When I returned to the North of England four years ago, although I had grown fond of the little corners of Warwickshire and Worcestershire where I had been living, I realised just how much I had missed the North. Although I didn’t return to my home county of Lancashire, even my new friends on the White Rose side of the Pennines have made me welcome and I am now happy to call Yorkshire home.

What took me by surprise, however, was my speedy reversion to ‘grumpy professional Northerner’ when it comes to matters of public policy and the cultural life of the nation. For the purposes of this train of thought, I define nation as England, yet what I am about to describe affects everyone in the further reaches of the United Kingdom as well. Yes, you’ve guessed it – it’s that old chestnut of London and South East-centrism.

It is tiresome, so I hate to raise it. But it persists, and for Northerners it is getting worse, as we don’t even have any devolution to be comforted by.Some of it is just irritating, like the national newspaper that finds space every day for a full listing of the London Theatre Guide – not much use in Otley.

Some of it is thoughtless but costly to the poor Northerner, such as London-organised meetings that start at 9.30am, which means a middle-of-the-night start from the North and a small mortgage to pay for the full price train down.

It won’t get any better with the new high-speed railway HS2 – although it will be quicker to get to London, I dread to think what ticket prices will be. HS2 provides a great illustration of London and South East-centrism, as despite the rhetoric, it is all about sucking even more economic activity into that region at the expense of others. The trainspotter in me loves the idea of fast trains, but I seriously question what the economic benefits to the North will be. I remain hopeful, but not optimistic, on this one. Perhaps the money could be better spent on improving the frequency and speed of several cross-country and city hub links: Newcastle-Leeds-Manchester-Liverpool comes to mind, as does Bristol-Birmingham-Manchester-Leeds.

And – dare I say it – even if HS2 turns out to provide economic benefits to the North, wouldn’t that have been even more strongly signalled if they started the construction at the Leeds-Birmingham and Manchester-Birmingham ends of the proposed route, rather than Birmingham-London? We might have then taken it more seriously as a driver for the Northern economy.

It does symbolise the challenge, and that is reminding the decision makers in Whitehall that there is a big country beyond the M25. We now look with a degree of envy at our friends in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the autonomy they are asserting now that devolution has had a decade to mature.

As more and more energy, resources and people are sucked into the South East, surely now it is time to reappraise English regional policy as potentially more resource efficient and climate friendly? Perhaps so, although I fully recognise that this is against the grain of present government thinking, where English regions have been abolished.

Well if they haven’t noticed, they may have abolished some of the structures (RDAs, regional planning) but, by heck, we’re still here.With a population bigger than 11 EU member states, Yorkshire might well thrive as an independent nation within the EU, just as Scotland might, too. We can be self-sufficient in renewable energy, have a strong financial centre in Leeds and a healthy tourism industry. Our green, low-carbon economy is growing and we have fine universities as well as a strong cultural identity. It might just work...

Of course, I am being a little mischievous and this is unlikely to happen. But there is a serious point about the dominance of ‘bigness’ alongside London/South East-centrism. Maybe, just maybe, we might revert to the wisdom of economists EF Schumacher and Leopold Kohr and decide that smaller units of governance, closer to the people and their real needs, could deliver more sustainability than the tiresome old model.

Anyway, I quite fancy being an MYP – Member of the Yorkshire Parliament!