Divided, Separate And Unequal?

I write this sitting on a train travelling from London Kings Cross to Leeds (courtesy of the free Wifi service provided by National Express East Coast). I know a bit about Leeds because I lived 60 miles away in Beverley between 2001 and 2004 whilst working for East Riding of Yorkshire Council and visited the city on many occasions during this time. Leeds is often cited as a good example of a regenerated and booming city and in many ways that is precisely what it is. However, my own experience of the city tells me that you don't have to scratch the surface very hard before you realise that in many ways, it is a polarised city with a significant gap between those who have benefited from the newly acquired affluence and those left behind. I started thinking about this because in today's Guardian newspaper (in the Weekend magazine), there is a very interesting piece by David Simon in which he says that there are "two Americas - separate, unequal, and no longer even acknowledging each other except on the barest cultural terms. In the one nation, new millionaires are minted every day. In the other, human beings no longer necessary to our economy, to our society, are being devalued and destroyed". It's interesting stuff and well worth a read - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/sep/06/wire