THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE

England is often talked about in terms of a north-south divide which is cultural, economic and political (the Labour Party has more support in the north and the Conservative Party in the south). This was accentuated in the 1980s by differences in unemployment levels, crime rates, house prices and standards of living, all of which were worse in the north. “North-south divide’ has been part of English folklore since the middle of the nineteenth century. It denotes a supposed big difference between the poor north and the rich south. Historically, there is much truth in this generalization. The south has almost always had lower rates of unemployment and more expensive houses. This is especially true of the south-eastern area surrounding London. (This area is sometimes referred to as ‘the Home Counties’, an indication of London’s domination of public life.)

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the decline of heavy industry, which was mostly confined to the north, caused large-scale migration of well-qualified workers from north to south, so that the north-south divide seemed to be getting even wider. However, the picture now is not that simple. Some of the poorest areas in the country are actually in London.

· In Britain, like in every country, there are regional differences and people living in one region makes jokes about the characteristics (real or imagined) of people living in another. In Britain there are many jokes which begin ‘There was and Englishman, an Irishman, a Scotsman and a Welshman, and …’. In England itself there are myths about every region, but the broadest differences are those between the North and the South. There real geographical and economic variations; the North can be characterized as more industrial, cooler, hillier and more working-class, the South as middle-class, more suburban, flatter and wealthier. There are also the often irrational things the English say about each other. Several people were asked to comment on the differences.

· What some Northerners say:

- ‘You know the old saying …people in the North earn money, people in the South count it.’

- ‘As you go North, the beer gets better.’

- ‘They think they’re better than us – just because they talk posh. They’re a load of snobs.’

- ‘I was born in Manchester, but I live in the South. You know, I think things are better in the South for women. Northern men seem to want to get down the pub on their own and avoid women. Men in the South help more in the home – that’s a statistic. Northern men are more … more macho.’

- ‘The North may be dirtier – don’t forget “where there’s much there’s brass”.’ (i.e. where there’s dirt, there’s money.)

· What some Southerners say:

- ‘The North? A load of men with heavy colds, standing round in pubs wearing cloth caps, swilling bee and playing darts.’

- ‘They say we “talk posh” – we just speak better English, that’s all.’

- ‘There’s more equality of the sexes in the south. Northerners treat women like doormats.’

- ‘They’ve got a massive inferiority complex. They imagine that we’re all either stockbrokers, or country bumpkins with straw in our mouths. The prejudice comes more from them. They don’t see that we’re just like them.’

- ‘They live on sticky buns, tripe and black pudding. The food’s much more varied down her.’

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 923