Friday, June 02, 2006

Are we snobs or just posh?

Gloucester's MP has hit the front page of the Gloucestershire Echo with his suggestion that one motive behind the opposition to concentrating children's hospital service on Gloucester instead of Cheltenham is snobbism. The Gloucester Echo is sold mainly in Cheltenham and the posh bits of north-east Gloucestershire.

Thing is, he might be right. Some Cheltenham people have a horror of Gloucester and it's certainly a lot rougher than their nice little town. And it's not just Cheltenham people, many in the county, especially the 'home county' set in the Cotswolds look down (in both senses) on the fine City which should be at the heart of their county.

I love the place. It's a pity it doesn't make more of its ancient buildings or its noble heritage but it has a vibrancy lacking in much of the rest of the county. It's also a microcosm of England with, apparently, almost exactly the same proportions of ethnic groups as the rest of the country. It was the seat that Labour had to win in 1997 to be certain of a majority. So if you haven't been there yet, why not?

2 Comments:

At 09:43, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Have you seen this on the Party's national site - http://www.labour.org.uk/partyfunding - looks like an interesting debate.

 
At 11:57, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree in part- Gloucester is a lot nicer than my fellow Cheltonians may believe. The problem is, when you live in Cheltenham itself, there is little or know need to travel to Gloucester, as it has little to offer in comparison. If people in Gloucestershire want to go somewhere big and exciting, they'll go to Birmingham or Bristol. If they want to go somewhere pretty, they'll go to Cheltenham. Gloucester isn't bad, it just loses out to better options. It isn't a big city, and it isn't one of the great small ones either.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home