The same argument that people don't have anything in common with their neighbours is just as common in London where there's zero affinity between someone who lives in Croydon and another in Enfield as there is between the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester.
Nothing personal but that right there is exactly the problem with diagnosing the North through a London/South East lense. It's also why we tend to get well-meaning but utterly wrong prescriptions.
Someone who lives in Croydon and someone who lives in Enfield are both Londoners. That's a big thing to have in common. They both go into central London for shopping, entertainment and, more often than not, employment.
Liverpool and Manchester are two of the next largest cities in the country which are fairly close to each other in a UK context but still very distinct. I live in Liverpool, shop in Liverpool and, back when we lived in a somewhat free society, socialised in Liverpool. I very rarely go to Manchester for anything.
And so, like itsrobert, I have to ask what do I have in common with York or Newcastle that I don't with, say, Birmingham, which is closer? Or, indeed, North Wales, which is right on our doorstep.
Ask anyone in Liverpool what could the BBC do to cover them better and no one, I repeat, NO ONE, will say more continuity announcements from Salford. Let's face it, even the Scotland/Wales/NI continuity is at least as much a political wheeze as a practical one.
And again, Liverpool, despite being one of the largest and culturally distinct cities in the country, is not in the national conversation, as per usual. It goes without saying that none of the boondoggles in terms of department relocations will be heading this way but rather to the same two or three favoured cities outside London. I've long come to expect nothing different there but come on: if they were remotely serious, they'd finally take a look at how Liverpool is accommodated for in the local news provision.
BBC North West is the largest region, household-wise in the country, after London. Liverpool people think it's too Manchester-centric, Manchester folk think Liverpool is featured too much and everyone north of Wigan feel they hear too much about both places. If they wanted to do something more like France 3 (comparing Picardy to the whole North of England is a joke) then they'd seriously look at a way of providing sub-opts, at least for Liverpool/Merseyside but perhaps also Lancashire. Similar perhaps should be done for Sheffield/South Yorkshire and I would say Scotland and perhaps Wales also.
Additionally, they should devolve all regional output, giving each region a set budget, removing the "English Regions" layer while they're at it. Then, each region decides its priorities, whether that be providing regional continuity, having two news anchors or commissioning a new look for the news without worrying about being forced to drop it within months by someone in London (or Birmingham) who wants it to look identical to equivalent programmes in other parts of the country.
All that would be truly transformative. Alas, this is no doubt merely a political wheeze. With a year or two, some overqualified fixer will likely come into the corporation to find savings and comes up with the novel idea of not having a separate BBC One for the North. And he/she will be able to retire comfortably due to coming up with such a genius idea.
Please excuse the long post and my cynicism.
