“Whenever I meet a fellow Northerner these days, the conversation frequently turns to Manchester and devolution”, writes the Indy’s demoted Chris Blackhurst. “All this devolved power is just governing on the hoof – we Northerners won’t be taken in by it”:

“We’re agreed that we’ve never known a sustained, serious call for self-rule. There’s been plenty of grumbling (people from the North of England love to have a good moan) about Westminster and the power it holds over distant lives. But self-determination? Never. Contrary to what Southerners might think, the North is not a separate country.”

So in which industrial city does this “fellow northerner” live?

In which pit village does our hero dwell?

The bleak, grim and desolate Kingston-Upon-Thames, where Blackhurst has lived since 1986.