Journalist Sam Bright is a Northerner living in London. He is just one of the millions of people clinging on to the coattails of the capital, sucked in by the prospect of opportunities that the rest of the United Kingdom does not enjoy.

Our capital is a vast melting pot of languages, cultures, and ideas, and rightly celebrated for it. For many, though, there is no other option. The only place to access the opportunities this country offers is London. Banking, law, politics, advertising, architecture, the arts and the media are all concentrated here. It is almost impossible to reach the heights of any profession without joining the grey hoards queuing for the next tube. As the economic, political, and cultural epicentre of the country, Fortress London acts more like a renaissance city-state like Florence or Venice than the capital of a modern nation-state. And the gluttony of London, compared to the malnourishment of our regions, dramatically affects life chances in Britain.