The North South Divide with Niels Posthumus & Merlin Daleman

The North South Divide On 5 February, Niels and Merlin explore how the UK reached this point, the consequences of one of Europe’s deepest regional divides, and what might still be done to bridge the yawning gap between North and South.

London and its south-eastern hinterland rank among Europe’s wealthiest regions. In stark contrast, the 'economic North'—the Midlands and everything above—has suffered decades of economic decline. Wales and Northern Ireland sit firmly in this northern half as well, while Scotland, thanks largely to oil revenues, occupies a middle ground. Many Londoners may find it hard to believe, but the UK’s “economic North”—home to roughly half the population—is now less prosperous than the Czech Republic.

The North has become shorthand for deindustrialisation, decline, and discontent—and, in 2016, the strongest support for Brexit.

Journalist Niels Posthumus has travelled extensively with Daleman, documenting the widening gap in a series of articles on inequality, political polarisation and the rise of the radical right. The result is his Dutch non-fiction book Verdeeld Koninkrijk (Divided Kingdom), which echoes the warning of economic geographer Philip McCann: the UK is “dislocating into two or possibly three quite separate economies.” Indeed, McCann even added that the country is regionally “disconnecting” and “decoupling.”

British-Dutch photographer Merlin Daleman has captured this landscape in his book Mutiny. Having moved to the Netherlands as a young man, he long kept his distance from his home turf. But on returning a few years ago, he was struck by what he saw: time seemed to have stood still, and the towns of his youth showed none of the progress evident in London and the South.