The Rules to Break, 2nd Edition

RULE TO BREAK

“It’s where you’re going that matters, not where you came from”

I grew up on the edge of Brixton, a notoriously insalubrious part of London. Whenever I was asked where I lived my mother would hiss at me, ‘Say Dulwich’ (Brixton’s better appointed neighbour). This isn’t an unusual attitude – many people are ashamed to admit where they come from. Plenty of people work to disguise a regional accent, or change their dialect vocabulary, all to ensure that no one realises where they grew up.

Of course you can go too far the other way. I had a good friend when I was younger who came from a rough part of Manchester. She was the first in her family to stay at school until she was 18, and then got a good job in the city centre with a decent ...