] or lots of the other legal highs, shows a certain discernment. People don't take anything because it's legal, they take it because they like it."

The researchers, who included toxicologists from King's College London, suggested the rise in popularity of mephedrone may be partly down to deeper trends affecting the illegal drugs market. They write: "The popularity of mephedrone suggested by this study should be placed in the national context of a recent reduction in the availability, purity, prevalence and associated deaths for established illegal drugs in the United Kingdom, such as ecstasy and cocaine."

Declining levels of MDMA, the chief chemical in ecstasy, have been attributed to the drug falling out of fashion on the clubbing scene over the past couple of years as disgruntled users seek alternative stimulants. Their decision to switch to mephedrone, however, is surprising. The drug conveys many of the experiences associated with amphetamines, rather than the more "relaxed" feelings common with ecstasy use. "Users told us there were terrible comedowns with mephedrone, but it was rather moreish," Measham said. "You would do a bag of it and then want another."

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