For as long as I remember, there has always been a North-South divide.
Sometimes it showed itself in great sporting contests. I remember watching in September 2003, with my best friend, a North London gooner, the infamous Arsenal v Manchester United game that was a nil-nil draw but had a mass brawl, eight yellow cards and a sending off.
Sometimes it was humour; in the “loadsamoney” Harry Enfield character flashing wads of cash at the Northerners.
But most of the time it was my memories of the humiliation of the Northern estates in the 1980s as mining pits closed, steelworks folded and shipping yards disappeared while ‘yuppies’ splashed cash on champagne and the high life.
A North-South divide in England – economically, socially and culturally. While the border cannot be seen from space, or even on a map, it has always existed.
This divide is not new. It is deep-rooted and has been there for centuries. It’s common knowledge how Boudica stood up to the Romans, yet we hear little of the genocide of Northerners by the Normans in 1069 in the harrying of the North campaigns.
There has always been a feeling that the Northerner is less cultured, less cosmopolitan than the rest. While we are united as one country, these divides persist in 21st century Britain.
Once more, this corrosive and snobbish attitude has reared its head following the Brexit result. A vast army of the political, media, business and cultural elite raged at those who dared to vote to leave the European Union.
Almost immediately, the “Remainer” class, mainly those in the Westminister bubble, spouted that those who voted to leave were stupid, they didn’t know what they were voting for and they didn’t understand what they were losing.
(Evidence published by the Electoral Commission yesterday suggests the opposite)
Poor bloke is divorced from reality! North east, Wales & other Labour heartlands all voted for BREXIT because of EU! https://t.co/MauDK1qDyC
— Patriot = Jim Rea (@jamesanglosaxon) September 11, 2016
Worst still, they must have been racist or xenophobic. This sense of superiority is especially prevalent in London and surrounding areas where wealth and patronage make many immune from the low incomes and separation of wealth in Northern towns. It still continues and is emblematic of a “cultural loadsamoney”.
In fact, it is this continuation of the snobbery and class divide that has blighted our country. George Orwell wrote that “England is the most class-ridden country under the sun. It is a land of snobbery and privilege, ruled by the old and the silly”. Today I believe we still have that same snobbery and privilege, but we are ruled by the pretentious aesthete and the socially isolated.
In another age, this social snobbery also reared its head to undermine the achievements of the North.
Owen Jones is sticking two fingers up to the "Ordinary people" in the north who voted for the successful Brexit vote and is challenging it
— Tim Denyer (@denyertim) August 24, 2016
Whilst our history valorises the Tudors, Stuarts and Georgians, praise has been short for one era, rooted in the North, that changed the world: the great age of the Industrial revolution.
Statutes of generals and leaders surround Westminster, but the one for the founder of the railway age, George Stephenson, has languishes near a roundabout in a built-up area, almost unseen.
On This Day 1781. Birth of railway engineer George Stephenson. This plaque is at his birthplace – Wylam. pic.twitter.com/yAuLOT6FMd
— Beautiful Britain (@BeauBritain) June 9, 2016
He was attacked over his lack of formal education, even challenged by barristers in court over his ideas. Where are the celebrations to James Hargreaves’s spinning jenny, Arkwright’s water frame or Crompton’s spinning mule, which let Britain control up to two thirds of the world’s cotton trade?
When Frank Cottrel-Boyce, a Liverpudlian, scripted a segment for on the Industrial Revolution for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, the idea was scoffed at by the politicians and media.
I loved it. The industrial revolution was a fundamentally world-changing event that came from the North and was undertaken by people who didn’t all go to the right schools or universities, often self-made businessmen, hardworking and not socially right. They didn’t follow the norms of the metropolis, yet they created something amazing.
Today, we see a crop of politicians who refuse to accept the referendum result.
This includes many, blinded by the glamour of Westminster, who conveniently forget that their own constituents voted in a majority to leave the EU.
They should remember that Northerners ignored the snobbish entreaties from the South, helped build an empire and launch global trade which has given Britain enormous prosperity.
Now comes Brexit. We voted for change against those who demean our views. I believe that once again Britain can launch our next stage in our nation’s prosperity, driven by those who ignore the pretentious aesthete and who believe in Britain.
