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Flashman in napoleonic era uniform

Lord Flashman

According to research by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (SMCP), many organisations impose a hidden “poshness test” when recruiting.

The implication from their findings is that if you want to get a top job with a major law firm, a ‘square mile’ financial institution, a large accountancy firm or even some jobs in the Civil Service, it helps to have the right accent and educational background.

Those of us who believe that the British class system effectively disappeared soon after the Second World War may be surprised to learn that it’s alive and kicking. The SMCP research shows that in the 21st century, who you know, how you speak and where you’re from are still more important to some employers than what you can do.

It seems likely to me that most readers of this Blog believe in meritocracy, in other words that quality of work and thought should be much more important than social factors when deciding who should get that job or promotion. But perhaps we have all been getting it wrong?

Looked at from one perspective, if all of my prospective clients had been to Oxford or Cambridge following their schooling at Eton or Roedean, they may have turned up their noses at a streetwise scouser despite my qualifications. The downside is that by choosing their accountant by his or her perceived class, they may well find themselves advised by an upper-class buffoon.

On the other hand, given the rates that some accountants (not me!) and lawyers charge these days, achieving the right result and paying the legal minimum in tax, would seem to be a bigger attraction for most clients than sharing happy memories of beatings by a Flashman-like prefect or experimental sexual experiences in the dorm.

If the big organisations are too snobbish to employ the best people, that gives those lower down the food chain an opportunity to recruit high quality staff, even if they lack many of the social graces or are prone to use local idiomatic slang phrases.

Shroosbury or Shrowsbury?

Another misconception that you may be labouring under is that the hidden “poshness test” only applies to big firms and big cities like London. Don’t you believe it, the prejudice of the hidden class system, can and does work its way down to provincial market towns, including the county town of Shrewsbury, where I live.

The situation has improved somewhat since I first moved here in the late seventies, but it is still a fact that someone from a council estate or a perceived bad part of town, has no chance of a job with most of the so-called professional firms in this town, however good their qualifications.

Locally in Shrewsbury, a perfect example of the ongoing struggle of the ordinary man and woman to break into the higher echelons of the perceived social order is the ongoing debate on how to pronounce the town’s name “Shroosbury or Shrowsbury”.

As reported in the Shropshire Star, an ongoing argument is currently taking place on the internet site Facebook with more than 6,000 people putting their pennyworths in about how to pronounce the name of Shropshire’s county town.

Currently 85% are on the side of Shroosbury (Non-posh) and only 15% on the side of Shrowsbury (Posh). Personally I pronounce it Shroosbury, so there’s no chance of me ever being invited to the top table, which suits me just fine.