 BIRMINGHAM has been caught snoozing in the new millennium and only a Mayor who is dynamic, positive and prepared to lead can wake it up to the challenges it faces. And it has many, far too many for our batch of complacent, tremulous, pothole-obsessed politicians to tackle them with the united drive that is becoming more necessary by the year. The city has a lot going for it. We work hard and we are enterprising. We are friendly and lively. There is greater multi-racial harmony than in any other place I know. But we don't boast of these things. We don't boast about anything - not the Jewellery Quarter or the CBSO; not UB40 or Tolkien; not the host of international sporting events staged here or the hundreds of events at the NEC; not our industrial heritage or our modern city. We need a Mayor to shout for us because no-one else is going to. Leadership is far more than making loud noises, I know. But there is a strange lack of self-esteem in the way the merits of our once-thrusting city are presented in a low, almost apologetic mumble. Maybe this is one of the reasons why we are usually ignored when the goodies are handed out. Here's another as well. Our representatives on the council and on the various quangos that serve it have proved incapable of opening the avenues to grants and awards that other big cities attract all the time. Manchester runs a magnificent Commonwealth Games. The BBC plans to hive off some of its services. Where to? Manchester. Liverpool is voted European City of Culture. Newcastle and Manchester construct urban tramways. And Birmingham? New Street station is a disgrace. The Central Library is embarrassingly inadequate. Plans for an underground or a metro system are in disarray. We've been waiting for a 50-metre swimming pool for 25 years. And Manchester was awarded the super-casino after, typically, Birmingham botched its bid. I have no faith in the way Birmingham is currently run. If I were a proper, elected Mayor, there would be results. Ken Livingstone has shown in London how they can be achieved. I can promise our case would be heard in Parliament. In Europe. And in the Prime Minister's ear, whoever's that might be. I doubt, you see, if the current lot in power have any leverage outside the city boundaries and nothing, but nothing, is more important than regular, constructive contact with people in high places. Birmingham needs doers. It needs fearless, enthusiastic, skilled leadership based on pride in the city and ruthless determination that it should shake off Council House inertia. It would be an honour to serve. And no-one would have a moment's peace... For more background information visit www.birminghammail.net/news/mayordeabte
| 
