Which brings us to 2014, where tech-clusters and high-speed trains are on the menu, attracting all the cachet associated with dynamic entrepreneurial economies on the up, they are the latest in a long line of optimistic modernising visions for the north.
I suggest that sounds rather optimistic, and mention starting again from scratch with, for example, our passport system.
"We were optimistic that things were going to be a little better.
Well, Wednesday's update from Lord Wolfson at Next was certainly optimistic (at least by his standards) in that he forecast "some recovery in the consumer environment" by the second quarter of next year.
It wasn't much of a commercial hit, but I was amazed at the amount of heartfelt responses from young readers, whose taste for tragedy, it turned out, was at least equal to their need for the more conventional, optimistic "heartening" narratives.
Few in the optimistic crowd guessed that the "crossover" would be into potential oblivion.
The young Cameron swore to "let sunshine win the day", and nobody beamed the optimistic, inclusive rays of compassionate Conservatism quite like Gove.
The amount of revenue is actually slightly more than was expected in the Myefo but remains less than the more optimistic figures in the Pefo – due to the much more negative view of the economy.
Michael McPhearson, executive director of Veterans for Peace and a member of the Don't Shoot Coalition, remains optimistic about institutional and legislative change.
"I'm optimistic about the future," he adds.
The International Monetary Fund estimate of a 5.5% decline in gross domestic product this year looks wildly optimistic given hyper-inflation and the devastation caused to the eastern half of the country.
