North of England/ Scotland (20)

Much of London is OK. It's those bleedin' home counties that suck the blood from this nation.

Me being a North East lass have watched the debate. I was surely not encouraged by the new SNP women she is for sure trying to stir a divide between the good Scotish People and us. That was sorted 100years or so ago. The Scots I reckon only voted SNP as they did not have credible alternatives in the other parties. They should get their finger out. The good Scots again voted to stay as one big country and of course iron out some problems. She the SNP leader threw bad apple into bag suggesting us just North of the border should join with Scotland and have different borders Why oh why can't we stay proud of who we are and just see in each other good companions.
For sure we need out vote from EU but reckon SNP leader is trying to make fuss over that too. dear oh dear I am a women and I just think this leader is a ??????? thats a swear word I like being a Northumbrian and I love to visit Bonny Scotland but joining together we would each loose our unique qualities.xxxxx

London is OK. Other southern counties are the major problem with this country. What has the south of England contributed to the rest of the country? Spongeland would be more appropriate.

The Office for National Statistics reckons that the average Londoner contributes 70% more to Britain's national income than people in the rest of the country - a difference of £16,000 each a year.


It's tricky to measure, but they also seem to pay more in taxes than they get back in government spending.


But of course, one big reason for that is that most other places have not been doing nearly as well. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, the divide between them has widened since the financial crisis, because London has been growing so much faster.


So, whatever the capital's success is doing for other parts of the UK, you might say that it doesn't seem to be helping them to catch up.
It made me wonder playing host to a "first-rate" global capital also came with a massive catch: that as well as subsidising the rest of the country, London's very success was also holding it back.


This is an idea that's been debated for decades - at least since London's massive expansion in the inter-war period, when planning rules didn't really exist and London became "Greater London", with a much greater population to match.
Wrong size
But the film set me thinking about all the ways that policy gets distorted by so much of Britain's economic, political and cultural all being concentrated in one place.
Without London, the UK would look like a rather different economy - one less focussed on financial services, more reliant on manufacturing. That could make a difference to macro-economic policy.


But more interesting, perhaps, would be the impact on policy-making in general, if the bulk of decisions stopped being taken in Whitehall.
Whether it's the "spare room subsidy" or the government's "new homes bonus", every politician you talk to, outside London, will have their pet example of a "one-size-fits-all" policy dreamed up in Whitehall which fits the priorities of London and the south east a lot better than the rest of the UK.


The chief executive of Birmingham City Council, Stephen Hughes, liked the thought experiment. He told me getting rid of London would be a fantastic challenge to big cities like Birmingham.
Because, instead of complaining about those one-size-fits-all policies, he and his colleagues would have to get on with coming up with their own.
Slow
Travelling around for the film brought home another crucial way in which London has got things sewn up: Transport. I'm ashamed to say I hadn't fully appreciated this point before making the film.

You don't, if you spend your time going between London and other parts of the UK.
You can cover the 120-odd miles between London and Birmingham in a train in 84 minutes. Birmingham to Manchester is not much more than half the distance, but I found the fastest train between the two actually took longer: about 90 minutes.
Similarly, it's only 40 miles from Manchester to Leeds, but the fastest train takes nearly an hour.

You might think High Speed 2 will change this - isn't it all about bridging the North-South divide?
But when you're sitting in Birmingham or Manchester, you can see why many people outside London think high speed rail will actually make things worse.
They worry that a faster connection to London will simply make it even less attractive to go anywhere else.

By the time HS2 comes into existence, it will look like a relic from the past.
London is the problem. It should be turned into a museum. The home counties would make a great car park.

Stedan,'In UK all they do is rob me' but isn't Scotland part of UK? Or Do u mean in England or in London all they do is rob u.
Most of the top politicians in London are from Scotland or Scottish descendants.Perhaps one day it may be decided that London is part of Scotland too!

Campaign for north of England to join Scotland now has more than 37,000 supporters

Martin Williams
Senior News Reporter
Sunday 17 May 201

Didn' you realise that this has already been decided by democratic vote.


Against

Yeah we are scrounges . Yeah ok man . That's why all the English are flooding up here to escape the migrants . What s pathetic statement . Must be right in the wined up . Maybe Shen you have another drought down there you will remember why Westminster don't want us out the UK . It's ok though . When you decide that your scared off all the immigrants like the rest of your countrymen I'll still let you in Scotland so you can be protected .,as for the n I . You should check your history books .

You wanna remember Scotland is part of England, governed and controlled from Westminster,

You wanna remember Scotland is part of the u k unfortunately., not England my old son. However I'd expect your comment not to be serious as you don't look and seem that silly my friend