IRAM RAMZAN: Angela Renner, I’m also a goby northern gluten. This is no excuse for bad grammar

deputy leader of labor Angela Rayner Sometimes described as ‘fiery’ or ‘boulsy’, an authentic, working-class ‘goby northern lass’ – his own words – may cling to it Tories.

As such, she has come under intense scrutiny – some might say wrong on occasion – for the way she speaks.

Feather BBC Radio 4’s TODAY program on Wednesday, as the No. 10 ‘Party’ uproared during the first lockdown In May 2020, Rainer said boris johnson There were questions to answer about the gathering when nationwide people were banned from meeting more than one person they didn’t live outside.

‘Were you at the party or not?’ He demanded from the Prime Minister. He repeated this grammatical error more than once. I won every time. Not long after, Rainer took to Twitter to highlight his criticisms.

She posted, “I’ve been on the media this morning so my pronunciation and grammar are being criticized.”

‘I was not Eaton-educated, but growing up in Stockport I was taught honesty, integrity and decency. Does not matter [sic] how do you call it. Boris Johnson does not deserve to lead.

Angela, it may well be, but how you say it and the grammar you use matters.

In my book, there is no excuse for poor grammar in spoken or written language. As a public figure – and the highest-ranking woman on the opposition front bench – she should know better.

I, too, am a northern girl from Oldham, Greater Manchester, with a match accent—which gets stronger the more, er, animated I get. I didn’t go to any posh school; I went to a comprehensive state – but I was taught good grammar and I know the value of it.

You don’t need to enjoy a privileged upbringing or education to speak well and it’s disrespectful to working-class people that their background governs the Queen’s Order of English – by which I mean That using language that is grammatically correct and free of slang.

Look at Prince Harry. Boris’s alma mater has the best education in the land – costing around £44,000 a year – yet he often struggles to form coherent sentences during interviews. And that was before California dementia took over.

I’m not the only one to take issue with Rainer’s aggressive stance. GB News presenter Colin Brazier, who was born in Bradford, responded to her tweet: ‘There are a lot of working class people who were taught the value of good grammar. I am one of them.

Naturally, the Labor deputy leader was supported by his fan base of leftists, who agreed that, of course, poor Angela was the target of prejudice and conceit. Writer Michael Rosen told her: ‘You speak really well. There is nothing “wrong” in the regional accent and dialect.’

he is right. There’s nothing wrong with regional accents and dialects – more on that later. But good grammar is the issue here. It is fraudulent for Rainer to mix the two.

Indeed, there are several prominent Labor MPs with interesting accents: John Trickett and Richard Bergen (Yorkshire), John Ashworth (Greater Manchester) and Joe Stevens (Welsh). As far as I know, no one makes fun of him. Nor is Rainer being discredited for her accent, although she can spin it.

The Ashton-under-Lynn MP is, in many ways, a remarkable woman. She was brought up on a council estate in Stockport by a single mother who was battling bipolar disorder.

At the age of 16 she dropped out of school, becoming pregnant with the first of her three children.

This disadvantaged background, as well as the number of years he spent working in the care sector, means he has experienced more hardship than most of his fellow lawmakers. Hence he is seen as an authentic voice for the working class people.

But I believe she is acted by the Northern card too often – especially when she is criticized for her harsh behavior and abusive language that offends her and the people she represents. Is. At a fringe meeting at the Labor Party convention last September, Rainer famously spoke about how Conservatives’ scum, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, full pile … of the Banana Republic … the Etonian piece of scum. .. the one I have ever seen in my life’.

She refused to apologise, insisting that ‘street language’ was used on her. Pressed by Sky’s Trevor Phillips, she insisted that ‘it’s a phrase you’ll hear so often in northern, working-class cities that we’ll happily say it to other people’.

what rubbish! I’ve never heard someone refer to another person on the north side as scum in a ‘fun’ way. Sometimes.

And I’m sure if I ever described someone coming back to my house, I’d get a clip around the ear.

Rainer eventually apologized. But it has its form on it. A year ago, he had to apologize for calling Conservative MP Chris Clarkson ‘scum’ during a heated debate in the Commons. There is no excuse for such abusive language, and blaming it on its background is unforgivable for many of us who share similar roots.

Where Angela Renner has a point, however, is on the silliness and class bias that persists around the accent. George Bernard Shaw once said: ‘It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without hatred or contempt for another Englishman.’

Research shows that there is still a belief that acquired accents make a person more educated, that Birmingham accents are considered the least attractive and those with Liverpoolian accents are the least reliable, while Irish and Scottish accents’ are sexy.

Some people, as they move on in life, actively try to lose their accent, while others will retain their roots to stay ‘true’.

Actor Kenneth Branagh revealed last week that within three years of moving to southeast England, he had lost any trace of his Belfast accent. He admitted to feeling guilty when he disappeared.

On the positive side, there is no question that class bias around pronunciation is diminishing – helped by television and radio, where broadcasters recognize the need to introduce more representative voices to better reflect their audiences. is recognized.

Yorkshire Dales-based journalist Chris Mason, 41, has been tipped to become the BBC’s new political editor – partly because he has a regional accent. (It also helps that he’s a prolific reporter and presenter.) Some of the Bieb’s most iconic young journalists have accented regional accents.

Amol Rajan, 38, who recently joined the corporation’s flagship TODAY event, speaks purely ‘Serf’ London, while Emma Barnett, 36, Woman’s Hour lead presenter, grew up in Manchester and you can see it. can hear in his voice. However, some listeners will take issue with their grammar.

In the age of social media, when shorthand and slang texting is the way many people communicate, some would say that grammar is not a problem. But it matters and should be. This is the key to good communication, being understood, to getting your message across.

And no one should understand its importance better than Rainer. But in playing the working class card to excuse his slipperiness, that’s what it means to be a Northerner—and take it from me, the rest of us don’t quite like it.