Adventures in Social Mobility - Hashi Mohamed (BBC Radio 4)

[Duchess]

What are the unwritten rules you must learn to get a top job? Hashi Mohamed came to the UK aged nine, as an unaccompanied child refugee, with hardly any English. His academic achievements at school were far from stellar. Yet he now works as a barrister - and so is a member of one of the elite professions that have traditionally been very difficult for people from poor backgrounds to crack. So how did he do it? In a personal take on social mobility, we meet his mentors. These are the people who gave him a few lucky breaks and showed him how to fit in to a world he could barely imagine. But how many people can follow that path? And why should they have to?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08lh7gf

 

[Apollo]

The British have a strong class system that is not present in most Western countries. So, his experience and advice may simply not be applicable elsewhere.

 

[merka]

What I've learned from this is that I have to get rid of my ghetto Toronto accent and speak with like an upper class Englishman.

 

[cantspeak]

Yeah I saw that. There is also a guardian article he posted.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...n-hard-work-social-mobility-estate-background

 

[Apollo]

Yeah I saw that. There is also a guardian article he posted.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...n-hard-work-social-mobility-estate-background

He confirmed my hypothesis, before having even read/listened to it:

''Perversely, class and accents remain an overwhelmingly important way of judging intelligence. In France or Germany, for example, your accent rarely matters. Your vocabulary and conjugation will give much more away, but never your accent''

The UK is too classist.

 

[dhegdheer]

The british can be so rigid with their class systems, everything down to ur accent will be scrutinized. I know of many somalis, included myself, who've managed to adopt code switching, best believe we all bring out the fancy posh RP accent when interviewing for something important

He's done very well for himself, he should be proud

The British have a strong class system that is not present in most Western countries. So, his experience and advice may simply not be applicable elsewhere.

It's true, even rich people will get looked down upon by old blood if their family history ain't up to scratch...

It's a bit ridiculous

 

[merka]

It's true, even rich people will get looked down upon by old blood if their family history ain't up to scratch...

It's a bit ridiculous

Who knew the British were such qabilists

 

[Apollo]

Who knew the British were such qabilists

Qabiilist based on cash. The struggle between cash-laandheer vs cash-laangaab.

 

[cantspeak]

The british can be so rigid with their class systems, everything down to ur accent will be scrutinized. I know of many somalis, included myself, who've managed to adopt code switching, best believe we all bring out the fancy posh RP accent when interviewing for something important

He's done very well for himself, he should be proud



It's true, even rich people will get looked down upon by old blood if their family history ain't up to scratch...

It's a bit ridiculous

New Money vs old Money

I wouldn't specifically call it a UK only phenomenon.

Funny thing is, our old chancellor George Osborn comes from a long line of baronets

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_baronets

And our old prime minster, David Cameron's family used to own Slaves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/29/how-do-we-know-david-cameron-has-slave-owning-ancestor

 

[dhegdheer]

Who knew the British were such qabilists

Blue bloods can be very snobby! Some of these ppl have straight up aristocracy as their ancestors

They'll look at ur family history like "ohh ur great uncle was only an Earl? we expected a Marquis at the very least, a Duke is far beyond ur realm lol u can't sit with us"

New Money vs old Money

I wouldn't specifically call it a UK only phenomenon.

Funny thing is, our old chancellor George Osborn comes from a long line of baronets

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_baronets

And our old prime minster, David Cameron's family used to own Slaves.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/29/how-do-we-know-david-cameron-has-slave-owning-ancestor

Yes I remember reading about David Camerons family, it seems that most successful ppl in the UK come from money.
This even extend into the creative arts/Film industry apparently Benedict Cumberbatchs family owned slaves and sugar farms in Jamaica too and that dude who plays Viserys on game of throne, Harry Lloyd, is an actual descended of Charles Dickens!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Lloyd

Lloyd was born in London, the son of Marion Evelyn (née Dickens), a children's publisher, and Jonathan Lloyd, who heads a literary agency.[3] He is a great-great-great-grandson of the Victorian writer Charles Dickens through his mother, who is the daughter of Captain Peter Dickens, RN.[2] His maternal great-grandfather was Rear-Admiral Henry Blagrove.[4][5] He is the cousin of biographer and writer Lucinda Hawksley, and actor and performer Gerald Dickens.

And they all keep the power in their elite little circle, incestuous and unfair! I fucking hate rich ppl

 

[merka]

Blue bloods can be very snobby! Some of these ppl have straight up aristocracy as their ancestors

They'll look at ur family history like "ohh ur great uncle was only an Earl? we expected a Marquis at the very least, a Duke is far beyond ur realm lol u can't sit with us"

I wonder how a UK Somali can get in those circles.

"My great grandfather was a great Sultan and warrior amongst his people. He ruled over large acres of land and owned thousands of camels."

 

[Apollo]

I fucking hate rich ppl

The system is rigged. Let's eat the rich:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century#Contents

 

[John Michael]

I wonder how a UK Somali can get in those circles.

"My great grandfather was a great Sultan and warrior amongst his people. He ruled over large acres of land and owned thousands of camels."

Upper class British respect foreigners over the working class English. It's mostly the working class who are xenophobic.

 

[cantspeak]

Holy shit. He literally just randomly emailed one of the presenters in news night for a internship and got it.

Lucky fucker

 

[dhegdheer]

I wonder how a UK Somali can get in those circles.

"My great grandfather was a great Sultan and warrior amongst his people. He ruled over large acres of land and owned thousands of camels."

Noooooooo one mention of somalia and they'll break into a chuckle and mention how their great great grandfather used to own a nice 100 acre settlement in Somaliland with lovely somali maids who'd gladly babysitting their children and friendly locals who were just dying to pick their bananas for them

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You're forgetting current events greatly affects their perception as well. I seen em rip into a rich ass greek dude because his ppl are now known as the beggars of europe despite all their great history Absolutely savage

The system is rigged. Let's eat the rich:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century#Contents

I hate the rich but I want to be rich so bad

I'm developing strategies to become the thing I hate

 

[merka]

Upper class British respect foreigners over the working class English. It's mostly the working class who are xenophobic.

Foreigners are just entertainment for the upper class. We spice up their bland lives with our basbaas, curry etc.

And just like spice they can only handle us in small doses.

 

[Apollo]

I hate the rich but I want to be rich so bad

I'm developing strategies to become the thing I hate

This is an illusion the 1% pushes onto the 99% via mass media propaganda with rags-to-riches stories, celebrity culture and other ways of deceiving the public. In reality those are rare and the system has big structural problems.

 

[Inquisitive_]

Did he do Omar rageh self hate and got himself a white trophy wife ignoring our beloved xaalimo ??

The only positive I suppose is that at least they marry up as it appears to most

God bless technology field

 

[merka]

Noooooooo one mention of somalia and they'll break into a chuckle and mention how their great great grandfather used to own a nice 100 acre settlement in Somaliland with lovely somali maids who'd gladly babysitting their children and friendly locals who were just dying to pick their bananas for them

Lol I know the british weren't allowed to set foot on somaliland let alone own land but at the very least they'd drag us for being a colony
You're forgetting current events greatly affects their perception as well. I seen em rip into a rich ass greek dude because his ppl are now known as the beggars of europe despite all their great history Absolutely savage

They'll talk about how when they were a kid this nice lady named Fadumo would take good care of them while their parents would go out hunting lions and gazelles.

 

[dhegdheer]

This is an illusion the 1% pushes onto the 99% via mass media propaganda with rags-to-riches stories, celebrity culture and other ways of deceiving the public. In reality those are rare and the system has big structural problems.

Are you saying my hopes and dreams of becoming rich is an illusion???

Way harsh mudane

I'm not asking for much tbh, just a 100k salary