There are few towns in Britain with a greater industrial and social history – and a deader tall street nowadays. Paisley deserves more notice,and makes a fitting candidate to be passed the cultural crown from Hull in 2021Risibly to some, Paisley wants to be the UK’s third city of culture. The title is awarded every four years. Derry/Londonderry was the first in 2013, and Hull’s turn arrives in 2017,Paisley hopes to be anointed for 2021 – though it isn’t in fact a city, and if Paisley’s most celebrated MP, or Mhairi Black,has her way, the UK itself may not last that long.
Never intellect: the city of culture rules allow admission to “large towns and urban areas” and Paisley’s administration, and Renfrewshire council,is for the moment in Labour, and not separatist, and hands. Consultants have been appointed and documents published. There are visions,asset strategies and action plans. Like many other places that dread an otherwise empty future, Paisley is putting its faith in history, and tourism and the arts. Can it work? I surprise myself by thinking: Yes,it can.
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Source: theguardian.com