Let’s Talk About The North and South Divide

Spoiler alert: I hate it.

In case you are not aware, I am from Liverpool, and I talk with a fairly strong, noticeable scouse accent, and I go to university in London. Do you see where I’m going with this? I am in the pinnacle position to experience the north/south divide through how people react to me, treat me and what their stereotypes are of the north in comparison to the south.

Accent is the first, and I would say, only thing that really separates me from the rest of my uni who, in the majority, or so it seems, are from the south and have varying degrees of ‘southern’ accents. Apparently though, that is enough for me to be regarded as a northern alien. Despite the fact that I have proved myself to be intelligent enough to be in the same uni as these people, even studying the same or similar subjects, the discrimination is still prevalent, and I just don’t understand how in 2017, this is how narrow minded people can be with their sheltered stereotypes.

Don’t misconstrue this as a pitying article, as I am more than aware that other groups, whether a majority or minority in their culture, go through much worse discrimination than me. My birthplace has not hindered my educational route and ambitions and for that I am very grateful. However, you have to understand that being stared at when you answer a question in a lecture, or say thank you to a cashier in a shop, all because of an accent I can’t possibly change without serious falsification, is unsettling, and frankly annoying to say the least. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t answered a single question or involved myself in a single debate in my second year of uni as of yet, because I’m almost always asked to repeat myself, or get some questionable stares from the southern majority in the room.

This doesn’t mean that my flatmates and coursemates are discriminate towards me either, hence the word ‘mate’ being present in their title. I have no issue with a joking mimic of my accent when I say something particularly scouse, and I do talk very fast so being asked to repeat myself is again no problem. My problems lie when strangers hear my accent, ignore entirely what I said and interrupt me saying ‘are you from Liverpool?’ to which I respond yes, followed by some frankly boring, unoriginal comment from them. My favourites include ‘I’ve heard it’s a shithole’, ‘how did you get into King’s?’, are you gonna rob my car?’, etc etc.

I am aware that it’s likely these stereotypes have arose from the media’s portrayal of the north in coverage such as the Toxteth riots and the injust portrayal of Liverpool football fans in the Sun Scum Newspaper, and unfortunately, I have no power to make that coverage go away, or at least be taken with a pinch of salt by judgemental southerners. This is a very frustrating fact, and it baffles me how literally people take newspaper reports when there has been so much evidence, passed and present that a lot of it is absolute rubbish, or at least edited and manipulated. Negative stories sell much better, so of course no coverage about the positives of the north are going to make mainstream news anytime soon.

What is also frustrating, is that I know that as a city, Liverpool is far from perfect, and of course there are more dangerous, ‘rougher’ areas than others, but is this not the case of every major city in the UK? If I may address the stereotype of scousers being notorious for stealing, I’ve never had anything stolen from me whilst in Liverpool and neither has any of my close family, yet by February of my first year at university in London, my phone was cold-bloodingly stolen by two men on a motorbike - dangerously mounting the pavement and driving straight for me to retrieve it. This is happening all over London very frequently, yet Liverpool is still the stealing capital? Just something to consider.

Ideally, the only real solution I can come up with is for me to take every southerner with a warped impression of the north, to the north, to prove them wrong. Realistically I don’t really have the means to do this - so thank god I have this blog as my place to freely rant. All I can conclude is this: no matter how annoying it is that I am met with judgement for being from Liverpool, I myself will ALWAYS be proud of my origins. I will always appreciate all of my favourite places in Liverpool and be thankful that I live in a city with such landmarks as the Albert Dock, the abundance of museums and galleries, the modern town centre, as well as the old school parts of town, the parks, the River Mersey, I could go on and on. Equally so, I adore living in the thriving capital of London for uni, and won’t let the few judgemental people ruin my love for London culture. Please! Can the north and south just live in harmony?!

H x