If you dont consider Simon Jenkins a controversialist, then you must conclude he is an uncategorisable fish. He can infuriate with his incursions into areas of which he knows the best part of nothing, and his espousal the most reactionary (and objectionable) views. Yet, in the tradition of degenerate reactionaries (Richard Ingrams is another), he sometimes talks great sense. Here, he says: Londons overheated economy is the result of the government favouring the south-east with jobs and infrastructure. A recent Institute for Public Policy Research report calculated public and private transport investment in the north-west at £134 a head, but £2,730 in London. Northern cities have been left moribund and bleak compared with their equivalents in Europe. The Don Valley and south Lancashire look wretched alongside the Ruhr or Toulouse. Whether the answer lies in glamour mega-projects is less certain. Osborne loves them, particularly as his successors will have to find the cash. He doesnt know the meaning of austerity so long as a project is in the south .. Osborne still wants to blow £50bn (probably far more) on HS2 to ease the lot of rush-hour commuters into Euston. Lobbyists, the media and consultants love these adventures in public spending. The headlines are big and the upfront fees huge. The contrast between the Ruhr and the Don Valley couldnt be more stark. This is a problem with which northern English cities and towns are only now coming to terms. In doing so, theyre no doubt conscious of the abandonment in the USA of great cities like Detroit, never mind the huge roll-call of other jettisoned US metropolises and towns: (tinyurl/4poqyw). Northern counties have paid a great price for the continued sustainment of London as a financial centre, but so far have not seen the benefit. Indeed, all theyve experienced is the bankruptcy of that sector of the economy, which theyve had to bail out. Scotland is in the van of this dawning reality, and that, coincidentally, is doing the English northern counties no end of good, both in terms of clarifying the real nature of their relationship with southern England, and what is in their power to do about their situation. A new emboldened north is in view.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 00:46:23 +0000