[BenL]

I'd accept that Manchester's renaissance has been very recent and until the late 1990s Birmingham was the UK's undisputed second city. I'm a bit unsure about your statistics - surely New York, Milan, Paris and London have considerably bigger fashion shows than Birmingham; London is certainly more used than Birmingham for sport and Manchester's sporting history is far superior to Birmingham's with a 76,000 and 49,000 capacity stadiums and one of the world's most famous football clubs. Manchester has recently hosted a highly successful Commenwealth Games, the BBC is considering it the "second city" - moving a large part of its operation to Salford and the UK's first "supercasino" went to Manchester ahead of many other cities, including Birmingham. It can also boast to have the tallest residential tower in the UK and Britain's largest arena.

Now, there are ins and outs to each milestone, but it does lead to an improved perception of Manchester as a modern, forward-thinking city, an impression I certainly get whenever I visit. I cannot see the "second-city" tag to be a clear one in the near future and in a country with such an obvious primary city in London, it may not matter that much. Let's not let this turn into a city versus city, but I do think your claim that Birmingham could be a major European city is rather weak.