The average price of a home in London is £239552 while

The average price of a home in London is £239,552 while a typical property in Scotland is selling for £85,212, reflecting the traditional divide between a prosperous and well-paid South and the industrial North and Celtic fringe.But unlike previous booms, this recent surge has not been driven by London and the South East but by regions such as the North of England and Wales, where house prices and wage levels have traditionally been low.Halifax’s figures show prices in the North have raced ahead by 36 per cent in the past 12 months – twice the national average – followed closely by Wales with 35.6 per cent annual inflation. Most of the city-centre flats have only gone up in the past three years and the majority have been sold to investors or speculators,” he said.In other words, investors or canny first-time buyers would have made a small fortune by snapping up property north of the line from the Wash to the River Severn two years ago.University towns have attracted buy-to-let investors keen to cash in on steady student income while the modern fad for Friends-style apartment living has driven up prices in all city centres. Last month’s rise has ensured that Yorkshire and Humberside has finally become the last English region to breach the £100,000 barrier. Scotland and Northern Ireland are still outside the club.In contrast, prices in the South East rose just 7.3 per cent – ahead of inflation but just a fraction of the 40 per cent-plus figures recorded at the peak of the stock market boom era of the late 1990s This is backed up by anecdotal evidence.

Anthony Riddle, of Sheffield estate agency Eadon, Lockwood & Riddle, said: “I think London and the South have had their turn and the North is now steaming along.” In his opinion, Sheffield had benefited from its large student population and the recent conversion of its city centre into an apartment dwelling area.”There’s been a lot of [buy-to-let] investment money coming in. Nine out of 10 contained food too high in saturated fat, salt and sugar. “It’s not just that these products exist, it’s that the manufacturers are doing everything within their power to make children want them – and persuade their parents to buy them. We have got to stop brainwashing tiny children, on TV and in schools with vending machines and sponsorship activities.”For once, instead of clearing up the remains of their nutritious tea, I watched TV with the kids. In under an hour, we saw commercials for Frosties, McDonald’s Happy Meals, Hubba Bubbba 5 chewing gum and Kinder Surprise The cartoon was sponsored by Coco Pops Crunchers. Research by the Food Commission, a watchdog group, showed that of all the cereals advertised in children’s TV viewing time, 89 per cent were for high-sugar children’s cereals.

The advertising and food-manufacturing lobby claims that without ads for children, the choice and quality of their TV programmes and channels would reduce. How impoverished their lives would be.The sums spent promoting confectionary are gobsmacking. A survey which prized open the plastic lids of primary school children’s lunchboxes found that 71 per cent included a bag of crisps, 60 per cent a biscuit or chocolate bar, and less than half had a piece of fruit. These include processed products with more sodium than a child’s daily allowance (Dairylea Dunkers Salt ‘n’ Vinegar Twist have 0.9g of sodium per 100g – remember: 0.5g is considered a lot) and sugary cereal bars. The TV ads start in April, as part of a £4m package, including sponsorship of the Channel 5 Family Movie on Saturdays.With less than half our children eating school dinners, lunchboxes are important, as are the foods targeted at them. Last year, £25m was spent on food advertising aimed at children and shown on the channels, and at the times, they watch. On terrestrial TV, there might be up to 10 adverts an hour for food high in fat, sugar and salt.