To fix the north-south divide, revive the Council of the North!

These, ranked from first to tenth, are the urban areas in Britain with the highest average weekly earnings in 2012: London, Reading, Crawley, Aldershot, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Aberdeen, Southend, Brighton.

That’s from the latest, fascinating, report (pdf here) published by the Centre for Cities. It can be summarised easily: if you want to make it, head to London or the south-east of England. Or to Scotland.

London, as Jeremy Warner observed this morning, is still driving the British economy. Financial services remain vital both to economic recovery and the country’s long-term future. Strengthening other sectors remains important; so does the City.

But strengthening Britain’s other cities is – or should – also be at the top of the agenda. I still don’t understand why so many people are so reluctant to endorse elected mayors (and provosts) or seem so afraid of more powerful municipal governance.

Despite devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the United Kingdom remains a hideously centralised country.