Piltdown man,
That'll be the same people who are using the Emirates service and have made it a success then? Plenty of burgers in America so we should be alright with New York. There's a great danger in stereotyping regions particularly using words such as those you have used as I doubt whether there's any region outside the South East that is a net contributor to the Exchequer given the budget defecit. However, can someone then rationalise why £2000 per head is spent on transport in London and c£5 per head here in the North East? This is the only UK region which exports more than it imports in respect of physical goods. The country needs an export led recovery and that will benefit the North East. If we don't get an export led recovery then we are likely to all be in a big mess and living in caves again. Are you leading the way?