The Mancunian Way: Accent discrimination is alive and kicking

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Here's today's Mancunian Way:

By Damon Wilkinson, Friday June 24

I'm filling in on newsletter duties for a week or so while Beth’s on her travels. It’s my first time at the helm of the good ship Mancunian Way, so hope you enjoy it.

Today we’ll be looking at accents and how a new study has found many people in England are still prejudiced against people with a strong Northern twang. We’ll also discuss the implications of last night’s Wakefield by-election defeat for the Tories in other so-called 'Red Wall' seats in Greater Manchester.

And with festival season well underway we’ll take a look back at Manchester’s lost ‘Anti-Glastonbury’ and look forward to the return of two stalwarts of the summer scene.

Speaking to the Northern Agenda podcast, Dr Robert McKenzie told how a new study has found many people in England are prejudiced against those with Northern accents, deeming them less intelligent, less ambitious and less educated. Using the example of Stockport-born MP Angela Rayner, Dr McKenzie said that while mocking someone's accent might be seen as a bit of joke, it can also have serious social implications.

"It's a way of taking away their voice," the Northumbria University academic said. “If the accent, or the variety is stigmatised, then the message they have is also stigmatised and diminished."

But interestingly, it doesn’t seem to apply to all Northern voices, with attitudes to a Manc accent appearing to be increasingly positive. Dr McKenzie believes that might be because people associate an accent with the