Two national leaders gave speeches this week which spectacularly ignored the issues that concerned their listeners.

In both cases, the message the speechmaker wanted to get across was “Calm down, no need to get excited, I’m in control.” Neither achieved their aim.

The first was His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain trying to bring all the might and power of the Spanish monarchy to bear on the Catalan crisis.

Given that one of the Catalans’ big gripes was the violent use of Spanish central power in the shape of the Spanish national police, this would not seem to have been a wise thing to do.

But he went ahead anyway and showed that he had no understanding of the reasons why so many of his subjects were on the streets demanding to renounce their fealty to him.

At least he had organised the display behind him to stay in place and kept his speech short in case his voice gave out, unlike Her Britannic Majesty’s Prime Minister Mrs Theresa May, less than a day later.

Mrs May was trying to convince her fellow citizens and above all her party, that she knew what she was doing and was the best person to lead this country through the difficult years ahead.

Various slavish declarations of loyalty from various Conservative bigwigs during their annual conference may have encouraged her before she began.

But she didn’t address the issues so much of the country is suffering from - low wages, failing public services, the NHS in crisis and the huge imbalance between London and the rest of Britain.

The British pubs were as unimpressed with her as the Catalonian streets were with their king.

Both national leaders live an insulated life in their respective capital cities, far removed from Catalonia on the one hand, and North England on the other. To so many of the people they claim to serve they have become an irrelevance, spouting words that go unheard.

If everything in the distant regions is fine, this is not a problem. The citizens there are content to go about their normal business without worrying about who is saying what in an ornate chamber a long way away.

But when life in the distant regions is not fine, then those who live there will speak up and they will continue to speak louder and louder until they are heard.

In Catalonia, those words may well include “declaration of independence” next week. That will be heard and, given the way the Spanish establishment tried to suppress the referendum last weekend, they are likely to spark more violence from the national government.

In this country we tend not to take to the streets to object. They are too wet and windy. We prefer petitions and lobbying behind the scenes.

But the regions have been trying those for years without success. The London establishment has already had one shot fired across its bow in the shape of the Scottish referendum. It doesn’t appear to have seen it.

In the last election, the Northern counties were promised large scale infrastructure investment, something badly needed to boost the economy here.

Lo and behold, after the votes were cast, the newly elected Government found it couldn’t afford what ministers had promised, though it could afford yet another major transport investment in London and a £1 billion investment in Northern Ireland to save Mrs May’s political skin.

York schools have the lowest funding in the country, so that others elsewhere, such as in London, can have more.

The more politicians concentrate on London, the louder voices here will cry for a devolved Yorkshire government on the Scottish/Welsh model with proper funding. London doesn’t like the proper funding bit, though it is all in favour of unloading its dirty work onto local politicians.

A devolved Yorkshire may seem like a pipe dream. But that’s what the Spanish establishment thought about an independent Catalonia.

Central government can’t block out angry voices in the regions forever. They longer they try, the worse the consequences. Mrs May would do well to learn from the Spanish king’s mistake and not ignore Yorkshire voices.