BBC News web articles are probably the worst but also on TV they are wont to speak in incredulous tones if Birmingham is mentioned, "Who would of thought Birmingham would be a destination for Christmas celebrations?" well clearly the people who have been coming to the Frankfurt Market for the last 10 year, or Rick Stein on Saturday Kitchen "Unlikely as it seems Birmingham has become something of a foodie destination" yes Rick believe it or not! Or do you want to check with the Michelin Guide who have so far given us 5 stars?
I will never forget an article on the BBC News site last year discussing (yet again) whether Birmingham or Manchester was in fact the 2nd city of England, (I can answer that now, there is no official 2nd city, so get over it people!!!) This article had photographs of both cities, for Manchester a lovely picture of the Victorian Council Offices in Albert Square, and for Birmingham did they choose a similar picture of Victoria Square? Did they heck!!! They used a stock photo of Dale End a back street in an unfashionable corner of the city centre, with a closed Toys R Us store on one side of the road and the old Hummingbird nightclub on the other, but the main focus was of the flyover from Priory Queensway. So that's it Manchester is allowed to have interesting Victorian and Georgian architecture but Birmingham must simply be a concrete jungle of flyovers and underpasses.
I have often commented before that someone in London came to Birmingham in 1975, reported back "It's a dump don't bother going" and no one has checked to revise this opinion since.
Trying to big up Manchester at the expense of Birmingham in another article in December 2007 stated that Brummies were rude and the city was generally considered less important than Manchester by most people. Hmm I wonder if they had the BBC move to Salford already planned at that point?
Even when they have good news to report such as the announcement that the largest bank in the UK, HSBC will be moving the new ring-fenced UK head office to Birmingham they manage to put a negative spin on it. A follow up article to the announcement entitled "We've heard about the Northern Powerhouse whatever happened to the Midland one?" discusses the economic situation in the area in the light of significant investment, but they are at pains to point out statistic which offer a gloomy out look and to identify any area in the country at all where growth is better. Then in classic BBC style have a dig at the people of the city "Don't forget, Birmingham was the first location for the documentary series Benefits Street, which revealed the sometimes stark reality of life for those dependent on welfare benefits in Winson Green, a deprived area of the city." Wow great things could happen in this city but Don't forget they are all on benefits!!!! And concludes "despite many positive figures, Birmingham and the surrounding region still have a lot of ground to make up." Thanks for nothing BBC?!?!?
Read the full article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34310634
So to replace that photo of Dale End I offer instead a picture of the Victorian Council house to match that of Manchester.
And I encourage the BBC to stop with the little digs and snide comments about the city, you based the BBC Music awards here this year after all, so I'm guessing some of you might have ventured out and looked at the city not the 70s concrete horror you were expecting was it?
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