The problem with the Watford gap
Suggested by DianaYeboah on Tue, 14/04/2009 - 09:01
Last night, I watched (on iplayer) a very interesting programme about the North/South ‘divide’. Though the ‘divide’ can be seen as seemingly harmless banter material for the pub, the programme argued that there seems to be a real inequality in terms of jobs, house prices and even life expectancy. So, I have two questions, is there really a north/south divide which affects businesses and prospects? And if there is, how can we smash it?
Polycentrism to you all !
Thu, 16/04/2009 - 17:17 – jamesmsandy
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It is an often mooted convenience that England (nevermind Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) is riven with geographic division.
Battle lines are drawn across the North & South of the UK- not that anyone ever defines where one starts and the other finishes (except for Stuart Maconie in his excellent book "Pies and Prejudice" and even he comes up with Wigan!).
Predominantly this divide is a top heavy by-product of London syndrome (the City of Dreams they say). I say this from the safety of our Covent Garden hide out.
Yes, it is true that Surbiton is very different from Sunderland. Yes, it is true that Jedburg and Sutton Coldfield aren't mirror twins. The point is that our country is richly diverse and whilst we all talk strangely in alien surroundings, this dynamic makes us all socially and economically interesting.
History and politics have skewed the opportunities afforded to folk up and down this island, inevitably creating deprivation and exclusion in pockets. Being able to act on such opportunities has relied on the creation of a level playing field (sadly, the spirit level has been a bit wonky on occassions).
The UK is developing a number of centres that are acting in healthy competition with each other. This is good for business and it helps us gain momentum in an increasingly mobile world. It is this polycentrism that is making the supposed North/South divide a nostalgic one-liner, rather than a genuine threat to the Union.
We must all be conscious that commerce faces similar challenges from Chippenham to Sydney. Equally, housing shortages and abject poverty haunt the estates of Mosside, as vividly as they do Maida Vale.We have much to learn from the diversity of our responses.
I say this as someone who was born in the South East, grew up in the South West, educated in the North West and North East, lived in the West Midlands for a spell and currently lurks by the Thames.
The changing times
Tue, 14/04/2009 - 15:16 – damonoldcorn
Well it used to be that way 30/40 years ago - flat caps and whippets etc but the only divide these days is in people’s heads. Even that would be from a certain generation as well - the older etc. The conclusion of the programme was that the people from the south just saw themselves as english not southerners, easy to explain as in most cases they had never really had to confront that as an issue in their lives, given the insularity and general opportunities of their surroundings ( bar deprived pockets highlighted like Hastings)
The scars of the decline in manufacturing are a little closer to the surface in the North, but again in an area of prosperity like Harrogate they rarely thought of the south - as they had no reason - the same insularity brought on by lack of need. Today the centre is London - driven by banking, politics and the link to Europe. Anywhere with good rail links (less than 2 hours) has access to that wealth creation factory today. But as the programme said there is nothing to say that in decades to come it could all change again as a different type of resource becomes more highly rated or prevalent. They admitted that in planning terms they could barely see 20 years ahead.
Regionalism and the North/South Divide
Tue, 14/04/2009 - 13:54 – Chris
I am from a country much larger than England and I am always surprised, and a bit puzzled, by the extent to which this country is regionalized.
For a country this tiny, there are so many organizations and initiatives dedicated to fostering enterprise, culture, enterprise culture, and the general improvement of life, that are in most cases working independently from each other, and within a strict regional remit, on the basis that that region’s needs are sufficiently distinct from another. Even from that one a few miles down the motorway. Now, all talk about efficiency aside: is it any wonder there are divides between regions?
Don’t get me wrong: I agree that differences exist between different places (who’d have thought?), that they exist particularly between ‘the North’ and ‘the South’, and that accents differ widely. But I also think that many of the distinctions made between regions are imagined (culturally) and cumbersome, or extravagant (administratively), and together wholly unhelpful in promoting a vibrant and opportunity-rich economy across the entire country.
So if I were to suggest ways of smashing the north/south divide, I would say - unification!
(Incidentally, in the context of this global economy I keep hearing about, I wondered initially whether you were talking about the divide between hemispheres…)