Hiya Mark, allowances and expenses are not part of Police Pay, maybe a sweeter?
I think we had best leave it as you will not accept what I have explained.
Take care, and I look forward to our next discussion.
I am sure this was said in jest we people in the north donāt feel that southerners " have a chip on their shoulders"
Hi Ann-Marie, I donāt understand why you felt disgruntled by my post. I have not belittled northern people, places or housing stock. I thought it was clear that my angst was against the media for promoting the image of a north with no money, prospects or jobs & a south of unlimited wealth, full employment & luxury lifestyles. The north is much better in many ways than the image projected by the media. You say as much yourself & you tell us how well you & your family have fared.
There are good & bad areas all over the UK.
You are right about some property being cheaper in France but other items can be much more expensive. We live where we live out of choice & it is not always an economic reason. Often the heart rules.
You canāt build more land and in all countries some areas are far more desirable than otherās, if you want to live there then you pay whatever you have to pay. Northern England has hot spots and cold spots, as does the south of England as does France.
My father was born in Waterfoot in the Rossendale valley, he said all he can remember was rain rain and more rain, and was quite glad when my grandparents moved to Norwich. We live in Normandy, a beautiful region, so big and so diverse, little bits of England dotted here there and everywhere, property prices are up and down and all over the place, incomes in most of Orne are amongst the lowest in France. Upper Normandy and the bass Normandy coast are buzzing, whereas the southern part of bass Normandy is as dead as a Dodo. Definite north south divide.
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51.9% of the voting population (which was 72.2% of the total voters) voted for Brexit.
Which means that 51.9% of 72.2% or 35% of the total UK voting population voted to leave the EU.
Should it not have been possible:
*for voting-to-abstain, with
*a minimum 51% of the total voter-population necessary
*either For or Against Brexit?
(Another vote anyone ā¦ ? ;^)
PS: As a Yank, I am just amused by the question. In a representative-democracy, it should be up to a Legislature to vote such matters. Voting populations vote their legislatures (and in some countries their Executive) - and that is really quite enough.
Whatās that got to do with the north south divide? By the way the brexit referendum has been and gone and the result is to leave, perhaps people might find their lives more productive and fulfilling if they moved on and got on with living. Blaming others,(especially family for christs sake) because the result didnāt go your way achieves nothing only continued bitterness and hatred. I voted remain, shrugged my shoulders after hearing the result and got on with life.
Did more people in the north vote leave than voted leave in the south? Or was it fairly evenly spread? I loved the old Pakistani chap in Bradford who said he voted leave because there were just far too many people like him in the country.
England is such a tiny country, north south is irrelevant, its only a few hours in a car either way. France on the other hand is a good days drive from one end to the other, and thatās on excellent roads, just imagine how well England could have done with a road and rail network like France.
Watch bienvenu chez les chātis 
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Interesting.
Might have been slightly fairer to compare Folkestone and Chatham statistics with somewhere of more equal economic statusā¦ perhaps Preston.
Manchester is a very major city that distorts wages and costs in a similar way that London does in the SE.
Would perhaps be interesting to see how Manchester compares (house price, wages and other statistics) with Sheffield, Liverpool, Newcastle, Middlesborough, Halifax. Huddersfield, etc. I would expect significant differences that could undermine the credibility of broader generalisations about the economics of the āNorthā.
But overall there is a point to be made about there being benefits to living in the North that donāt always get the attention they deserve.