London calling

I read that there is a marked difference in the way business types in the north and south of the country communicate, according to a survey by Virgin Media Business.

Apparently, almost a quarter of us Flash Harrys in the cosmopolitan end of the UK see social networking as a crucial way of communicating with customers and co-workers.

Northern Luddites are more old school, with 71 per cent of respondents citing the desk phone as essential and two-thirds saying the same of face-to-face meetings. Carrier pigeons were also popular, as were communication methods based on whippets, flat caps and cobbled streets. Probably.

One in three Yorkshire firms eagerly anticipate the postie's daily visit, but just 11 per cent of business people in the capital regard snail mail as important.

I'll be the first to admit Londoners can be somewhat insular and a lot of my Cockney cohorts in the channel deride northerners for being behind the times. Not me, mind. I know a very capable reseller in Colindale.