Midlands bypassed by the media again

DEAR Editor, I’m not sure if fellow Midlanders are as concerned as I am about the fashionable practice of describing England in terms of the North and South only, completely ignoring the Midlands.

This is a trend that now seems to be the favoured choice of many, especially our national media.

This practice deliberately avoids an extremely important region that has had an enormous influence on the fortunes of this country in many ways, including being the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, namely the Midlands.

Midlanders in general and our local politicians in particular really need to wake up to this insidious practice of bypassing our existence, our history, and our importance as a crucial cog in the development of not just England but the UK.

We now hear that Parliament could be moving temporarily to York whilst Westminster undergoes necessary repairs. Prior to this there have been plenty of reports claiming that the Government will be looking to relocate some departments away from London permanently.

Whenever this is reported by our national media the vague geographical region always mentioned is “up North”. Whether this relates to any area north of Watford is unclear.

I don’t have any problem with moving government departments away from London. However, given the treatment meted out to our region historically whenever choices like this are made I am very suspicious that “up North” means exactly that.

What I never hear reported is that government departments might be moving to the Midlands and the North.

We need to start adopting a more collective and assertive approach in promoting our strengths and talents. And the sooner we realise this the better.

David Emson, Belbroughton, Worcestershire