The division into the 12 regions shown in the map was because we came to the conclusion that the 2001 Census had revealed the UK to be dividing very quickly and very abruptly. What mattered above all else in trying to explain change in any place since 1991 was how far that place was from London, especially from the centre of the old City of London and the borough of Westminster. The map we created was fantasy, but was based on what those last two (1991 and 2001) Censuses appeared to be telling us, and what the change over time trends were hinting at. Each region was defined, principally, by how far away it was from London’s centre.

The first six of our 12 regions all had London in their titles: Centre of London, London Core, Inner London, London Suburbs, Outer London and London Edge. None of the last three of these regions actually included any area that was or is formally part of London, but London was included in their titles because distance to London had such a dominant effect on their recent fortunes. Thus, all of the South of England was labelled the London Areas, stretching as far North as Lincolnshire and as far West as Cornwall.

Londoners retired to Lincolnshire and holidayed in Cornwall. The most affluent had their second homes there, the poorest might one day end their days in these cheaper parts of the great metropolis’ outer edges, but there was a distinct lack of much out-migration North and West of the outer border of the London Areas – what had been the old North/South divide. Occasionally a reporter from a Southern newspaper would venture out of their Southern comfort zone and do a little tour of the North. Politicians mostly only headed out of these areas when they needed votes.