Disregarded and disaffected, the north of England awaits its own SNP | Martin Kettle

George Osborne’s powerhouse drive can’t make up for years of neglect. What if regionalists filled the vacuum?

Heading in through the doors to the National Theatre’s new production of Husbands and Sons, DH Lawrence’s Nottinghamshire coalfield trilogy, a week ago, I realised that it had been ages since I had seen a play about the north in this supposedly national institution.

Yet now, before you can say chippy northerner, plays about the north are like London buses. Suddenly there are two of them on at the same time at the National. First a pacy adaptation of Jane Eyre, and now Lawrence’s three plays reshaped into one. It feels like a minor moment of cultural change. And about time too, I thought as I took my seat.

Related: Where is the north of England? Don't ask the government

If it weren’t for the Premier League and the weather forecast, the north would be out of sight, out of mind in the south

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