'... Come to Birmingham... it's nicer than you think...'
The Conservative Party conference venue is far better than the pretentious Labour one says Times columnist Matthew Parris.
'... Birmingham is... and I realise at once that I was never cut out to be a branding whiz-kid because what I really want to say is: "...so much nicer than you think”; and “Birmingham is so much nicer than you think” is not the stuff of which great marketing concepts are made.
But it's what I mean. The Tory party conference in Birmingham this week is full of people who haven't been to the city for decades - or at all - and are going round saying things like “Isn't it nice here?” or “This isn't nearly as awful as I expected”, or (and you keep hearing this) “Aren't Birmingham people friendly?” in tones of mild surprise.
The Symphony Hall, where, as I write, David Cameron is due to speak, is amazing: a modern wonder and one of the finest auditoriums I've seen in Britain. There's an openness about the wide public spaces, the architecture, and the people too - who, if asked for help or directions go to great pains. The stone-paved squares and grand 19th-century neo-classical sandstone and white Portland stone buildings have all been cleaned up and opened out.
The light and space and the indefinable modesty of Birmingham contrast with the snivelling swagger of Manchester (where we went for Labour's conference last week) with all its oh-so-casual people in stovepipe jeans and black T-shirts, thinking their silly trams and Manchester accents are seriously cool.
Far be it from me to question the architectural heritage of that sunless place, but after a week entombed by dark red brick, gloomy streets that seem to close over your head, wet walls and glazed tiles, you can be forgiven for thinking you're trapped in some kind of giant, celestial public lavatory ...'
+ Permalink