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Where is the Black Country? You couldn't find it on the map could you?. The Black Country is the West Midlands region of industrial heartlands. Originally coal mining and the working of iron the Black Country region covers the areas of Dudley and Wolverhampton and stretches round West Bromwich to Wednesbury and Walsall. The name is derived from the mid 1900's when literally thousands of furnaces and chimneys filled the air with smoke. This was mining country. A smoking wasteland caused by underground burning coal and derelict and depleted coal faces.

The Industrial might of this region was known the world over. The worlds first successful steam engine for pumping water out of the mines was made in Dudley by Thomas Newcomen. The Black Country region produced vast quantities of metal goods. The American Consul in Birmingham in 1868 wrote "The Black Country, black by day and red by night, cannot be matched for vast and varied production, by any other space of equal radius on the surface of the globe". Furnaces and foundries worked round the clock, the thundering of machinery and the coal merchants fuelling the demand guaranteed that the Black Country played a prominent role in the Industrial Revolution. It was not without it's toll in human life. A visit to the Black Country Living Museum demonstrates what life was like in these times, so hard for us to imagine today.

Today, the Black Country benefits from traditional industries as well as more modern newcomers and is a growing tourist attraction in its own right.

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Just what is wrong with the Mankies? For years now they have been trying to say that Manchester is Britain’s Second City. Now we have Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott pandering to the city of Manchester by agreeing with them. Well stuff him if he wants us to vote Labour then. Words fail me. The man is a fool.

To make things even more comical, a Manchester MP Graham Stinger has said that Birmingham was never really in the competition and that this was the most sensible thing that John Prescott has said in years. I am not quite sure who is the biggest plonker out of the two. The Manchester MP is clearly ‘out of his tree’. Whilst John Prescott at least has the excuse that he was expressing gratitude to Manchester – what excuse does MP Graham Stinger have – other than the fact he is seriously lacking in UK geography and knowledge.

Lets face it, anyone who wants to do a little research can quickly establish the real truth. Whilst you might be informed on several Manchester websites that Manchester is the UK’s second city that really is a myth and quite comical when put into perspective. In reality, Britain’s third largest city is Leeds. Manchester doesn’t even come close to Birmingham. Birmingham city is over twice the size in population as that of Manchester and has a much larger economy.

A well known Manchester website has this to say:

Manchester is one of Britain's largest metropolitan conurbations, with 2.6 million people living within the central boundaries and over 7 million in Manchester's surrounding areas. As you would expect of Britain's second city, Manchester is the throbbing urban centre of the North West boasting a number of leading business organisations, leading retailers and entertainment venues.

In actual fact this is how it should be worded;

Manchester is a city in North West England. In 2002 the central district had a population of 422,302. This district is the heart of a large conurbation called the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, which has a population of 2,513,468. People from Manchester are called Mancunians.

So lets chuck in the whole of the West Midlands County rather than just Birmingham shall we? We could include Wolverhampton, Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell, Solihull and Coventry. Applying this same technique the West Midlands could claim this represented the population of Birmingham which is just what Manchester is attempting to do by claiming figures for Greater Manchester which includes Manchester, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Salford and Trafford.