Scousers and Chinamen

Right-wing think tank Policy Exchange has published a report which pretty much suggests that several northern cities are absolute shitholes, and aren’t worth the bother of redevelopment. From BBC online:

Cities in northern England such as Liverpool, Sunderland and Bradford are "beyond revival" and residents should move south, a think tank has argued.

Policy Exchange said current regeneration policies were "failing" the people they were supposed to help.

The Policy Exchange report said the three million affordable new homes planned by the government should be built in London, Oxford and Cambridge to enable people to migrate south.

People should be told the "reality" to avoid them becoming "trapped" in less prosperous parts of the country.

Clearly none of the authors of this report live in London, or else they would know that it’s not exactly lacking in people already, and the last thing we need is a million Scousers coming down and clogging it up even more.

One of the authors, Tim Leunig, went on to say:

"No doubt some people will claim that these proposals are unworkable, unreasonable and perhaps plain barmy... But the issue is clear: current regeneration policies are failing the very people they are supposed to be helping and there is no evidence that the trend will be reversed without radical changes."

I hope Mr Leunig is prepared to be dragged up to Liverpool and forced to make a grovelling, Boris-style apology for daring to suggest that it’s not some sort of bleedin' utopia.

Speaking of utopias... it turns out that the little girl who sang during the opening ceremony in Beijing was in fact miming, as the actual singer was not deemed pretty enough. This goes to prove that despite lifting trade restrictions and embracing the markets, the old hilarious communist dictatorship stereotypes are still very much alive and kicking. “Allowing the whole world to witness this girl’s imperfect features would bring shame upon the motherland! We must find a cuter one who can lip-synch forthwith!” Bless 'em. We'd have probably ended up with Amy Winehouse.