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Simon Jenkins has unleashed the wrath of the midlands with a stinging attack on the City of Nottingham in today’s Guardian. As someone who has always lived in Nottinghamshire, and someone who has always used the city, I cannot concur with the thrust of Jenkins’ analysis.

Yes the Maid Marion Way road, which cuts through the city centre like an impenetrable wall of noise, is a barnacle on the fair city, which does its best to ruin Nottingham’s historical quarter, but like many comments posted about the article, I would argue that this has little to do with Blair’s reign – seeing as the arterial road was built in 1958.

As for the urban sprawl that Jenkins hates so much, well that’s the price for economic progress. Surely someone who once edited Murdoch’s Times wouldn’t deny affluent Middle Class families on the make, their own share of “the proceeds of growth?” It was Thatcher who created the culture of homeownership; so don’t complain if people want in on the action.

Nottingham is a great city. Along with Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, and increasingly Birmingham, Nottingham proves there is life outside of the capital. As a political blogger and a struggling writer I am constantly encouraged to move to London. Westminster Village and the call of the large dailies, is a powerful draw, but I love Nottingham, and it will be a wrench to leave.

There is nothing culturally that Nottingham lacks. It has a great playhouse, an impressive theatre, countless cinemas, including the wonderful Broadway art house offering, brilliant record shops, and bars and clubs that knock the socks of much of what’s on offer in the capital. New restaurants are sprouting up across the city, and some of the delis, especially my favourite Atlas, are exquisite.

Nottingham is home to the two-time European Cup winning football team Nottingham Forest, who I must admit, are in a dreadful period. And Oh, and did I mention we have a great ice hockey team and one of the best cricket grounds in England?

There is nothing I want for in Nottingham, and it is only that fact that London is the powerbase of England, that it remains the logical destination for this writer.

Jenkins is increasingly a pessimistic and embittered critic. He uses his quill and the pages of the Guardian to vent his spleen, attacking all that is contemporary Britain. I actually think that one the greatest legacies of Blair’s Britain, is the development of its urban centres. Who would have thought that the dour and depressing town of Mansfield would have cafés that spill onto the street and enjoy several bars that evoke Paul Theroux rather than Paul Gascoigne? Ok, ok, that’s pushing it, but Mansfield is improving.

And anyway, isn’t it the very worst sort of London snobbery to stroll around the provinces ripping the shit out of towns and cities who don’t enjoy the investment and political independence that the capital enjoys? And this is the point of the matter, Nottingham should have greater political independence and an elected mayor, which in fairness to Jenkins, he does hint at. Centralisation is a failed and vanquished political model for Britain, which helps create a powerful capital and stunted backward provinces. This is why the future of modern politics is greater local power, democracy, and accountability. And on that, myself and Simon can agree.