Big Ol' Bob Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 "Yo Lesta is well good" "Oh well I think it is shit there is tramps and and dat everywhere man, me cant even go into highcross widout getting arsked for change" "Yeah but we has got dem Specialz Olympics innit" "Yeah dat is true, but on the other hand a lot of da tings in lesta is rather boring compared to other cities of similar size" "That is a good arguement jamal, respect to ya bredrin"
lou Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 I like Leicester... but its not what Id call a City of Culture. If certain people hate it as much as they say they do........... move out
Dr The Singh Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Ifrst we should define what they mean by culture and it's relevant to Britain!! Secondly let's compare those facilties with other cities!! If we do both above, I think we would agree that Leicester is probably not the best, even on the multicutural thing, we used to have a divali celebration that encompassed both Sikh and hindu traditions, they used to have bhangra bands and the musci from the speakers used to be both gurbani and hindu folk tunes, these days it's dominanted by hindu entology, if you compare with say Birmingham, they have numourous festivals for eid, divali, vaisakhi, and a caribean festival, it's a far more varied city. Interms of music, Brum, invented UK Bhangra, it has far more music venues!! Although there are alot of positives with our city, we still lag behind many others!!
Flynny Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Don't moan at me, i didn't create FoxesTalk rules.No.3 of the BIG rules not to break. •Overt personal abuse of other posters (unless it's in jest of course!) http://www.foxestalk.co.uk/forums/index.php?act=boardrules Fuck you you prissy arse.
Webbo Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Does anyone actually care about being City of Culture?It's just another year long junket for 3rd rate politicians and a bunch of jobs for the boys.
Dr The Singh Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Does anyone actually care about being City of Culture?It's just another year long junket for 3rd rate politicians and a bunch of jobs for the boys. The title brings in alot money and projects, other then that I agree!!
Lillehamring Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Seriously, what the hell are you doing on here? providing a counter to your blinkered, head in the sand spin, your determination to present anything that has clear inadequacies as a glorious success. the thread title is a question thus i am providing what i feel to be an answer from the perspective of someone born and raised in a city that has sold itself short and seems to be going out of its way to bury itself in illconceived half arsed plans - may i reverse the question and ask what are you doing on here, other than trawling out tedious and obviously fatuous spin from the councils PR team, before finding that with no real argument you fall back on juvenile digs and name callingYou can't bring yourself to utter ONE positive or constructive word about Leicester, so I don't know how you can claim to follow its football team. sometimes i don't know why you even bother... in this thread alone i have praised leicester's multicultural strength, admired the cultural people of leicester for persevering despite inadequate resources and facilities, and i have drawn attention to two great leicester writers that you overlooked in your praise list (of which i was not the only person to be critical). i can make a list of good things about leicester (probably better than you, in fact), but sometimes it is interesting to see a side of the coin that perhaps others may not see, or that they feel uncomfortable expressing. just because i find the fate of leicester, it's decline as an important commercial and cultural center, hugely disappointing, does not mean i can't support the football team, i'm one of the more positive people on this forum concerning LCFC, i've been going to city games for 30 years that how i can claim to support its football team Once again, you think you know more about what facilities the city should have, than those of us who actually live here. so, based on that logic we should dismiss james joyce's novels about dublin as inacurate and invalid because he wrote them in trieste, zurich and paris - when i returned to leicester in 99 after living in london for 7 years, i returned still in love with the city, when i returned to london 6 years later i couldn't stand it, sometimes it is only by taking a step back that we can truly see the places where we live - visiting leicester now (2 or 3 times a year) i walk around stunned how poor it really is, how neglected it has become, and how amateurishly it is being 'regenerated' - if anyone is condescending it is you, with your patronising knowitall bile, spewed up from the council's handbook 'how to pretend things are just fine' and 'trust us, we really know what is best for you' i don't claim to know more, but it doesn't take a genius to see what leicester needs and what it has lost You've moved on, yet won't allow anyone else to do likewise - which makes you as a big a hypocrite as any of the politicians or others you claim to despise. priceless, i'd love it for you to 'move on', the trouble is if you think 'one big sunday' and adrian mole are cultural, and that leicester's facilities are a match for nottingham and leeds and liverpool and manchester, and that having a big rugby ground and blocks of student flats instead of music venues is moving on, visionary stuff... have a word with yourself, ultra, and take you head out of the sand - the first step to moving on is admitting you have a problem, leicester has a problem, but you just don't have the balls to admit it. i have made no claim to despise politicians, (except maybe ross wilmott), although i do find some of the decisions made by the local council baffling, and some of the plans they have approved would never have been allowed in more enlightened cities
AmericanScott Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Why do some people think Leicester is not a good city? We have a fantastic city. The only problem is there isn't enough to do in terms of fun if you don't have the dolla. I've lived here for 5 years now and i'm so impressed with how things have changed recently. My American friends came for a visit over a year ago and thought Leicester was much better than London. They couldn't believe how "smart and attractive" the town looked. Yeah, we have a fair share of tramps and beggers, but tell me a city that doesn't. visiting leicester now (2 or 3 times a year) i walk around stunned how poor it really is, how neglected it has become, and how amateurishly it is being 'regenerated' Are you kidding!? This place is fantastic and makes me proud that we live in such a beautiful city. And it's only getting better. I agree with you about being compared to the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, etc though. But give it ten years and we could be the new big name up there.
Monk Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 MOAN There are certainly far worse cities thank Leicester in the UK but city of Culture? Seriously come on! If you were a tourist coming to the UK to see culture, would you even consider coming to Leicester? No freaking way. The city centre regeneration doesn't stop it from being dirty and homogenous - outside of the market there is almost zero character in Leicester city centre architecturally or otherwise. Almost all major UK cities have a sports stadium that has hosted the odd international and has some claim to history or an innovative museum. I think the diwali festival in Leicester is great but the city still appears to be one of cultural segregation to me. Look at other cities which have regenerated their culture such as Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool. We don't even come close.
Lillehamring Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 I like Leicester... but its not what Id call a City of Culture. If certain people hate it as much as they say they do........... move out i don't think it's really about hating leicester, it's about wanting what is best, what is deserved. for example, we all love LCFC, and therefore we want to have the best players, the best ground, the best fans and the most success we can... in the same way, if you are born and bred in a city you want it to be the best, especially with somewhere like leicester which has such a strong local rivalry with notts, derby and cov... i lost my faith in leicester when everytime i visited, another old building had been pulled down; when i went to the music library and found it had been closed and squeezed into the library, two birds, one stone, i guess. when they ripped down st.margarets baths and, as with the libraries, sacrificed part of the something else to replace it - when in reality, i wanted to see braunstone get facilites AND for the city to get new facilities. i don't personally hate leicester, but i am depressed by the way it has been sucked into a sort of insipid lowest common denominator - for me, the best reason to visit leicester, and the reason i love foxes talk, is because i think leicester folk are just awesome, and i think they deserve so much more than what they have been given... for every tigers ground you have the loss of saffron lane, granby halls and the lions stadium... for every highcross cinema you have the odeon, the ABC not to mention all the ones we lost before my time, and all the victorian theatres we lost during the 60s. it just pains me to see how other similar cities have done so much better, and seem to continually out class leicester -i even made the comparison in a letter to the mercury (i think) about the difference in archtectural quality between the tax offices in leicester and nottingham. us not surprisingly this is the only picture i coould find (there are hundreds of the nottingham building) them its not hate, lou, it's anger - and that's why people like ultra really piss me off, living some deluded fantasy that leicester is a city of culture and that everything is just super... it's not the worst place in the world, but it could be so much better - and don't let the spin doctors at welford place tell you otherwise!
Monk Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Now let's look at the other side of the coin:1) Kasabian. 2) The Way, a venue which has successfully hosted both England and Brazil matches. 3) The National Space Centre, the best centre of its type in Europe. 4) The biggest Diwali festival outside India. 5) Two expanding, internationally-acclaimed universities. 6) Leicester Market, one of the biggest outdoor markets in Europe. 7) The Comedy Festival. 8) Sporting diversity and success - which earned us the 2008 European City of Sport Award. 9) Radio 1's One Big Sunday - which drew over 100000 people to Victoria Park 3 years on the trot. 10) Summer Sundae - which has earned the city international recognition. 11) The first-ever BBC local radio station. 12) The first-ever children's local radio station. 13) Regeneration of the West End/Narborough Road. 14) Welford Road, soon to become the biggest purpose-built club rugby ground in the UK. 15) Sue Townsend. 16) The planned youth hub at the site of the former Haymarket Theatre. 17) The SkyCycle Ride taking place in the city on 30 August. 18) The Special Olympics - in terms of those taking part and watching, the biggest sporting event the East Midlands has ever seen. 19) The only East Midlands city to stage both Cricket and Rugby World Cup matches. 20) The Caribbean Carnival - one of the biggest community festivals outside London. I know I will get flamed for my last post, but in credit the above list does have some pluses. Apart from Sue Townsend.
Lillehamring Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Why do some people think Leicester is not a good city? We have a fantastic city. The only problem is there isn't enough to do in terms of fun if you don't have the dolla. I've lived here for 5 years now and i'm so impressed with how things have changed recently. My American friends came for a visit over a year ago and thought Leicester was much better than London. They couldn't believe how "smart and attractive" the town looked. Yeah, we have a fair share of tramps and beggers, but tell me a city that doesn't. Are you kidding!? This place is fantastic and makes me proud that we live in such a beautiful city. And it's only getting better. I agree with you about being compared to the likes of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, etc though. But give it ten years and we could be the new big name up there. yes, but the thing is, in ten years time, leicester will more than likely still be ten years behind these places. i'm glad you appreciate leicester, scott, but as i said in my reply to lou, it could be so much better - regeneration is all well and good, especially for people who don't know it so well, tourists for example - it's what has been lost that is the real tragedy. apart from the jewry wall, it is hard to picture leicester as a roman town... and even the jewry wall is indicative of the failures leicester has made over the last half century - the museum there is actually built over the remains, when logic would have dictated building it alongside it, sadly the planners decided that roman remains were worth sacrificing to accommodate, quelle surprise, a road. again, it is what has been taken away and what is offered up contemporaneously as quality these days that really sells leicester short.
lou Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 i don't think it's really about hating leicester, it's about wanting what is best, what is deserved.for example, we all love LCFC, and therefore we want to have the best players, the best ground, the best fans and the most success we can... in the same way, if you are born and bred in a city you want it to be the best, especially with somewhere like leicester which has such a strong local rivalry with notts, derby and cov... i lost my faith in leicester when everytime i visited, another old building had been pulled down; when i went to the music library and found it had been closed and squeezed into the library, two birds, one stone, i guess. when they ripped down st.margarets baths and, as with the libraries, sacrificed part of the something else to replace it - when in reality, i wanted to see braunstone get facilites AND for the city to get new facilities. i don't personally hate leicester, but i am depressed by the way it has been sucked into a sort of insipid lowest common denominator - for me, the best reason to visit leicester, and the reason i love foxes talk, is because i think leicester folk are just awesome, and i think they deserve so much more than what they have been given... for every tigers ground you have the loss of saffron lane, granby halls and the lions stadium... for every highcross cinema you have the odeon, the ABC not to mention all the ones we lost before my time, and all the victorian theatres we lost during the 60s. it just pains me to see how other similar cities have done so much better, and seem to continually out class leicester -i even made the comparison in a letter to the mercury (i think) about the difference in archtectural quality between the tax offices in leicester and nottingham. us not surprisingly this is the only picture i coould find (there are hundreds of the nottingham building) them its not hate, lou, it's anger - and that's why people like ultra really piss me off, living some deluded fantasy that leicester is a city of culture and that everything is just super... it's not the worst place in the world, but it could be so much better - and don't let the spin doctors at welford place tell you otherwise! with respect no one tells me how to feel. I love my home town for all its faults and yes it may not be the best, most lavish City in the world (or even in the East Midlands!) but you know what, I dont give a shit. I love living here and always like to come back when Ive had to visit other places in the UK. I love the way people in this diverse City get on without the major issues they have in other places in England. Im not being fooled by any "Spin" I feel this way because of my own 42 years of experience living in the place!!
Dr The Singh Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 with respect no one tells me how to feel. I love my home town for all its faults and yes it may not be the best, most lavish City in the world (or even in the East Midlands!) but you know what, I dont give a shit. I love living here and always like to come back when Ive had to visit other places in the UK. I love the way people in this diverse City get on without the major issues they have in other places in England. Im not being fooled by any "Spin" I feel this way because of my own 42 years of experience living in the place!! Lou, with all due respect we all live here by choice and most of us are more then happy here but this is about a competition, and i'm afriad i'm honest enough to say were not good enough to win it!!!!
lou Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 I like Leicester... but its not what Id call a City of Culture. If certain people hate it as much as they say they do........... move out Lou, with all due respect we all live here by choice and most of us are more then happy here but this is about a competition, and i'm afriad i'm honest enough to say were not good enough to win it!!!! Is what I said!! I was merely responding to someones insinuation that I allow other peoples "spin" to colour my judgement of the City Ive lived in for my whole life
Dr The Singh Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Is what I said!! I was merely responding to someones insinuation that I allow other peoples "spin" to colour my judgement of the City Ive lived in for my whole life Sorry Lou, didn't realise!!!
lou Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Sorry Lou, didn't realise!!! Thats ok, your a bloke, you cant help it!
Guest Chocolate Teapot Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Now let's look at the other side of the coin:1) Kasabian. 2) The Way, a venue which has successfully hosted both England and Brazil matches. 3) The National Space Centre, the best centre of its type in Europe. 4) The biggest Diwali festival outside India. 5) Two expanding, internationally-acclaimed universities. 6) Leicester Market, one of the biggest outdoor markets in Europe. 7) The Comedy Festival. 8) Sporting diversity and success - which earned us the 2008 European City of Sport Award. 9) Radio 1's One Big Sunday - which drew over 100000 people to Victoria Park 3 years on the trot. 10) Summer Sundae - which has earned the city international recognition. 11) The first-ever BBC local radio station. 12) The first-ever children's local radio station. 13) Regeneration of the West End/Narborough Road. 14) Welford Road, soon to become the biggest purpose-built club rugby ground in the UK. 15) Sue Townsend. 16) The planned youth hub at the site of the former Haymarket Theatre. 17) The SkyCycle Ride taking place in the city on 30 August. 18) The Special Olympics - in terms of those taking part and watching, the biggest sporting event the East Midlands has ever seen. 19) The only East Midlands city to stage both Cricket and Rugby World Cup matches. 20) The Caribbean Carnival - one of the biggest community festivals outside London. He was hardly saying Oslo is the capital of culture was he? Having one band come from the city is hardly a cultural high point is it? This is rubbish what you've written and sounds exactly like the standard crap the council draw out everytime they are criticised.
purpleronnie Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 People who moan about how dirty and horrible Leicester is should get out more, its extremely clean and vibrant compared to lots of other cities I've visited throughout the world. People in england should be more proud of their cities for some reason english people seem to think that the grass is always greener but believe me it isn't if they spent time in some of the cities I have in the last 10 years they would soon realize how great the city of leicester is. City of culture, definately.
Babylon Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 Some of the buildings given planning permission in the city are an absolute shambles. It seems to me that the council are happy for you to do exactly what you want, so long as you are seen to be investing in the city in some way. All the new DMU buildings and student flats are shocking. There never seems to be any cohesion, nothing is ever built to compliment and improve the surroundings. It just seems to the the cheapest design wins. I mean all the road works around the magazine were billed as something to "create more of a gateway into the city and a feature of the magazine" by the council. Does banging a whacking great big building about two metres away make it a feature? You can't even see the bloody thing until you are on top of it. Could you imagine Birmingham or Nottingham allowing someone to paint a 20+ story building bright blue with shit coloured windows. They would rather bang a CPO in on the building than let something like that happen. Birmingham's Planning Department and Building Regulations state "By the same token, if you painted your house bright pink and then applied yellow dots all over it you might get a Council Officer calling round with a legal notification and Court Order for you to restore it to its original status". You telling me the council can't do similar here... they are just shit scared of the guy pulling funding from the building? Original design: Ended up with: Original design: Ended up with:
davieG Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 People who moan about how dirty and horrible Leicester is should get out more, its extremely clean and vibrant compared to lots of other cities I've visited throughout the world. People in england should be more proud of their cities for some reason english people seem to think that the grass is always greener but believe me it isn't if they spent time in some of the cities I have in the last 10 years they would soon realize how great the city of leicester is.City of culture, definately. Depends what your comparing it to - When I were a lad, ok a cliché, but never the less when I was growing up in Leicester it was renowned as the cleanest and 2nd most prosperous city in Europe. I can understand us losing the prosperous title but the cleanest , trouble is people treat the pavements as dustbins, everywhere you look there's chewing gum, food wrappers and cigarette butts. I don't think this is the council's fault more the modern culture of 'I don't give a fook'.
James. Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 People who moan about how dirty and horrible Leicester is should get out more, its extremely clean and vibrant compared to lots of other cities I've visited throughout the world. People in england should be more proud of their cities for some reason english people seem to think that the grass is always greener but believe me it isn't if they spent time in some of the cities I have in the last 10 years they would soon realize how great the city of leicester is.City of culture, definately. It's a fair point but in the context of the argument it's not really relevant is it? We're talking about Leicester in relation to other UK cities, not some shanty town in Sudan. And on that measure we're a long way away from being the best or even great. Disclaimer: I don't hate Leicester, it's my home, I spent 18 years there and I love going back regularly. But I can still view it with objectivity which some people in this thread seem unable to do.
Shrenchel Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 It will be Leeds I'd imagine. Bristol have pulled out because they don't seem to think they've got a chance.
Smudge Posted 17 July 2009 Posted 17 July 2009 I make the assumption that a cultured place is one of refinement, excellence in all things. That the people are schooled in the arts and are well mannered in their demenour. Leicester????????????????
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