Is right! Ofcom says Scousers enjoy a natter on the phone compared to southern blerts

Liverpool is the most gobby verbal region in the UK, according to Ofcom – something prime minister Boris Johnson would no doubt have confirmed had he visited the city today.*

In the regulator's Mobile Matters report (PDF), which analysed the phone habits of 150,000 people between 1 January and 31 March 2019, Liverpudlians were found to spend almost seven minutes on the average call.

That was more than 40 per cent longer than Londoners, who came second, and twice as long as people in Bradford, who had the shortest conversations.

More than 80 per cent of calls were shorter than five minutes, with 60 per cent under 90 seconds, suggesting that mobile users are making frequent but relatively short calls.

Ofcom noted the overall number of minutes people spend on mobile calls has risen steadily in recent years. But its previous studies have also showed that younger people find making calls a little daunting, and prefer to use messaging services such as WhatsApp.

The research also found that a quarter of Brits made fewer than five mobile calls a month, with 6 per cent not making any standard mobile calls at all. Of those who did pick up the phone, almost two-thirds (60 per cent) ended the conversation in less than 90 seconds.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of the time, people were connected to Wi-Fi rather than to a cellular network (2G, 3G or 4G).

Some 44 per cent of people used less than 500MB of mobile data per month, while only 10 per cent of people were power users, chomping through 5GB or more.

Ian Macrae, director of market intelligence at Ofcom, said: "People use their mobile in different ways around the country. But whether it's for going online or having longer chats, a good signal has never been more important.

"So people can take several practical steps to boost their reception and stay connected."

Bootnote

* A statement from Number 10 confirmed the PM and the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will meet today at lunchtime in the northwest of England to discuss Brexit. The Liverpool Echo had said it understood the meeting will take place in the city, though it has since transpired that it is taking place in Cheshire.

Johnson, on the other hand, was unlikely to receive a warm welcome, which could be why his office did not confirm the precise location of the meeting.

Mayor of Liverpool Steve Rotheram tweeted yesterday: "If Boris Johnson is in Liverpool this week – he should put time aside to, at long last, acknowledge the pain he caused as Editor of the Spectator, in publishing an article that smeared our city and the lives of 96 football fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough." ®