Bad connexion

I'm sure several of you remember that fascinating map of mobile phone calls between US regions published in the New York Times last year. Well, the BBC have commissioned a similar map for their series "Britain from Above".



Unfortunately, this cartograph is based on landline data rather than mobile, so it's not as au courant as the US map. Still, plenty of interest here. In particular, contrast the homogeneity and relative isolation of Scotland with the triparite division of Wales: the North pairs with the North West region of England (dark green) and Mid Wales with the West Midlands (red) whereas the South (dark blue) is off on its own. This mirrors the state of transportation links, which were constructed to serve the Empire rather than the needs of the Welsh themselves. North-South links are few and poor. (The sole motorway serves only to connect Swansea to Bristol; only a couple of trunk roads run north.) And it underlies some of the challenges in making Welsh devolution viable.