Not really..If it spreads culture around I think it is a good thing.. We were never going to get it due to Hull getting the last one as they class Hull as a north east city and they were always going to spread it around..
Talking of culture, Glasgow is a city that I know pretty well & it has loads of it. I know that it's a rough place, but it has loads of art galleries, museums etc if that's your kind of thing. I'd rather go to Glasgow than somewhere like rat infested Paris.
I just don't think that City of Culture should be the title of a place that's decreed to be in need of investment/culture. It seems like a contradiction to me.
What would the council have spent it on? I've never lived in Sunderland, but almost everybody I know who does thinks that they are a major part of the problem.
And that dates back decades to when they ripped out beautiful old buildings and put in that horrible 70's ****. Look at the train station.
I read a couple of weeks ago that the EEC had decreed that the UK would not be eligible for their next turn at the European City of Culture award. The reason of course is that we would not be in The EEC. It was said that our 'Diplomatic Team' would be appealing against this and seeking clarification, whatever that means. But of course there's nothing to stop GB running it's own event, just without the European grants that have gone with it in the past. As for Sunderland, I wonder that our Local councillors had the nerve to submit an entry. Their support for 'cultural activities' has never been spectacular, but now that the Library system has been decimated, there is little left. If this award had been for the City most in need of a cultural uplift, we would have won hands down.
Yeah in my experience whatever they do is lacking - they plan plan and plan then muck up whatever they do. Always done on the cheap
To be fair, they, 'The Council' did get us Nissan, a Company that has brought prosperity to many a North East Family. (Though even with this, Maggie's Government can claim most of the credit). On the other hand, the way they have mismanaged the developments on the Vaux site has been farcical.
It'a true about Nissan, but I think that the workforce were also a big factor. It's almost laughable how they can be relied on to mess up most projects, and living in Washington we only seem to get other sources of funding eg("European funding") for any building improvemnets done here - not raw council monies. There again, I here similar complaints from my Sunderland friends.
I thought they got rid of it during the 70's under the labour council when they out up all those god awful blocks of flats up and down the country. Must have been misinformed.
Also another urban myth is that it was a Labour council that made the decision to pull down the magnificent town hall. It was the Tories who were in charge then and it was they who made that decision..
Maybe so but it's still a ****ing monstrosity. Look at how they ****ed about for years with the Vaux site. My council has been Labour since time began & they've let it rot. There's nothing here, nothing. Consett got all the dosh when the steel plant closed. Stanley got **** all when RHP & Ever Ready closed with the loss of 6000 jobs. I'm not saying the council is to blame for that but they,ve invested very little here.
T Dan Smith, pity he's dead. We would have loads of 20 story tower blocks. House loads of people on a tiny plot of land. Excellent stuff. Plus if you had a telescope you could train it on the block opposite & watch people shagging. And you'd have the added bonus of having a good view & no garden to look after. Win win all round.
Bombed - YES Damaged - YES A hole in the station roof. I recall that the North of the Station was undamaged and a lively old place. Station Taxi's worked from there and just inside the main entrance was the model of 'Rocket' that would burst into life for a Penney and another machine that would print out whatever message you wanted on an Aluminium strip. Half way down the shops on the other side was the big brass weighing machine. If you want a reasonably accurate history, try Wiki. As for who was responsible for what and when, I don't see that it matters. I believe that Labour have been in charge since 1973, perhaps even earlier but I fail to see that running a Town has any relevance to party politics. OR To put it another way, I wouldn't trust any of these 'would be' politicians to organise a booze up in a brewery.
Correct, the Gothic North -end was still going strong in the 50-60's and when I say strong I mean it it was left to rot along with everything else, oh and just to put you straight on one point our councillors are pretty good on booze ups, as long as its not at their expense.
