North v South - culture wars

Dyed in the wool northerner here and wouldn't watch a football match if you paid me to do so. Absolutely adore ballet and opera and have a professional classical musician for a son. (Though he's struggled to make a living this year that's for sure) His profession contributes to the economy as much as any other so why should they not be supported the same as everyone else?
The amount of money some footballers get paid is immoral imo.

As a northerner, football-supporter, and ballet/theatre lover (we are fortunate to have many good venues for all of those locally) I took it as a very badly-expressed point to say that financial support had willingly and plentifully been given to London (London Transport, for example) and the Arts during these troubled times and, it seems, begrudgingly and as an afterthought, if at all, to the North and Sport. It did also seem a huge and incorrect general comment to say all the sport lovers were in the North, or that only northern areas seem to be low priority (the South-West and Kent for example which have been locked down with everyone else despite Covid cases being practically non-existent). As televised sport seems to be being used as bread and circuses at the moment, perhaps the government should show its gratitude by proffering assistance of some sort. At least the comment got people talking about the inequality in financial help to equally deserving areas.
I probably expressed myself badly too!

We lived in Scotland but where visiting grandparents in North Wales. Dad stopped to get petrol, and decided to buy a pennant Saying Dwygyfylchi. He was chuffed because he was charged half price for it because he could pronounce it!!

Dyed in the wool Southerner here who wouldn't watch a ballet or opera if you paid me to do so! Not particularly keen on football either but at least I understand it. Well, until you get to the offside rule.

Where ignorance is bliss springs to mind.

They do p me off the Tories, they still think of the north as cap doffers, when actually they are hard working people.
I live in the SE of London. And London has lots of different cultures and there are comments made on the subject.
London is like New York very diverse.
They haven’t a clue.

Riverwalk

JenniferEccles

Doesn’t anyone else think that this was very probably said as a joke, a tongue in cheek kind of remark, knowing full well what the reaction would be?

Never mind, another excuse to have a pop at a Tory.

Watch the film clip - he's deadly serious!

"Our Glyndebourne, Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, Royal Shakespeare company would be Blackburn Rovers, Accrington Stanley, Barrow & Sunderland"

Just shows how little he knowswhen he includes Blackburn Rovers and Accrington Stanley but misses Burnley.
I'm a Burnley fan who happens to love going to the Theatre as well!

I'm surprised at people in Rossendale electing Jake Berry to represent them - the people of East Lancashire have far more nous than that.

This idea about North v. South is another Tory distraction, so we can blame one another.

Absolutely!!!

I have lived in both the north and south of England. In both areas I found culture and wealth but also poverty and general deprivation.

When I lived in the north of England, people used to say to me that they thought southerners were all posh etc. I used to say there were plenty of people in the south who were far from posh.

I liked living in both areas of England.

* They do p me off the Tories, they still think of the north as cap doffers, when actually they are hard working people.*

Jake Berry is a proud scouser

So he knows a bit about the north

I think what this proves is sooner or later MPs will not be saying anything that may hit the public domain

It was a daft thing to say but stereotypes exist for a reason

But times change

Jake should have realised this wouldn't go down well in today's society

Ha ....I moved back to the UK late last year having lived in Spain and then France for 21 years.............I come from Suffolk, but decided to move to the North East ...........and I LOVE it ....there were (before lockdown, and hopefully will be after ) fantastic concert halls ...the Sage, at Gateshead...classical concerts by the Northern Sinfonia, and other invited classical musicians world wide ....and other music as well ! concert halls, theatres, cinemas, restaurants, not to mention an international airport (which I used a lot before covid spoilt everything !) a ferry over to the continent, multiple busses, taxis, U3A, clubs and volunteering ...........I DID think of moving back down south near to my roots, but looking into it, there is not a lot to do ...the nearest airports are miles away, and in small villages there are virtually no doctors, shops, transport ......here I am 15 minutes away from a (normally) vibrant city, the wonderful Northumbrian countryside, I am one minute from the beach and sea,,,and 10 minutes from the hospital I did volunteer in (no longer possible until after lockdown)....and of course you get more house for your money than where I come from .............still sometimes go down (again, before lockdown !) to see friends in Essex Suffolk and London ...........its a matter of what you want, and to ignore the comments that I got ha ha ....from friends down South ...'You are going to live WHERE !!!!! ....WHY !!!!!!....[GRIN]

I worked for an international company,and my colleagues from “The South” were shocked to find on a visit to my home that not only did I have inside toilets but a garden.
One who was from Poole didn’t believe me.
I live in a very nice detached house in leafy cheshire and I still had to show him our bathrooms etc he was amazed.
I thought they were just Stupid ???

railman

I'm surprised at people in Rossendale electing Jake Berry to represent them - the people of East Lancashire have far more nous than that.

This idea about North v. South is another Tory distraction, so we can blame one another.

Conservatives have held Rossendale for many years

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Here is another rant.I am a proud Northerner, born and bread in my lovely hometown Liverpool.We have a lot of culture in Liverpool, remember it was the European Capital of Culture a few years ago.Our Philharmonic Orchestra is second to none. I dont like football having lived with it all my life, we have so much more to offer, if only people would take the time to discover instead of calling Notherners second class citizens.

When my Welsh brother in law first visited our large Northern city, he said “I’d no idea you would have so many trees up here. So there you are. Not only should we not have the arts and culture- we shouldn’t have trees either. “Never mind yer ‘Derek Jacobi is at The Crucible in a one man show’ - get back ter tha grindstone and sharpen some scythes, an’ be quick abaht it!”

LauraNorder

Oh well, at least we in the north don’t eat jellied eels, yuk

Yes but... tripe!

Yes but we keep our coal in the bath not the barth

I was born and raised in Burnley and had grandparents from Rossendale. I was shocked last year to find that Burnley had fallen to the tories and would have expected Rossendale to be similar - part of the red wall which turned blue. The tories took many constituencies in 2019 mainly because of Boris' promise to 'Get Brexit Done' and I expect many are regretting that now.
Meanwhile I've lived in the South for most of my life having gone to University near London, then Oxford, and now live just outside London again. I have no interest in football though my immediate family support Burnley. I enjoy culture, though I struggle to understand opera, despite my daughter having worked for Scottish opera for a while before returning to her orchertral roots working for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. My ex husband, a Southerner, was a keen football supporter so I'm happy to no-longer be forced to endure the game on TV!
As I'm sure we all know, stereotypes do not represent reality in most cases. As for the government supporting different parts of the economy, everyone wants to see support for the areas of the economy that interest them the most and support their nearest and dearest. I know I am biased towards support for the Arts with a daughter having her career there.
Sadly Jake Berry seems to be just another tory who knows little about the people he claims to represent. Whether his remarks were tongue in cheek or just pure ignorance I'm not qualified to judge.

jocork

Conservatives have held Rossendale for years

Long before Brexit

Pathetic generalisation.
Has this person never heard of Opera North, the Birmingham Royal Ballet etc.!

Oh well if Jeremy Vine says it’s Ok........

This “only joking” thing and the “people are offended too easily” annoys me when the people concerned are professional “politicians “, surely they can learn what not to say?

I live down South, love theatre, not opera or ballet particularly and used to have a season ticket for the local football team (before I got an allotment), we have Sky sport, we avidly watch all sorts, football/rugby/golf/Grand Prix.
A lot of people in ‘power’ don’t seem to be well rounded, they’d serve their ‘customers’ a damn site better if they were.