The government has been forced to admit it has yet to define the geographical location of George Osborne’s much-heralded “northern powerhouse” economic growth zone.

Nick Brown, the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East, asked James Wharton, the government’s newly minted “minister for the northern powerhouse” a parliamentary question on the subject. What geographic area is covered by the government’s northern powerhouse initiative? asked Brown.

Wharton’s reply:

The exact extent of the north in the context of the northern powerhouse is not prescribed by the government.

As the Guardian’s northern editor – a position which has only really existed since we stopped being the Manchester Guardian in 1959 and the overall editor moved to London in 1964 – I am often asked where my empire starts and ends.

I usually reply that the borders are hotly disputed and tend to be redrawn on a day-to-day basis according to the whims of my newsdesk (though I once threw my toys out of the pram after being asked to go to Northampton).

But really my north begins on the west where Wales ends, so that’s Cheshire and upwards until you hit Gretna. On the east it’s everything north of the Humber – plus all of Yorkshire, obviously. The bits in the middle are more problematic. Staffordshire and Derbyshire are officially in the Midlands, but they feel northern to me.

I think the north stops when you go far enough into the Midlands that people start calling you “babs” instead of “duck” or “love”. Or when people have dinner instead of tea and lunch instead of dinner. Or when chippies stop asking if you want gravy.

There are other ways to define the north of England. Earlier this year a petition demanding that the north join an independent Scotland suggested Scotland’s southern borders be extended along a line that runs between the mouth of the Humber and the Dee, which flows east from Wales via Chester and discharges to the sea between Wales and the Wirral peninsula in England. Some choose everything north of the Trent. In his excellent book, Pies and Prejudice, Stuart Maconie chooses Crewe.

I asked on Twitter how others would define the north. Here are some of my favourite responses so far:

Terry Fletcher, a former editor of the Dalesman magazine, referenced the northern powercut in his suggestion:

@helenpidd It's where the trains are clapped out and are going to stay that way - sorry,I meant, where improvements are 'paused' — Terry Fletcher (@Agedcragrat) July 7, 2015

Jan Meadowcroft reckoned it was all about terms of endearment:

@helenpidd It's from where people call each other "duck" via "love" and as far as "pet". — jan meadowcroft (@janmeadowcroft) July 7, 2015

Justin Clark drew me a handy map:

Bob Hardy, a Yorkshireman and bassist in Franz Ferdinand, went for a more cynical approach:

@helenpidd Highbury Corner to Potters Bar. — Bob Hardy (@B0bHardy) July 7, 2015

Cycling’s Ned Boulting – a Londoner – had another idea:

