Man, how things have changed since 1997/1998 (regarding school/teens)

You certainly offer a pessimistic portrayal of teenagers in this country! Basingstoke then and now is a generally middle class town but I agree that the 'posh' state schools are few and far between. Some Americanisms would be part of their vocabulary and I disagree with your trackbottoms comment (do even the roughest state schools tolerate this?).

I also agree that the Dad (who in the film had his own photography business) would probably be out of work now.

Obviously, the biggest thing that would be different now is how much the people would be using technology compared to back then. Possibly Steven wouldn't be meeting men in cottages and maybe him and John would have lasted a little longer having their phones to communicate with each other (would John have a second phone, to hide from Christina?). Another example is that Jessica would have felt even more victimised by Kevin who could have filmed their night together and showed it to his friends, even put it online.

Gosh, this film feels so quaint now thinking about it, even anachronistic in some ways. I wish I could go back to that time.

You guys are missing the point. If it was set in this generation, there would be much more openness to the gay community and not as so frown upon. Of course, there may be some bullying still, but generally, thank goodness, LGBT are much more widely accepted.