North/South divide...

Much is made in the UK (and here in Portugal) about the North/South divide. That is the differences (economic/social/cultural/etc.) between the towns and populations of the North, which are comically (if a little romantically) described here by Lucy Mangan.

I've said it before that the relationship between Manchester and London is somewhat similar to that between Porto and Lisbon. Having lived in three of the aforementioned cities I feel that not enough is made of the similarities. It would perhaps be a bit of a huge job to compare all of the cities so instead I'll concentrate on the biggest geographical divide, Lisbon and Manchester.

Much has already been written about the Portuguese in Manchester. But aside from the Baron de Sousa Deiró and Earnest J Soares there are many other distinct similarities:

We both love sausages made from blood:



Our men wear flat caps and do no work:




...and we let our women do most of the work...which can take its toll: