Little more than 30 years ago the London Docklands was an area of industrial desolation and poverty, so what changed to give us Canary Wharf, LCY and the Olympics? All these projects had difficult births and were heaped with cynicism, but today would anyone think they have been a total failure? And what about LHR which is only 66 years old, so what laid the seeds of its success? Government policy - of course!
I've no doubt some West Londoner's still look down their noses at East London, but without a political (Parliamentary) vision none of this would have come about.
Manchester today has a developing airport MAN with a second runway; after much support it has secured funding for the Northern Hub rail schemes designed to produce a step change in surface connectivity and employment prospects throughout the region. The importance of these investments should not be seen in the short term, but what is possible in the longer term.
Meanwhile Birmingham is keen to re-build itself, to develop BHX and recognises the essential ingredient of HS2 to see this come about. So is it really fair that government should ignore these aspirations, simply because West Londoner's have their heads up their bottoms and a blinkered view of life ??