Silverstrat
Not northern envy re tunnel just an observation - London aqaintances us it often to visit houses in northern France as well as for business. However not really practical from North of the Trent. When the project was being floated there was mention of trains from Manchester and Leeds to Paris and sleepers from Scotland to Europe - even built the carriages I am informed - where are they now - Canada !. Transport infrastructure should be based on plans for the whole country not just the SE. I work extensivly in the SE and even have a house there but prefer to live in the North (even lived near you in San Diego for a while) so it is not a northern bias on my part just an observation. If you live outside the SE of the UK the infrastructure is know where near as good, limited light rail systems and limited rail routes and services and M62 corridor can match M25 for traffic and gets worse weather ! . Manchester will never be a HUB but is a large regional airport with reasonable connections which allow travel to most parts of the world with 1nr change. I just chose to make that change some where other than LHR if I am flying from the north. I do use LHR when in the south during the week but not that often.
