North South Divide

Okay I am just going to put it out there. 

I think it is time for  the North East of England to separate itself from the shackles of a London based government. We should throw our lot in with the Scottish Nationalists and join Scotland.

Actually a picture of Carlisle!!

There I have said it.

Why should I say such a thing? Well I have a number of issues. 

Firstly London seems a long way away. Edinburgh is much closer, maybe we would finally feel that we had a stake in a Parliament on our doorstep.

The problem with England as it stands is that London is sucking the life out of it. That is of course slightly

unfair on the capital. However the point is that all communications are London based. A map of the motorway network and the rail network shows that all routes lead to London. Success begets success and London reaches it's tendrils out into the country and effectively centralises all the commerce.

There is a case for cutting the capital adrift from the rest of the

UK for it's own good. Some would argue that we need to be part of a success story like London as is pays for all our welfare. The counterpoint to that is that if London hadn't sucked all the commerce from the UK we would be able  to pay our own way.

The North East of England would benefit Scotland as it would provide an even greater low cost industrial hinterland than it has right now and the north east would still be able to get it's hands on what is left of North Sea oil.

The Down side is that we would still be considered outsiders. Geordies are not well respected in England

and as English we would not be well respected by the Scots.

This all taps into a feeling that was about in the 1970's of breaking England into more regional areas. IT would, perhaps have worked then. There was still an economic basis for survival of the North. It could take some time to re establish that nowadays

But think about the sporting benefits. There are 3 major football teams in this region. Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. All of which are at least as big as Rangers and Celtic in the Scottish set up. So after a few years of climbing the ranks the North East could enjoy Champions League football every year. 

Not bad eh?