It is not an attempt to minimise the achivements and profiles of other cities, I love all british cities. Ive lived in Liverpool for the past 5 years and its great. But this thread is to counteract the bad press that about Manchester. But first, we need to clear a few things up…
Manchester Missconceptions
Some of Manchesters less good points have been discussed at legnth recently. But why are these things so?
*Manchesters geography is boring
While it is true that Manchester is a very flat city and not on the estuary of a great river, I would harldly descibe it as boring. The location was probably decided by the roman general, Gnaeus Julius Agricola and was chosen for being most suitable for a fort. Maybe we should blame him? But geogaphy cannot be changed, so no need to worry.
*Manchesters climate is wetter than average
But is it? The average annual rainfall for the UK is in 1125 mm, Manchesters is 806.6 mm. The UK average of rainy days per year is 131, while Manchesters is 185. So while the rain is light, it is often. But how is this compared to other UK cities? Are they as dry as Dubai? Well, not quite. There is not much that Manchester city council can do about Mancheters climate, so it doesnt bother me.
*Manchester has a high crime rate
Unfortionately the figures show that it does. However, its not exacly the wild west like many people from outside the city believe. I doubt that most people who live in Manchester know they live in the worst city for crime. There are numorous root causes for crime. But, i suspect a lot of the time it boils down to education.
*Manchesters schools are failing
Seems this is true too. The English GCSE pass rate of 5 A-C’s is 50.7%. Manchesters pupils are only achieving 38.6%, while in Birmingham the figure is 47.7%, Liverpool got 44.3%. Whilst the figures for Manchester are shamefull, they are rising. Interestingly, a greater Manchester LEA is oen of the high scorers. Trafford scored 63.3% this year, down from 63.9% last year.
One reason for Manchesters bad perfromance is that that parents who care about education will sometimes send their childern to schools outside of the Manchester LEA. This is what happend to me, I went to school in Trafford while we lived 7 miles away in manchester.
*Manchester cathedral is realy a big church
Manchester cathedral not very grand for such a big city, but it is nearly 600 years old and still a wonderfull building. And who listens to what the anglican chuch say these days anyway?
Greater Manchester also has a catholic cathedral, Located just 1.1 km in Salford.
*There is a diliberate government bais towards Manchester
I see no evidence of this. But I do think that Manchesters leaders are very good at attracting investment.
*Manchesters leaders are bullies
Probably true in a way, but since it is there job to attract investment and influence to the city, I would be worried if they where not telling everyone how great the city is. If the council leader said ‘we won’t bid for the super casino because Blackpool deserves it more’, he would be out of office.
*Manchester town hall is inapropriate for a democratic government
It has been suggested that the gothic style is not suitable for civic buldings because it is fussy and undemocratic. It has also been suggested that classical and modern buildings would be more suitable than gothic. I can see the point, but Manchester town hall is a fine piece of architecture and the pride of the city. It is about to undergo a multi million pound referbisment which will give it a new lease of life. If Manchester town hall is unsuitable for goverenment, then lets also move the house of commons into St Pauls cathedral and the house of Lords to the British museum!
*Manchester has no culture
This is total nonsense. While i agree that Manchester overstates itself, it is untrue that it is culturaly vapid. I will not list the number of venues, people and organisations from Manchester as I dont see the point, there are loads! I think that Manchester is Learning from Liverpool. The council now seem to realise that they need to take culture more serously. Events such as the Manchester International Festival are doing well. Manchester has a great cultural heritage to build on. One thing I would like to see more of is more big art in Manchester.
*Manchester is a city of 400,000
While it is true that the city of Manchester is reported to have 464,200 residents. To most people in Manchester, Manchester and Greater Manchester are interchangeable. The borders of Manchester are probably the most arbitary and unsuitable of any major UK city.
the people in the top half of the photo live in stockport, the bottom half live in manchester
the diagonal main road separates trafford and manchester
between a river and a railway, Salford, Manchester and Trafford colide
the top half is Oldham and the bottom half is Manchester.
The councils of Greater Manchester recently decided to work together more closely on various issues. While i dont support the idea of abolishing all the locals councils and making all of greater manchester the city of manchester, i do think something needs to be done. Abolish Trafford and Tameside, they where invented in 1974 and incorporate them into Manchester. Then start an arangement similar to London where all the various bourougs are still classed as London. I would get rid of Bolton as it does not share a border with the city of Manchester.
*Manchster is Ugly
This thread will show you that it is not…