TheFrozenNorth

The Policy Exchange think tank has reported that some cities in the North of England are beyond saving. The kinds of places they’re referring to are Bradford, Sunderland and Liverpool. I have visited them all at various times and they do have a point. I prefer Liverpool to the other two we list here, just because the people are more fun, but although it is the European city of culture it isn’t where many want to live.

Having said that I lived for about a year in this city of the North, Leeds a few years back, and loved most things about it. My wife hated it; in fact anything north of Watford brings her out in a cold sweat.

It does seem colder and wetter when you drive north, even if this is our collective imagination. But the truth is that if you’re born and bred in London everywhere else seems to offer less.

The report from the think tank is translated to mean that the future of the northern cities is irredeemable and any of its inhabitants with ambition should leave for London, Cambridge or such places as Oxford, all in the south of the country.

The trouble with this idea is that it would bring another million or so people to our already overcrowded southern cities and this would have the effect of rendering them as unappealing as their northern neighbors, albeit for different reasons.

We cannot simply abandon the northern cities because our politicians and their regeneration plans have almost totally failed them. As stated earlier the picture of failure is not universal. Leeds has re-invented itself as the vibrant centre of its region, and Manchester’s city centre has been similarly transformed for the better. Yes, there is a great deal of work to be done in other, outlaying parts of these two cities to bring them to where they should be but there has been a successful start.

The Policy Exchange recommendations are already materializing as the populations in the northern cities has decreased whilst the southeastern part of this country simultaneously and relentlessly grows.

Concurrently many of our countrymen are leaving the country for the same reasons. They don’t only leave for a better climate, but because they feel their country has let them down, and better opportunities are becoming available elsewhere.

There is nothing new in any of this. Human beings go where the climate, both actual and economic is most comfortable. That’s why the UK itself has found itself hosting several million immigrants over its recent past. Why, if these people come here to seek a better life, should we expect anything different of our citizens leaving, or people emigrating internally within our country, moving for a better life?

The challenge is for our country to find better solutions within the cities we cannot afford to abandon to their fate.