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BA Media & Communication at Birmingham City University. I make websites and design for print, produce and present radio as well as take photos. Among other things.

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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor

 

In 2007 the city of Nottingham was voted the 4th worst place to live in the country, according to the inimitable TV duo… Kirstie and Phil. (Sarcasm doesn’t come across so well in words.) In Kirstie’s words, albeit on the 4homes website, she described the city as: “…this vibrant East Midlands city should be a winner, with loads more on offer than most other places nationwide. But (once again) it’s crime that drags this place down into our worst list. Long gone are the romantic days of Robin Hood robbing the rich to feed the poor. There’s nothing chivalrous about the gangs round here, with burglary and theft from cars being higher here than anywhere else in the UK.” Whilst home for me is somewhere in the pork-pie and Stilton filled void between Nottingham and Leicester, I know the city well enough to realise that Kirstie has clearly never lived, worked or most probably set foot in Nottingham aside from the filming of the ‘Worst Places to Live’ programme. The term ‘scare-mongering’ - or moral panic if you’re getting all academic - immediately comes to mind, the “Shottingham” narrative is one which is becoming a permanent representation of the city. In response to this “definitive” canon, overnight Nottingham pulled together to respond to Channel 4. Ignoring the fact that this video and stunt was, to a certain extent, commercially backed by what was one of the city’s largest radio stations, it brings to light the misrepresentation of the city and how those who actually live there concurrently disagree with the outcome… Unlike cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham it’s near impossible for Nottingham to rely on it’s skyline for it’s visual representation… can you really tell me what Nottingham Castle looks like? What the city does have is history - Robin Hood is one of the key attractions of the city. Do Kirstie and Phil make note of that? Well, credit where credit’s due, they do but only to reinforce the gang-land discourse so often associated with Nottingham. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that the city is absolutely amazing, but in reality is this representation as accurate as Kirstie and Phil would have us believe? Without getting too media on yo ass, their cultural and social capital means that their canon is likely to be more widely accepted than the response video of the people of Nottingham… although you could argue that the people of the city should be more proactive in fairly representing the city meaning they wouldn’t have to react to mainstream representations such as this. Nottingham. Rant. Done.

In 2007 the city of Nottingham was voted the 4th worst place to live in the country, according to the inimitable TV duo… Kirstie and Phil. (Sarcasm doesn’t come across so well in words.) In Kirstie’s words, albeit on the 4homes website, she described the city as:

“…this vibrant East Midlands city should be a winner, with loads more on offer than most other places nationwide. But (once again) it’s crime that drags this place down into our worst list. Long gone are the romantic days of Robin Hood robbing the rich to feed the poor.

There’s nothing chivalrous about the gangs round here, with burglary and theft from cars being higher here than anywhere else in the UK.”

Whilst home for me is somewhere in the pork-pie and Stilton filled void between Nottingham and Leicester, I know the city well enough to realise that Kirstie has clearly never lived, worked or most probably set foot in Nottingham aside from the filming of the ‘Worst Places to Live’ programme. The term ‘scare-mongering’ - or moral panic if you’re getting all academic - immediately comes to mind, the “Shottingham” narrative is one which is becoming a permanent representation of the city.

In response to this “definitive” canon, overnight Nottingham pulled together to respond to Channel 4. Ignoring the fact that this video and stunt was, to a certain extent, commercially backed by what was one of the city’s largest radio stations, it brings to light the misrepresentation of the city and how those who actually live there concurrently disagree with the outcome…

Unlike cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham it’s near impossible for Nottingham to rely on it’s skyline for it’s visual representation… can you really tell me what Nottingham Castle looks like? What the city does have is history - Robin Hood is one of the key attractions of the city. Do Kirstie and Phil make note of that? Well, credit where credit’s due, they do but only to reinforce the gang-land discourse so often associated with Nottingham.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that the city is absolutely amazing, but in reality is this representation as accurate as Kirstie and Phil would have us believe? Without getting too media on yo ass, their cultural and social capital means that their canon is likely to be more widely accepted than the response video of the people of Nottingham… although you could argue that the people of the city should be more proactive in fairly representing the city meaning they wouldn’t have to react to mainstream representations such as this.

Nottingham. Rant. Done.

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