From growing up in the North, in Grimsby, then moving to London when I was 17 years old, I can say hand on heart the North and South divide is very present.
Now this goes much deeper than just Northerns being ‘friendlier’. Which I would argue isn’t the case, Northerns are just more talkative and nosy which is perceived as ‘friendlier’ compared to the silent Southerns. Being born in the North of the UK results in fewer opportunities, shorter life expectancy and inequality of wealth that is set to increase to £128,300 per family by 2030.
The difference is strongest between the North East and South East, with experts now predicting that people in the North East are 20 per cent more likely to die earlier than people from the South. From an anthropological point of view, the contrast is staggering. People’s attitudes are vastly separate. With the South being from a more diverse culture, people’s attitudes towards others are quieter. I’ve found this is more transparent with fashion. Growing up in Grimsby, I struggled with finding my own identity as whenever I wore something that wasn’t considered ‘normal’ I was judged and shouted at in the street. Whereas, in London, everyone is dressed exactly how they want to be, whether that means having 3-foot-long spiky hair or wearing 5 belts as a top. With the South being a cosmopolitan place to live, there is an air of freedom and an acceptance that everyone is different. It is clear that the South is liberal compared to the North.
Education also reeks of disparity. Schools in northern areas receive less funding than their southern counterparts, while schoolchildren in the north have fallen behind by the age of five. Schools in the south-east are also sending nearly 50 per cent more students to Oxbridge than the national average. This is something I noticed largely as I went to two different colleges- one in the North and one in the South. My college in the South had computers for every student and iPads, the building was high tech (as well as the equipment) and modern and the class sizes were far fewer as they could afford to employ more teachers. Whereas, in Grimsby the building was old and during the winter the school couldn’t afford heating so on some occasions we were sent home as too cold.
Now it is very established that rent and house prices are considerably more expensive in the south. Though house prices may be lower in the north, research has suggested that the same number of new homes are being built in London as every city region in the so-called ‘Northern Powerhouse’ combined. However, it is known people in the south earn more than people up north. The wage gap, too, is alarming: the average wage of a working woman in Camden is £560 a week, while Hartlepool has an average of £252. It has recently been highlighted that women in the north are more likely to work a job paying minimum wage compared to women in the south. This is due to a lack of affordable childcare options for working-class mothers, therefore, they are more likely to take jobs with bad pay as they offer more flexibility in hours.
Transport is a major factor that highlights the inequality between the North and the South. The north of England has seen in the last 10 years, £59 billion less funding compared to London, limiting travel and opportunities. It makes sense that the government wants to invest in travel in London as so many tourists (20 million) go annually but that shouldn’t reduce the funding for the north and the people living in England.
A subtle difference between the north and south is that the weather is better in the south. While it is known fact the British weather is very cold and wet, the north of the UK is far colder and wetter. On average, there is usually about four to five degrees difference in temperature between the places. Winds from the north tend to bring cold air from the polar regions, while winds from the south and southeast bring warm, dry weather. And with the eye-watering amount bills like gas and electricity have risen in the last four years, the weather is added to the socioeconomic divide.
Yes, further reductions to the north-south divide are to be welcomed – and believe me, we do welcome them – but the damage is still being done. The boundary between north and south may not be clear to mark, but it remains present in every aspect of life: social, economic, and psychological; and while these barriers remain in place, it is a schism that is only getting deeper.
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