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Comment by ceuk | Hacker News Reader

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I live down the road from OP in Harrogate and it's an incredibly desirable and affluent place

Also while I'm commenting. I know OP isn't saying the North is shit. Just poor(ish).

Nevertheless I just want to say I love the north of England and genuinely think it's one of the best places in the world. We've already established that I'm in one of the better areas so my perspective might be a little skewed, but I honestly think it's an incredible place and I hope this doesn't put people off visiting.

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Also from the Harrogate area, but moved to London for uni and haven't made it back yet. Whilst Harrogate is very nice and affluent, I'd say the biggest difference isn't the personal wealth but the council wealth. There's far far far more wealth in the south and I've honestly been amazed at just how big the gap is, especially noticeable in infrastructure and services like roads and schools. Even the schools in poor areas of London are better than the local Harrogate schools. Just look at Yorks council funding (now merged with Harrogate) which has the lowest funding per capita in the UK.

Despite this tho I'd much rather live in Harrogate and enjoy the countryside than London tbh, plus people are less miserable there...

You guys certainly have some of the nicest accents in the Anglosphere, imo.

I expect the accent is part of it, actually. Call it the Henry Higgins effect.

  Rose: If you ARE an alien, how come you sound like you're from the North?

  The Doctor: Lots of planets have a North!

(the joke lands better for American audiences if you mentally replace "North" with "South"; in many ways the economics/stereotypes are similar)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svi-fBXZzqI

> Harrogate and it's an incredibly desirable and affluent place

Did they fix the smell issues?

Poor vs shit is an interesting discussion. If your life, your environment, isn't shit, why would you even care if are poor? Would you rather be rich and unhappy? (I spend very little, yet I don't feel deprived.)

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