I like accents, variations on accents, youth slang variations and international cross-pollination of the afore-mentioned.
I understand the need to comunicate clearly, correctly and comprehensively in English, in a business or similar environment. After all, I spent four years studying for a MA in English.
But this does not meant that I speak with a Germanic pronunciation of the English Language as favoured by the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
I'm proud of my cockney accent with a South Essex edge and nurture it. After all, it represents a more accurate reflection of London pronunciation of English through the centuries than the johnny-come-lately RP.
The influences underpinning the principles behind my thoughts about written and spoken languages, the cultural values attached to them and the underlying political implications, are from my undergraduate days. I was deeply influenced, and still am, by the works of Grassic Gibbon, Alasdair Gray and James Kelman. Latterly, Ackroyd's work has been formative. And, of course, that of the greatest lyricist of his generation, Shane Macgowan.