I was born in London and spent the first 20 years of my life assuming that if it wasn’t happening here in the capital — and preferably inside the Circle line — then it wasn’t happening anywhere else in Britain. I was very wrong about that. I went on to spend 16 years as an MP near Manchester, where people lived their lives in that cauldron of cool creativity and felt almost completely disconnected from what was happening in London. There was a sullen resentment about the capital: why was this vampire squid sucking in talent and taxpayers’ money?
I tried to persuade Mancunians and others that this was just as mistaken as the Londoner arrogance of my youth. It was to the huge benefit of our northern cities that the most international, global city in the world was just 200 miles away. So when I chaired the Northern Powerhouse Partnership I would refuse to let us issue press releases complaining when some road scheme or science project in London got funded, and when I edited the Evening Standard I made sure we covered events across the whole of the UK.
I’m not sure how much success I had in changing attitudes. For today those false assumptions remain entrenched. When the HS2 railway line was cancelled, that massively short-sighted decision was greeted with despair in Birmingham and Manchester but largely ignored in the capital. When some of London’s great cultural institutions, such as the Royal Opera House and National Theatre, got their budgets squeezed in the name of “levelling up” a couple of years earlier, this act of levelling down was cheered in some regional quarters — without understanding the damage it did to the national ecosystem of the performing arts.
Don’t level down
この記事は The London Standard の September 26, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The London Standard の September 26, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Why are England wasting time waiting for Tuchel?
Winning the World Cup is the aim, so the new boss should start now
He's been shot, and punched by Mike Tyson, but British boxing's great survivor is back on top and aiming to rule the world
This is where the magic happens,\" reads a big neon sign scrawled across the entrance to the offices of arguably the most powerful man in British boxing today.
How Sketch went from 'obscene' to era-defining
After arocky start, the glamorous and infamous restaurant is now an institution
Money is worth less than time'
He's quit Fendi, but what will Kim Jones do next?
London's Roman Amphitheatre
Guildhall Yard, EC2V
Liberals didn't notice they'd lost relevance in the all-consuming digital sphere
There are many reasons why Donald Trump might have won the election last week.
Do we have to die?
One neuroscientist thinks the answer is no
How to have a magical Christmas in Edinburgh
From cosy cobblestone streets to abundant Yuletide goings-on, few cities rival the Scottish capital in creating Christmas whimsy.
London's best festive restaurants
The social season is upon us once more. These are the city’s most coveted Christmas venues, which need to be booked soon so as to not miss out on the tinsel and tipples.
Rag'n'Bone Man
I struggle with being recognised... I'll never really feel comfortable with it'