Labour politicians were warned to stop talking about a‘North-South divide’ because it alienates southern labour voters. I’m a
southerner who spent some time up North because that’s where one industry was
booming.
…is the response I commonly heard after telling people up
north from where I was born and bred. Ironically, what I was doing up north was
looking for paid work. With the difference in housing costs, there may be a lot
more Londoners moving there too. I say ‘ironically
looking for work’, because over time hundreds of British people have traveled from the top of the country down to the capital, risking death from cold
weather, disease and starvation for the chance to earn an honest salary. People
going ‘on the tramp’ during the economic hardships of the 18th
century are well documented- a good example is written by the ‘Anonymous Navvy’-
an agricultural labourer who was looking for work in the 1840s.
But I have traveled in the other direction. With the BBC moving to Salford, and the development of ‘MediaCityUK’, the media industry is booming in the North-West. Local news thrives too in all the smaller and prouder communities. I made the choice to study up north for many reasons. Our country is tiny compared to the likes of Mexico and Australia, and I think we should know our own countries well. The north of the country is a part of our industrial heritage- and I have family up there. The north is a place which has historically suffered, and that suffering seems to bring a strong local feeling to the place, and stronger local identity. It’s a colder, harsher climate, and there is resentment to places like London. London is traditionally where the money was, and increasingly it is, but it seems to be reaching a new phase, whereby it’s outdoing itself, and now industry is expanding elsewhere.
London is a place without a face. There are a lot of
characters, but community there is harder to come by. It is a melting pot of
differences, and this is great, but sometimes it’s hard to feel roots in
London.
I think this is mostly because of the business and
development there- the prices of rent which young people now have to pay. In
March this year, the typical mortgage for first time buyers was estimated at over £84,000.
Just under a quarter of Londoners rent privately (23%). This is with rising
rent costs. My point is, the gentrification of London and growth of business in
Manchester will surely push people out and into the second city, up north,
where I’m writing from. This would not only benefit the North, but the country as a whole.
So what might northerners make of this situation? If my
experience with some of my colleagues is anything to go by, they will feel
unsettled by the influx of foreign Englanders. But I don’t think they should
be. This is good for the local economy, good for refreshing the culture, and educating
people from the south who may have been too London-centric (me). Since studying
journalism there I have had to do a lot of ‘local’ news, and it’s been hard,
partly because of preconceptions of Londoners. But local news should reflect a
place- and if people are moving into a place, from the south, or an entirely
different country, they should have a place in the local community too.
FCUM football match |
It seems, for the younger generation at least, England currently doesn't compare to some countries, like Germany for example. Germany’s a
country where rent is cheap and housing easily available. Even the football is
cheaper, and of course, so is the beer- as well as tasting better.
The point of this article is that gentrification and top-down development is a
dangerous thing; it’s happening all over London, and the rest of the UK. It can
destroy communities. But people migrating communities definitely does not- not
if they bring with them a positive ethos and the right attitude.
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