What's wrong with regional accents?

A story seems to have sneaked under the news radar at the end of July. According to a survey for SpinVox, the company that turns mobile phone voicemail messages into text, nearly three-quarters of all Britains dislike their accents. Brummies top the list of the unimpressed, with 8 out of 10 of us wishing we could sound different. To make matters worse, only 1% of the entire country would, if it had the choice, choose a West Midlands twang as its accent of choice.

According to the survey, most of us aspire to received pronunciation - quite literally, we all want to sound like the Queen. And, if we can't achieve that lofty goal, we go all Celtic - Irish and Scottish accents are the next most desired.

Am I the only one who finds all this very depressing? Part of me reacts badly to the suggestion that we all have to sound posh. Not that there is anything wrong with sounding posh - quite the contrary - it's just that a residual desire to do so at all cost has the whiff of the class system about it.

And what's wrong with accents anyway? One of the things I love about the UK is its regional differences. For a very small group of islands, the diversity in our accents is amazing and, in my opinion, something to celebrate.

In any event, to suggest that all accents of the same type - be they received, Scottish, Scouse, Geordie or yam yam - are homogeneous seems daft. Regional accents come in varying degrees of tone - not all Scots sound like Billy Connolly; and everyone from Dudley doesn't sound like Lenny Henry.

So, in what is my last blog before Mrs P reminds me to pack my suitcase for my annual two-week break watching DVD highlights of Dundee United winning the Premier League in 1983 and listening to Bruce Springsteen's entire back catalogue (don't let it be said that I don't know how to have fun), can I end with a plea? Please be proud of how you sound, wherever it is you're from. And as for the West Midlands accent, I hope you agree with me that it's bostin.