Kitson wants out

[papereyes]

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has said he will speak to striker Dave Kitson about rumours that he is unsettled at the Britannia Stadium.

Several national newspapers have reported Kitson, who joined the Potters from Reading in July, is unhappy living in the north of England.

How long has Stoke been in the North of England?

People speak like they were beaten in the womb - CHECK

Everyone is morbidly obese - CHECK

Shell suits still in fashion - CHECK

Letter 'H' notable by absence - CHECK

Its certainly not the South, now, is it?

Archie's penalty - Birmingham is the midlands, anything north of that is The North. Whether they, or any independent adjudicator, likes it or not.

[Dirk Gently]

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has said he will speak to striker Dave Kitson about rumours that he is unsettled at the Britannia Stadium.

Several national newspapers have reported Kitson, who joined the Potters from Reading in July, is unhappy living in the north of England.

How long has Stoke been in the North of England?

People speak like they were beaten in the womb - CHECK

Everyone is morbidly obese - CHECK

Shell suits still in fashion - CHECK

Letter 'H' notable by absence - CHECK

Its certainly not the South, now, is it?

That sounds very much like the East End or South East London to me - and that's certainly not in the North!

Archie's penalty - Birmingham is the midlands, anything north of that is The North. Whether they, or any independent adjudicator, likes it or not.

Sorry - Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Cheshire and Staffs are in the Midlands - Lancashaire, Yorkshire and all points north are "The North." It starts at the county boundaries just south of the M62.

[Hoop Blah]

Stoke is borderline for me.

I'd always consider Crewe as the Midlands but Stoke as more of a Northern town....Crewe is further north though.

I think Dirk's probably got it right though.

[TBM]

He hasn't actually scored for them yet, has he? In the league anyway..

Is he yet to play 90-mins too?

[Archie's penalty]

I'd agree with Dirk as well.

I think the dividing line is between Nottingham and Sheffield (is that what you were talking about Dirk?). Nottingham is the East Midlands and Sheffield is South Yorkshire. I didn't realise until I was 18 that Nottingham and Sheffield are only 30 miles away from each other.

And the North/North-west thing. I just think back to the book written by Stuart Maconie a while ago about 'The North' and all he described was the North-West - i.e Wigan, Oldham , Manchester, Bury, Preston, Lancaster. Some reviewer read it and said that's not technically the North - the real North being as I said Darlington, Newcastle, Durham, Carlisle. The North-west is very different culturally from the real North...

[papereyes]

I'd agree with Dirk as well.

I think the dividing line is between Nottingham and Sheffield (is that what you were talking about Dirk?). Nottingham is the East Midlands and Sheffield is South Yorkshire. I didn't realise until I was 18 that Nottingham and Sheffield are only 30 miles away from each other.

And the North/North-west thing. I just think back to the book written by Stuart Maconie a while ago about 'The North' and all he described was the North-West - i.e Wigan, Oldham , Manchester, Bury, Preston, Lancaster. Some reviewer read it and said that's not technically the North - the real North being as I said Darlington, Newcastle, Durham, Carlisle. The North-west is very different culturally from the real North...

There's actually a very marked dividing line across the country that runs pretty much from north of Bristol to just south of Hull. Basically, there's very little middle ground between the two places - the midlands are effectively indistinguishable from the north. I'd agree with that, if only because it will deeply patronise both groups.



Link to academic group and their thoughts on the matter
Link to accompanying article here

Comedy damning tag line: "'In terms of life chances, the only line within another European country that is comparable to the North-South divide is that which used to separate East and West Germany.'" LOL

Maconie's book - Pies and Prejudice. Deals with Barrow to Newcastle, Liverpool to Manchester to Leeds.

[Sarah Star]

I'd go with that, Papereyes. I don't tend to think in terms of there being any middle ground. There's North and there's South, you're either one or the other, but then I am a southerner through and through.

[Dirk Gently]

... a lot of technical stuff.

And I'll counter with my own. The disctinction between the South and the North was set in the 9th & 10th Centuries by the boundary of The Danelaw.

The area occupied by the Danelaw was roughly the area to the north of a line drawn between London and Chester, excluding the portion of Northumbria to the east of the Pennines.



Danish laws held sway in the Kingdom of Northumbria and Kingdom of East Anglia, and the lands of the Five Boroughs of Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Stamford and Lincoln - so that really ought to be "The North".

[Hoop Blah]

I think that might be a little out of date Dirk...

[AF1]

only on hobnob

[Archie's penalty]

Well I was born in Lancaster and by a quirk of fate support Reading.

I always feel a bit weird when people sing about Northern b*stards.

And anyway Papereyes surely the North/South divide in Italy is much worse than it is here?

[papereyes]

Well I was born in Lancaster and by a quirk of fate support Reading.

I always feel a bit weird when people sing about Northern b*stards.

And anyway Papereyes surely the North/South divide in Italy is much worse than it is here?

Far, far worse, imo. Apparently not, according to the boffins

[Platypuss]

I'd agree with Dirk as well.

I think the dividing line is between Nottingham and Sheffield (is that what you were talking about Dirk?). Nottingham is the East Midlands and Sheffield is South Yorkshire. I didn't realise until I was 18 that Nottingham and Sheffield are only 30 miles away from each other.

And the North/North-west thing. I just think back to the book written by Stuart Maconie a while ago about 'The North' and all he described was the North-West - i.e Wigan, Oldham , Manchester, Bury, Preston, Lancaster. Some reviewer read it and said that's not technically the North - the real North being as I said Darlington, Newcastle, Durham, Carlisle. The North-west is very different culturally from the real North...

There's actually a very marked dividing line across the country that runs pretty much from north of Bristol to just south of Hull. Basically, there's very little middle ground between the two places - the midlands are effectively indistinguishable from the north. I'd agree with that, if only because it will deeply patronise both groups.



Link to academic group and their thoughts on the matter
Link to accompanying article here

Comedy damning tag line: "'In terms of life chances, the only line within another European country that is comparable to the North-South divide is that which used to separate East and West Germany.'" LOL

Maconie's book - Pies and Prejudice. Deals with Barrow to Newcastle, Liverpool to Manchester to Leeds.

God alone knows why Cornwall is blue, though.

[Archie's penalty]

Well I was born in Lancaster and by a quirk of fate support Reading.

I always feel a bit weird when people sing about Northern b*stards.

And anyway Papereyes surely the North/South divide in Italy is much worse than it is here?

Far, far worse.

So how could they write that in that article? Hmm hmm and once again hmm...

[papereyes]

Sorry - clarified earlier.

[SpaceCruiser]

God alone knows why Cornwall is blue, though.

And Wales surely isn't north, it's, well, west.

[Archie's penalty]

I haven't got time to look at the stats but I have heard that parts of the South of Italy have life expectancies 30 years less than in places in the North.

This debate could run and run...

Also regarding the map - Scotland isn't the North - it's Scotland?

Conclusion: stupid map.

[weybridgewanderer]

I'll counter with ....

North

hadrians wall

South

[TFF]

As soon as a bread roll becomes a cob, or grarse becomes grass, you're in the north.

[PEARCEY]

God alone knows why Cornwall is blue, though.

And Wales surely isn't north, it's, well, west.

North Wales is certainly in the north.

DIRK No way is Cheshire part of the Midlands. You are having a laff.