1. Semester Calendar 12 weeks – 1 hour/week
Identity: who are the British?
Geography and demographics: how do British people organize spatially and socially?
Politics and institutions: how are British people represented and ruled over?
The UK and the World: British people and the EU, British people and the US

2. Actualités et faits de société Lecture 4 - Licence 1
North and South: the great divide?

3. North-South Divide: where is the line?
Northern Cities:
Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Liverpool
Southern Cities:
London, Brighton, Gloucester
Wales is situated north of the divide

5. North-South divide in music: The Battle of Britpop in the 1990s

7. 1. Geography, demography the physical shape of the north/south divide
ca. 80% of the population live in England,
the south-east is the fastest-growing region of the UK
London itself has 8.3 million inhabitants, 13% of the total of the UK

8. Anamorphic map of the UK

9. Anamorphic maps of France and Italy

10. 2. Historical explanations
south: traditionally held money and power (landowners, aristocracy)
19th century: growth of northern cities
BUT decline of northern industry started in 1914
Thatcher years (1980s): widened the gap between north and south (closing down heavy industries, mines) to promote services and finance, mainly in the south

11. Mapping unemployment

12. Mapping unemployment

13. 3. Some signs of the great divide
Let’s have a look at three kinds of data: 3.1. Health - a good indicator of national disparities in lifestyle 3.2. Housing - a good indicator in national disparities in wealth 3.3. Education - a good indicator in national disparities in access to top education, signs of an elitist, socially exclusive society

14. 3.1. Health
Long-term illnesses
Death rates increase and decrease

15. 3.1. Health (overall premature deaths)

16. 3.2. Housing lowest prices (Scotland, Wales): ca. £ 64,000
highest prices (London): ca. £350,000
 housing is much more expensive in the south of the UK

17. 3.3. Education 3.3.1. Secondary Education (12-17 years)
South-East has the largest number of selective independent schools
the most influential public schools are in the south, especially near London (Eton, Harrow)
VOCABULARY: public school = école privée
GCSE results: children in the south-east outperform children in the north  40% more likely to gain As

18. 3.3. Education 3.3.2. Higher Education
there is a north-south divide in university admissions
more southerners apply to university, and more get the places they want in top universities
Example in 2010:
Northern applicants: 800 students got in Oxbridge
London and South-East applicants: 2,700 students got into Oxbridge

19. Access to elite universities
South-east and London send a lots of students to elite universities
So does Scotland
Wales, Midlands and Northern England send the lowest number of students to elite universities

20. University admissions
Southern students tend to choose top southern universities
Northern students are more found in northern universities

21. 4. London, a counter-example
London is the city where you find both the wealthiest people in the UK and the poorest people in the UK
the divide is an East/West divide in London, with the East being traditionally poorer
highest housing prices in the country, highest salaries…
… but also highest unemployment rates

22. 5. Bridging the north/south divide?
governments have tried to bridge the divide, but so far have failed
government subsidies go to the north, mainly, where you also find the highest rates of people being employed by the state
plans to bridge the geographical divide by building new transport infrastructures, like the planned HS2 train lines

23. Bridging the divide with a new train line