Are Londoners more intelligent?

[tothinkofsomething]

My Dad made a big thing when we moved out of London ( Zone 6 type expensive green Commuter belt area). We moved into North Hampshire. He basically was saying that outside the magical barrier of the M25 that the level of education is a lot lower. My Dc are just at the start of their school journeys and I have nothing to compare to. But his thoughts were that if my DC was top of their class in Hampshire that would be lower than in London. I'm guessing this depends on area of London? Also our estate agent said we shouldn't move out as we would struggle to get back in.

You've disproved your Dad's theory that Londoners are more intelligent.

Oh and just so you know, people in the North East do now have indoor bathrooms and toilets.They only came in in the last 20 years or so, but now most households have them.

Dunno why people have made this into yet another north v south thing

Hampshire is in the south.

If your dad is correct, then the level of education at my local city (Oxford) is lower than that of London too.

I'm sure the academics at Oxford University will be pleased to know that if they want to work at a top educational establishment, then they'll need to move to London.

Well, I am intelligent enough to not want to live in an incredibly overpriced and overpopulated part of the country - please stay down in London/Home Counties away from us plebs.

Surely your Dad was just making a joke? Don't take it so seriously. I doubt anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence would actually think something like this.

Yep, absolutely. London people are way more clerever than me.

Hmm I think you missed his point. I wouldn't say you see it with children ( but don't have any wouldn't know ), but many of the top sectors Ie finance accounting law tech all based out of London . London brain drain is a real concept .

I am not from London , from super far north but when I go home the general education level of those I meet is lower.

In London I work at a top company where I'm one of the least intelligent there 😂 I feel like I am reminded of this everyday. Most people I know are professionals, pretty smart folk although many lack so much common sense . They are not all FROM London but live there now .

@RubyViolet

That’s crackers OP. Londoners and people who live in London, live and work amongst people who work for companies who pay the highest salaries in the U.K. So in one way, yes. London”s wages attract and reward the brightest of the bright. But there also a lot of really bright people who don’t want that life. London attracts people who can thrive in that environment. That is personal choice.

Agree

I heard that all Londoner's are on coke. Not too clever if you ask me.

Believe what you want.

I went to secondary school in London in a deprived area but moved to Hampshire in year 9. All I can say is this, my secondary school up to year 8 in London gave me the best education in a deprived area but my school in Hampshire was just the worst. The school itself was the best in the area but the education was awful. 18 years later, most of my classmates from London (still friends on FB) are Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, Investment Bankers, IT consultants and have great jobs and some have worked on Game of Thrones and The Crown. My class mates from Hampshire, only a handful went to Uni and there are only a few of us who actually have a profession. My class mates from London, most of them came from different parts of the world and were either the first or second generation living in the UK. London is the money capital with a population of 9 million, to make money and survive in London you must be intelligent. I'm sorry but particularly the south, I find them lazy and boring (imo). Thank f I moved back to London when I went to Uni. I would like to add, everywhere you will find intelligent and stupid but in London, you need to be fierce, resilient and a grafter to survive or you would eventually get pushed out of the M25 North, South, East and West. Okay, there are examples where people have to move for work or other reasons but generally speaking, London is much more hardworking than the rest of the country.

Not according to this research but previous studies indicated it might be so.
Not according to this research but previous studies indicated it might be so.

www.researchgate.net/profile/Emil_O_W_Kirkegaard/publication/324730599_Regional_differences_in_intelligence_in_22_countries_and_their_economic_social_and_demographic_correlates_A_review/links/5adf7d510f7e9b285945d86d/Regional-differences-in-intelligence-in-22-countries-and-their-economic-social-and-demographic-correlates-A-review.pdf?origin=publication_detail

I find I this type of research rather unpleasant though. Intelligence tests can be biased, and are affected by education and culture. Also only differences are by a point or so, so what's the point ......?......

Ooh arr, I be from the wilds of Devon. We got not time down ere to be thinking fancy thoughts like you London folk. All we thinks about is cows.

How completely lacking are londoners in self awareness to start threads like this?

What's London?

So OP, you're from London or this haloed geographical area of intelligence yourself and you're having to ask this question? You do realise you've answered your own question, right?

I would say children who grow up in London are more street wise than those who live outside of London, but that's it. Intelligence is not determined on where you live 😂

Yep OP here in the SW we can barely tie our own shoelaces

Definitely. That’s why politicians neglect the north: Thicko northerners won’t notice now, will they?

@BadLad

What's London?

I think it's a board game

It must be all the traffic pollution that helps the Londoners’ brains develop so well

You can scoff but there’s something in it. generally the brightest and the best go there in their twenties to pursue their careers as it’s where the most high paying jobs are. Eg dh Cambridge peers the vast majority went straight to London at first.

There are definitely areas of the country where people are better looking. Once you have noticed this you cannot unnotice it! We visited friends in one particular region DH scoffed at me but then after a day there he had to admit it was true!

London schools do perform better on average than schools in other parts of the country. There are a lot of reasons including funding and immigrants with higher aspiration for their children. It does not mean that Londoners are more intelligent though!

A friend who moved to Wales found the standards expected in the state school were way lower than those in the state school moved from. And the Welsh school was famously “the best” in their new area.