First time buyers in 2020 London will need to earn £106000 to buy a house

most engineers only get around 60k

London is in decline, Manchester has huge potential.

Huge potential sure but not the potential to become London

It'll be the North alternative to London. I also wouldn't rule that out in 10-15 years things might take a turn.

It'll be the North alternative to London. I also wouldn't rule that out in 10-15 years things might take a turn.

It highly doubt it. There's a lot more investment into London. Pretty much every major corporation has their headquarters here. It continues to attract talent from across the UK and the world in a way that Manchester doesn't. The chance of Manchester becoming a global city on the scale of today's London is minuscule. Perhaps Paris or Frankfurt have a chance, Manchester no way.

There's no way that a city with no global significance apart from their football teams and with a 1/4 of the population of London, with far worse infrastructure and transport, is ever going to be a real challenger to London in terms of attracting workers to go live there.

What is the:

Rent
House prices
Crime
Schools
Food prices
Salaries

Like?

A £30 000 salary in London is almost bare minimum for a flat share. £22 000 in Manchester would be able to get you go buy a flat.

Says a lot about Manchester doesn't it.

Maybe I'm being too mature in thinking about cities then.