The North / South divide is already a pretty contentious subject at the best of times, but a tweet’s gone viral this week that really seems to have got people riled up.
It’s a debate that’s been going on for decades – where does the North and South of England begin?
With no literal line drawn to distinguish between the two, this does mean there’s no official ruling of which cities, towns, and villages are northern, and which are southern – and then there’s the added concept of the Midlands chucked in there too, so it’s no wonder it’s a topic of conversation that causes so much confusion.
Of course, geography would tell you that cities like Newcastle, Middlesbrough, and Carlisle are indisputably northern, while it would be quite tricky to class London, Brighton, and Oxford as anything other than southern – but for other places, it’s not so easy.
Us Mancs pride ourselves on being northern and proud of it, but according to woman responsible for a map that’s gone viral Twitter this week, Manchester is actually part of the Midlands.
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Now you can see why it’s got people talking.
Can we all agree that North is Leeds and above..? 😂 It’s really annoying seeing The North such and such company or something artsy North and for it to be in Birmingham etc. There’s also a middle…the midlands. Be the midlands. North of London doesn’t mean North. 😤 pic.twitter.com/9QbNwJ0RfK
Taking to Twitter to share her thoughts on where the North and South begins, Michelle Bayly – who says she is from Northumberland – wrote: “Can we all agree that North is Leeds and above? It’s really annoying seeing the North such and such company, or something artsy North and for it to be in Birmingham etc.
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“There’s also a middle…the midlands. Be the midlands. North of London doesn’t mean North.”
She also shared a map of the UK with two red lines drawn showing what she thinks the North, the Midlands, and the South are to further drive home her point – with major cities like Liverpool, Sheffield, Salford, and Hull joining Birmingham, Northampton, Norwich, and Nottingham in the Midlands.
“Is this a joke? How do you not think Sheffield and Manchester are in the north?,” one angry person wrote on Twitter
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“Lol imagine complaining that Londoners don’t know where the north is and then putting out a map that puts Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield in the midlands – incredible stuff,” another confused person said in response.
A third added: “I think the idea that Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Hull aren’t in the North is slightly mad.”
Woman causes controversy for claiming what ‘the North’ is – and Manchester’s not included / Credit: Wikipedia Commons
Another person added definitively: “Chester, Liverpool, Salford, Manchester, Sheffield, Doncaster, Bradford, Leeds, and Hull are all in the north of England.”
Someone else gave their opinion on the matter: “You can’t cut Yorkshire in half! And Manchester/Liverpool are definitely northern too. Move the ‘north’ line down to go through Sheffield and it’s about right.”
One person seemed to sum up the thoughts of most in response to Michelle’s question of “Can we all agree that…” best though, simply commenting: “No, I’m afraid we can’t.”
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After presumably having lots of angry people in her mentions, Michelle decided to take a different approach on the North / South divide – writing as a follow-up to her initial tweet: “After deep thought and consultation I have decided to scrap my map of North, Middle and South and instead go with the popular opinion that if you have gravy on chips or scraps and mushy peas with fish and chips then you are Northern and if not then not (no matter the geography).”
We don’t know if this makes things better or worse? We’ll let you be the judge of that.
Featured Image – Michelle Bayly (via Twitter)
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Didsbury favourite Rustik has confirmed its will sadly be closing this month
Danny Jones
West Didsbury favourite Rustik has sadly announced it will be closing for food after a decade at the end of this month.
The beloved Burton cafe and bar has been a staple of the tight-knit foodie neighbourhood since 2015, but now the independent Irish eatery has confirmed that the business will be shutting down permanently in less than a fortnight.
Confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, 17 September, the casual Manc restaurant and hangout informed their loyal followers of the unfortunate news.
Unsurprisingly, their social media has been awash with condolences, collective sadness and support for the local institution.
Posting across all of their accounts, Rustik wrote: “After an unforgettable 10 years on Burton Road, the time has come to close our doors. It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come — never in a million years did we imagine Rustik would grow into what it became.
“From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to every single one of you who walked through our doors and supported us along the way. We poured everything we had — our time, our energy, our lives into making Rustik a space for everyone. And what a ride it’s been.
“From the chaotic, beautiful brunch shifts to late nights dancing on tables to ‘Wagon Wheel’, pushing through the challenges of COVID and helping our community with meals during hard times— we’ve done it all, together.
“To our amazing staff, past and present: thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and the love you brought every single day. You helped build something truly special, and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
“To the incredible musicians who filled our space with life — keep doing what you do. The noise complaints? 100% worth the unforgettable nights.”
The team go on to detail that the official closing date is Tuesday, 30 September, reiterating that it is “business running as usual until then” and urging fans to “come down, grab your last Rustik fix, and raise a glass with us one final time.”
Signing off with an emotional farewell, they add: “Lastly, a message close to our hearts: please support your local cafes, bars, and independents. Hospitality is tough right now, and they need your support more than ever.
“Thank you for the most incredible decade of our lives. It’s over and out from us.”
It goes without saying that we’re gutted to see Rustik go and know how much it meant not only to the Burton Road community, but also to the Didsbury community, Chorlton and many other Greater Manchester natives.
Villanelle debut: Liam Gallagher’s son’s band release their first track – here’s our review
Danny Jones
Liam Gallagher’s son, Gene, and his band Villanelle, have officially released their debut single to the masses, and since we’re still very much immersing ourselves in everything even remotely to do with Oasis, we thought we’d give this first track a review.
Now, if you’re expecting a familiar Britpop vibe like his dad and uncle used to bash out back in the day, you’d be very wrong…
It’s one thing to settle into something similar to what you’ve grown up around and try to continue a lineage if you’re from a successful family – especially with a legacy as important and influential as the one left by Liam and Noel – but we’re glad to report they’ve done something pretty different.
24-year-old Gene Gallagher and his bandmates Ben Taylor (guitar), Jack Schiavo (bass), and Andrew Richmond (drums) haven’t just tried to do an impression of Oasis; instead, they’ve found their own sound, and while it does give somewhat of an old-school flavour, it’s not what we expected.
It takes literally milliseconds for you to click into realising the vibe they’re going for.
‘Hinge’ is a simplistic but hard-hitting, grungey and dark debut from Villanelle, who, despite having played a number of in-progress songs live over the last year or so, have only just dropped their first studio single.
In fact, they’ve actually taken the admittedly bizarre and unorthodox first steps of having already played live with Liam Gallagher on the Definitely Maybe 30th anniversary tour before they actually released anything people can easily listen to outside of their live performances.
Nevertheless, the young four-piece introduces Villanelle as the latest post-punk outfit amidst the ongoing revival of the classic rock genre.
That is to say that punk is a tried and true classic style of music, not that these lads are trying to sound like The Rolling Stones…
Anyway, we’re getting sidetracked: Villanelle draw plenty of influences from both original and contemporary examples of this sonic subculture, and while it isn’t explosive per se, ‘Hinge’ is short, direct and hits the same formulaic notes.
It’s also fair to say you can hear a bit of the recognisable LG whine in Gene’s vocals at times, too. Listen to it in full down below and see if you agree.
Even the basic found-footage style video fits into the same category.
To call it straightforward isn’t intended as any kind of a diss, by the way – some of our favourite tunes and best artists spearheading the renaissance of the punk scene write like this.
What we will say is that it looks like bloody good fun to both play and listen to in a small, sweaty room, with plenty of pits and people bouncing off the walls.
Gallagher Sr. might be surprised to see his son going for a slightly heavier, more hardcore route with his sound, but he can’t accuse him of forgetting his roots as the child of a ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Star.’
The boys are actually hitting the road this winter, including a date at The Castle Hotel in the Northern Quarter, if you fancy grabbing a ticket.
You can grab your tickets to see Villanelle on tour HERE, and in the meantime, let us know what you think of their debut track down in the comments.
Emily Sergeant -
7th March 2023 
