One of the first things I came across on Youtube earlier was this video about JP Morgan’s massive new skyscraper, recently approved to be built at Canary Wharf. It’s apparently set to be one of the biggest buildings in Europe. Naturally this put me in mind for one of my usual trundles over to the Isle of Dogs. I go over there fairly often. To think that, forty years or so ago, all that was there was a bunch of crumbling, deserted docks always strikes me as incredible. The area feels more and more like Manhattan each time I go over there.

Today, though, a couple of questions occurred to me: If so much investment and regeneration can be ploughed into that curve in the Thames, could other areas of London be lined up for similar treatment? Obviously the area around Stratford had a similar overhaul, but I wonder where could be next? More to the point, I have to wonder, with so much investment now going into London, with all the shiny new buildings and huge transport projects being built, what about elsewhere in the country? New buildings are going up pretty much everywhere I look here in London; I still can’t help worrying that other parts of the country, particularly towns in the north, are being neglected and left behind.