For his thesis, he identified a section of the ‘new’ middle class who appeared to make a positive choice to live in what was one of the more deprived areas of London rather than because they simply could not afford to live in posher areas. This work on the middle classes and the choices they make about where to live has continued to be his main interest of work. This encompassed the area of education and how they choose schools and the ways they see these strategies through. He had four large grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to investigate these research questions, including with Goldsmith, LSE and York on the ‘super rich’.