Author Topic: Yeah, Yeah....Manc is the best!  (Read 1349 times)

mankie

  • Guest
Yeah, Yeah....Manc is the best!
« on: May 27, 2003, 09:14:00 am »
Glad I'm not some racist homophobe from Peterborough or someplace like that!
 
 
 Gritty city wins the boho crown
 Helen Carter
 Sunday May 25 2003
 The Observer
 
 
 Manchester is the most bohemian place in the UK, according to research by a
 leading think tank.
 
 Demos has discovered that the world's first industrial city has shed its
 outdated gritty image to become top of the Boho Britain index. It used three
 indices to reach its conclusion - the combination of its gay-friendliness,
 ethnic diversity, and the number of patent applications per head of
 population.
 
 Manchester has an international reputation for its gay village, around Canal
 Street, made famous by Channel 4's Queer as Folk. The city will host
 Europride later this year, which is expected to attract more than one
 million visitors to the festival in August.
 
 The regeneration of Manchester, since the city centre was virtually rebuilt
 following the IRA bomb seven years ago, has contributed to a surge in
 creativity. Last year's successful Commonwealth Games has also brought a new
 confidence to the city.
 
 Manchester is also rich in architecture, with its neo-gothic town hall and
 university buildings and its old warehouses, some of which have been
 converted into loft apartments.
 
 It has a large and thriving student population with three universities - the
 University of Manchester, Umist, and Manchester Metropolitan University.
 Next year, Umist and the University of Manchester will merge to create a
 "super university".
 
 On the edge of the city, Rusholme's neon-lit "curry mile" is like the Las
 Vegas of the north-west. More than 10,000 people a week eat there.
 
 According to the Boho Britain creative index, the next most creative cities
 in the UK are Leicester and London.
 
 Richard Florida, who is professor of economic development at Carnegie Mellon
 University, used the three indicators to measure creativity in his research
 for Demos. San Francisco was ranked top of a similar exercise carried out on
 US cities.
 
 He said: "Creative, innovative and entrepreneurial activities tend to
 flourish in the same kinds of places that attract gays and others outside
 the norm. When people with varied backgrounds and attitudes collide,
 economic growth is likely.
 
 "Most centres of technology-based business growth also have high
 concentrations of gay couples. What I have found is that straight men and
 women also look for a visible gay community as an indication that a city is
 likely to be an exciting place to live."
 
 Manchester is also leading the number of patent applications - another
 indicator of creativity.
 
 Peter Mearns, marketing director of the Northwest Development Agency, said:
 "Creative industries are hugely important to the regional economy and are
 already worth £1.7bn. Only 100,000 people are working to generate that
 wealth, but it is a very good example of how Manchester is leading the
 region."
 
 Jon Ladd, chief executive of the British Urban Regeneration Association,
 said: "The change that has occurred in Manchester over the last 20 years has
 been astounding. The perception that it is a dour place is very wrong."
 
 The creative arts scene in Manchester is also booming. Visitor figures at
 the Manchester art gallery, which re-opened a year ago after refurbishment,
 have been much higher than anticipated. Almost 400,000 people have visited
 it in the last 12 months, against an estimated 250,000 visitors.
 
 Luke Bainbridge, editor of City Life magazine in Manchester, points to the
 emergence of popular music as a key factor.
 
 "Manchester is a second-tier city like Chicago and Detroit," he said. "It is
 easy to forget in this jungle of chrome and glass and wooden floors what a
 depressing place this used to be in the 1970s."
 
 He said that the ethnic diversity of the city had led to the development of
 Northern Soul in the mid-1960s and 70s, and to the development of acid house
 in the 1980s when people in London were refusing to play it.
 
 Star cities
 
 Britain's 10 most bohemian cities are:
 
 1 Manchester
 2= Leicester  and London
 4 Nottingham
 5 Bristol
 6 Brighton and Hove
 7 Birmingham
 8 Coventry
 9 Cardiff
 10 Edinburgh
 
 Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited

markie

  • Member
  • Posts: 13178
Re: Yeah, Yeah....Manc is the best!
« Reply #1 on: May 27, 2003, 10:18:00 am »
I wrote this song just for you.
 
 
 You got a great car
 Yeah what's wrong with it today
 I used to have one too
 Maybe I'll come and have a look
 I really love your hairdo yeah
 I'm glad you like mine too
 See where looking pretty cool
 Will get ya
 
 So what do you do?
 Oh yeah I sell cars too
 No I havent heard your band
 'Cos you guys are pretty new
 But if you dig on vegan food
 Well, come over to my work
 I'll have 'em cook you something
 That you'll really love
 
 'Cos I like you
 Yeah I like you
 And I'm feeling so bohemian like you
 Yeah I like you
 Yeah I like you
 And I feel
 
 Wait
 Who's that guy just hangin' at your pad
 He's lookin' kinda bummed
 You broke up that's too bad
 I guess it's fair if he always pays the rent
 And he doesn't get bent about
 Sleeping on the couch when I'm there
 
 'Cos I like you
 Yeah I like you
 And I'm feeling so bohemian like you
 Yeah I like you
 Yeah I like you
 And I feel
 
 I'm getting wise and I'm feeling so bohemian like you
 It's you that I want so please
 Just a casual casual easy thing
 Is it, it is for me
 And I like you
 Yeah I like you
 I like you
 I like you
 I like you
 I like you
 I like you
 I like you
 And I feel