Almond fits in with palm, balm and alms, their all have an ar sound, the l is not pronounced. It really winds me up.
You mean that YOU don't pronounce the l. I always pronounce it with a subtle l sound, but not a full one, so, if it makes sense, the beginning of the l sound but not the full sound - it probably sounds more like parrrlm rather than parllllm, but never to be a complete rhyme for farm. That probably doesn't make any sense in how I've typed it....
Some differences are just variations from region to region or even from person to person. Offen or offten? Isyoo or ishoo?
I remember a letter to the Radio Times from probably a few years ago (how very, very sad am I), where a Scottish viewer/reader was complaining at the 'failure' of English TV and radio presenters to pronounce the h in words such as which, what or why (usually with the first two letters swapped around, so more like hwich, hwat, and hwy). However, the main reason that English presenters don't do this is because they're English. Many Scots (and Welsh and Irish people) tend to pronounce the h, which is absolutely fine and normal. Most English people don't, which is fine and normal too. It's like trying to ask if a higher-pitched female voice or a deeper male voice is the 'correct' one that everybody should use.
It basically comes down to intolerance and a misguided belief some people have that they are the language police and the only authority. I bet nobody would dare to correct somebody from, say, Africa, where they speak English as their first language, but (oddly enough) in an African way rather than a British or American one.
Incidentally, why does it sound so lazy and irritating (to me, anyway!) when Brits speak French or German with pretty-much correct letter sounds (i.e. Ren-oe rather than Ren-olt) but with no attempt at an authentic accent - and yet most non-native English speakers (with the possible exception of people from the Netherlands up to Scandinavia) make no attempt to change their own accent when speaking flawless English, and it sounds attractive?!
And don't get me started on people who pronounce it on-ve-lope. Either say on-vay-lopp (French) or en-ve-lope (British/English-native), but why a hybrid?!?!
Oh, and (sort of) referring back to Sarah Millican (who isn't actually a Geordie, as many assume, but South Shields is nearby and does sound quite similar), a Geordie would pronounce it 'a kangaroo' whereas somebody speaking in RP would say 'I am unable to extricate myself from here'. Coat being swiftly got.