Timeshift: North South Divide

[spokette]

Recorded this programme, which was on BBC4, last week. Watched it last night and I found it thoughtprovoking as well as illuminating. John Harris, a regular on Newsnight Review, presented it and spoke to various folks from different parts of the England to gain their perspective on what they thought of Northerners or Southerners as well as the North South divide.

The Professor from Sheffield University redrew the traditional boundary to include huge swathes of Lincolnshire, including Grantham (Thatcher's territory) and parts of Leicestershire.

Another thing that really amazed me is the apparent disparity in educational attainment between those on either side of the divide. Southerners achieved more qualifications than Northeners and this is directly correlated with the fact that the South is more prosperous than the North.

The other thing that gave one food for thought was the attitude of workers to their colleagues. Harris spoke to a worker's collective who said that in order to safeguard jobs in lean times, members did not draw wages for a few months in order to protect the jobs of others. As someone who lives in the South (but originally hails from the Midlands), I found that altruistic and considerate but ultimately, from a business perspective, economically naive as well as unsustainable.

It was an extremely enlightening programme.

I watched this too,Spokette,and found it interesting.As someone who lives in Leicestershire,I find it odd to discover that now I'm a southerner.I always regarded anywhere south of Northampton as 'southern'.

The educational difference was quite astounding though-it may as well be 2 different countries in that regard.

I saw this too, however I did not feel that they even came far enough North to competently discuss a North/South divide - was Harrogate as far North as they came? I thought the programme was fairly inconclusive and conformed to stereotypes.

Harrogate was the most Northern point that John Harris visited but he did also visit Hull (not as far North) to see how the town was trying to reinvent itself by modelling itself on what has happened in places like Leeds.

Hull faces an uphill struggle though because it is far away from London. Employers and employees with the skills needed for the ever growing knowledge economy are unlikely to relocate to somewhere like Hull when they can go to places like Cambridge, London, Oxford etc which are well established and offer a better a brand in terms of desirable locations.

The other point that came out was that ready access to London was key for economic success. Even in downturn, London still accounts for 30% of the GDP. Leeds is only 2 hours away by train from London and is the second largest financial centre outside of London hence why people from the South have moved there.

On the other hand, Hastings does not have an easy road access to London (A21) plus the trains are slow and despite it being in the prosperous South, it is one of the most economically deprived towns in the UK. Three of its five secondary schools are regarded as failing!

That certainly gave me food thought.