The north-south divide

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 538.

In 1854, a novel called North and South appeared. It tells the story of a woman from the south of England who finds herself living in the horrors of the grim north of England. Since around that time, the 'north-south divide' has been part of English folklore. It denotes a supposed big difference between the poor north and the rich south (although there is no recognized geographical boundary between the two). Historically, there is much truth in this generalization. The south has almost always had lower rates of unemployment and more expensive houses.

This is especially true of the south-eastern area surrounding London. (This area is sometimes referred to as ‘the Home Counties', an indication, perhaps, of London's domination of public life.)

So well-known are these stereotypes that statisticians and economists sometimes attempt to draw the boundary between north and south based purely on wealth, so that a relatively poor place is designated 'north' (and vice versa) because of this fact alone.

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the decline of heavy industry, which was mostly confined to the north, caused large-scale migration of well-qualified workers from north to south, so that the north-south divide seemed to be getting even wider.

However, the picture now is not that simple. Net migration in this century has been the other way around - towards the north -and some of the poorest areas in the country are actually in London. Indeed, one well-known (northern) journalist has claimed that if the same kind of novel were written today the big divide would be between London and the rest of England - and London would be the awful half!