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As an American, I often wonder how the social fabric of the UK is knitted. Here in the states, as you know, we progressivley break down into smaller and smaller subregions with our idenitity. One thing that stands out as a casual observer of the UK is London's mega-dominince both in size and eocnomic stature. Most forms of British media seem to heavily use London as a backdrop for British society.
So to you I ask is this: Is the UK super London-centric? If it is, has the British Government sought to reduce this effect? Is this an underlying factor in the 20th century's movement towards the devolution of the countries?
No, if anything the US is too London-focussed. A lot of the important buildings and news broadcasts are from there but that's about where it ends really. People tend to be very proud of where they're from, no matter which region that might be.
No, if anything the US is too London-focussed. A lot of the important buildings and news broadcasts are from there but that's about where it ends really. People tend to be very proud of where they're from, no matter which region that might be.
It's not the UK that is too "London focused" -- it's the non-UK world.
There's a whole world outside of London in the UK....great cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol and Leeds. Drive north of Carlisle and you're in a whole different country (Scotland). London is a great city, but it does not define the UK.
I'd agree with most of the above. London is a vastly different city/area to any other in the UK. To most people who live there, not much need exist outside, but to all other UK residents London is just the capital, nothing more.
It is actually outside the UK that people pretty much define England, or the UK as London. It's not any different to people here using New York or LA to define the US, Sydney for Australia, Paris for France etc etc By any capital's nature it will usually contain its nation's largest population percentage, largest concentration of wealth, political power etc and so be the major focus of any outside attention or coverage.
As in all countries, we have enormous amounts to offer other than London influenced stereotypes.
bbc are building a new broadcasting station in Salford to tackle this issue and to be more representative of the license payers. Apart from broadcasts though I don't think we're London focused at all. Obviously it is the political hub so it makes sense to me to have any broadcasts involving politics etc with Houses of Parliament/ 10 Downing as the backdrop.
I do think a lot of the National Media tend to be a bit too London focused. I sometimes feel as though the UK is some kind of a wasteland outside of London if one believes London based journalists...
For example reviews of restaurants, plays, cultural events always seem to focus on London when there is actually a rich and diverse cultural life in the "provinces". You would think we provincials live in backwater Papua New Guinea looking at the frequency of some journalists' foray into the "wild"....
It is a shame because the UK is indeed very varied and has distinct regions ( though the regions are not as distinct as they perhaps are on the Continent where there seems a lot more in terms of very specific cultural, culinary, linguistic differences ).
The National Media can be truly blinkered as to the rest of the UK and I also get a bit tired of all the "cliches" when they mention certain regions. For example the North seems to mainly elicit stories about poverty,crime, and unemployment which I feel is not terribly fair nor representative...
bbc are building a new broadcasting station in Salford to tackle this issue and to be more representative of the license payers.
Yeah, I'm not happy about that anymore - I live in that very area and right now it's a quiet place. It's going to be so busy and traffic is going to be hell. Originally, I thought it was great because it will really put the area on the map and the plans look like an amazingly modern design - but I'm not looking forward to it now. The more they build, the more the reality of how big it is sets in. Plus, at the moment we can't drive anywhere without our car getting filthy from all the dirt on the road from the construction.
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