Northern seriousness
Sir: Nigel Nicolson's columns are a splen- did addition to The Spectator's regular fea- tures, an acknowledgment that you have readers whose memories go back before Harold Wilson.
But Mr Nicolson, as well as the editor and sub-editors, should have known that Manchester is not and never has been a 'Midland' city (Long life, 21 November).
It houses the stock exchange (Northern Unit), formerly the Northern Stock Exchange, the Royal Northern College of Music, what was formerly the BBC North- ern Orchestra, and many other 'Northern' organisations. Its culture, traditions, accent and humour are essentially northern. The Manchester Guardian, when it was pub- 'As a taxpayer, she'll understand me wanting cash in hand.'
lished in Manchester, was the leading northern newspaper.
The old boast that 'what Manchester thinks today London thinks tomorrow' was based on a sense of northern seriousness versus southern triviality.
No doubt you will be hearing from your remaining reader in Manchester.
Keith Brace
54 Bridgetown Road, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.
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