1. Context...

Any visitors guide, travel column or holiday show will recommend a little research prior to embarking on your journey. In order to get the most out of your time away it's generally good advice to spend a little time at home reading up on what your destination has to offer, that way you spend less of your vacation time seeking out what's available and trying to locate it. However, sometimes, for some cities, the leaflets available in travel agent's offices and articles published on tourist information internet sites offer a somewhat biased view. While not being categorically false much of what you may read will be half truths, white lies or blinkered reflections of reality.

Take for example the beautifully vague:

"Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester
Winner in an international competition"

I'm prepared to admit that, from this view, the centre of Manchester might just about get away with appearing to be a cutting edge cosmopolitan metropolis. Unfortunately the illusion is lost on realising that the photograph was taken from the top of the not so contemporary Piccadilly Plaza:

As tourist fluff goes most of Manchester's tourist copy reads like my CV of 10 years ago, convinced, as I was, that my gold membership to Blockbuster put me in a unique and authoritative position to dominate the film industry within 6 months. With genuine sentiment I had written a resume that proclaimed "I am an dynamic, hardworking team-player with a mature professional attitude and the drive necessary to succeed" - so far so good - but not being completely naive I realised that perhaps it was necessary to offer something more than neologisms of corporate speak in order to get my first job. I continued with the more intimate "I am very smartly dressed, clean shaven and my personal hygiene is second to none", thinking that perhaps my ability to wash would attract the image conscious media crowd. Left here, this would probably have been enough to have someone take pity on my adolescent stupidity, but I felt that I could offer more. With the blind ambition of youth I tried to stretch my meagre skills that little bit further than was strictly true; "I intimately understand the requirements of a modern cinema audience and am able to provide all of the necessary skills required in the film industry". It was blatantly obvious to anyone who had set foot on a film set that I lacked any skills of any use whatsoever, other than perhaps my dedication to cleanliness. In many ways I think this stage of adolescent confusion, without direction and without a reflexive self-awareness, is where Manchester finds itself today – other than perhaps the cleanliness.

The changes violently set in to motion by the IRA, at around the same time I was providing TV producers with excesses of scrap paper, gave an opportunity for rebirth. The resulting redevelopment becoming, without a doubt, the driving force behind the renaissance Manchester currently finds itself in, those grim northern landscape depicted by L S Lowry that perpetuated through to the lyrics of The Smiths disappearing into memory.

The criminal fraternity once occupying the Victorian buildings of Whalley Range have been ousted by property developers; the previously derelict and dangerous Castlefield basin is now home to hi-tech and media entrepreneurs; the town centre has risen from the ashes as a refreshed and invigorated commercial hub - all of which is, indeed, an applaudable achievement. So why the need to start producing material shouting vague praises about projects that most people deem as an expensive failure? Much the same as a teenager trying to enter the world of work, contemporary Manchester has emerged back onto the map as an international city and found itself new, broad horizons to explore. In order to compete at this level it has become necessary to maximise those qualities which may attract potential investors. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to 'show the world what we've got', the focus of the politicians charged with publicising the city have failed to judge it on its own merits. Instead they have tried to take a shortcut, becoming embroiled in the politically loaded, yet fatuous race to be crowned 'Britain’s Second City'. So, we end up with promotional materials which aim to compete with the offerings of long established world cities supporting populations of over 10,000,000, but instead we end up looking small and cementing our position at the bottom of the tree…

“Across Greater Manchester, you'll find a wonderful variety of things to see, do and experience. Whether shopping, eating out, outdoor activities or anything in-between.”

Piccadilly Gardens, L S Lowry, 1954