The annual Centre for Cities survey on British cities always receives a good turnout, helped perhaps by its launch venue, the top floor of London's City Hall with its spectacular views of Tower Bridge and the capital's increasingly weird skyline.

Ministers usually grace the launch event though the annual surveys manage to say something which gets up their noses. Last year the survey insisted the North/South divide was alive and kicking which was just what cities minister Greg Clark did not want to hear weeks away from the General Election. Cue a stack of figures from the Office for National Statistics to prove, according to Mr Clark, that in fact the North/South divide was ‘history.' (see The MJ, 22 January 2015).