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This thesis examines the place of the North of England within contemporary political debate. It focuses primarily on the period 2010-2021. It seeks to understand the affects that politics actors' perceptions of the North have on the contemporary politics of the region. Drawing on the academic literature, documentary analysis of the grey literature, and seventy-three primary elite interviews with Northern political actors, the study explores the ways in which the North and issues that impact the region are framed in political discourse, the ways in which and the extent to which these frames are politicised and highlights how this affects policy debates and political action. In doing so, it considers themes including the identity of Northernness, ideas of a socio-economic North-South divide, the electoral politics of the North, and policy initiatives such as the Northern Powerhouse agenda, levelling up, and devolution. The thesis argues that the North is unique in its political saliency as a region in England. Yet, it finds that while frames based upon ideas of Northern distinction are invoked by actors from different walks of politics and society, all across the political spectrum, currently they are not commonly politicised explicitly at the national level. In fact, it suggests that the extent to which the North is centred in the national discourse has arguably waned in recent years due to the changing political context. Nevertheless, it highlights that at the local and regional level, the North does often continue to be politicised as a whole, but it notes that local and sub-regional attachments within the North remain strong, and there are few distinct and institutionalised pan-Northern political initiatives. Given this, the thesis argues that while the North of England is a uniquely important and recognisable region, and one which holds some political pull, its place, sandwiched as it were, between broader national considerations, and sub-Northern local considerations, means there are limits to the extent to which the North can be politicised in a far reaching and widely embraced politics of Northernness.

The intent of this research was to examine the spectral reflectance of degraded documents to determine whether information is available in regions visible to the human eye. Ultimately we attempt to determine the practicality of manipulating visible (RGB) images to obtain similar information commonly obtained by using infrafred (IR) imaging methods. Charred newspaper was tested as an example of a degraded document. Spectral reflectance of the degraded documents was measured using a fiber optic grating spectrometer. In addition, images were taken of the documents in both the visible (RGB) and infrared (IR) regions of the spectrum. By examining the spectral reflectance at different wavelengths in different areas of the documents, we were able to locate information (i.e., characters) on the documents, and determine the wavelengths where the greatest contrast exists between the text and the charred paper. The areas of interest on the charred pages were imaged in several wavelength bands of the spectrum, including the near-ultraviolet and near-infrared regions. Useful information was observed in the IR images, and we attempted to obtain similar results by digitally manipulating visible light (RGB) images. Our hypothesis, that manipulation of the RGB images (specifically subtraction of channels) will find similar contrasts between text and parchment as found in the IR images, was supported by the research.