My native city - Kingston upon Hull - is making a bid to be European city of culture in 2013. I was surprised when I heard that and decided to look up the word 'culture' in my dictionary. I find that it means pretty much anything that people do, so we could qualify. Hull, the city where people do things. We could win that competition, but I discern a couple of obstacles:
i) so could any other European city
ii)Hull never wins anything.
Nothing daunted our representatives, elected and unelected, will take on this task with fervour. Millions will be spent on hiring 'consultants' to prepare our case; and people with southern accents will be all over the media bigging up their home town (i.e., the one that pays their large salaries). This is the equivalent of Premier League footballers kissing their club badges.
Eventually the winner will be declared and we, the much abused citizenry of Hull, will get on with our lives, while our councillors accuse one another of profligacy and lack of foresight.