As an inhabitant of Birmingham I would back the second city as well.

(This may be biased btw as I live here, but I try to remain impartial ;)

It's early stages so I'll keep free of detail at the moment. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Air: Birmingham International has a 15 minute rail journey time to the city centre. The connection is easy too.

Rail: Birmingham New Street station is the central hub of the UK's national rail network. It also has frequent services to London and off-peak can be as little as £15 to London.

Accomodation: Hagley Road is 5 minutes from the city centre by bus and has several hotels, there are also others on Broad Street which are opposite Birmingham's International Convention Centre http://www.theicc.co.uk/

Culture: Plenty of bars/restaurants, Birmingham has a "cafe culture" about it.

Things to see: The Bullring shopping centre is a local landmark, and a large quantity of old redundant buildings have been knocked down as part of the housing boom so it looks quite attractive, and will continue to improve over the next year. There a some under-advertised [IHMO] attractions to visit.

People: The University of Birmmingam and Aston University have high proportions of Computer Science students and a good record of being helpful with community projects. So possible "recruitment" opportunities exist.

Cost: Far off London prices! £3 in London for a pint, £2 here. Public transport could get you from transport hubs to major venues with ease, Taxis wouldn't be too outrageous either.

Press: Several local newspapers would run it and the council would be more than happy to get involved.

I WOULD BE PREPARED TO HELP... ...with the initial bid at least, so long as we have the resources to back it up. Ideally a 10-person group with some being available in the Birmingham area. I have limited experience of organising such events, but I'm a good communicator and have lived here long enough to know where to look for help.

I think Birmingham would stand a good chance at getting to the final rounds of voting at least.

Greg [[User:GregRobson]]

Angela wrote:

On 8/12/05, Dan Grey dangrey@gmail.com wrote:

...

I live in Reading, but I'd advise against it myself. While the transport links are excellent (particulary to Heathrow), and the uni campus is nice, it's not the most exciting bit of the UK to visit, nor very touristy.

Frankfurt isn't touristy either, but there was very limited time to see much of the city, so I don't think this should be a primary concern if Reading was otherwise ok.

...

I'd back Brighton myself - reasonably close to Gatwick, not too far from Dover, and a nice place to visit.

Is flying to Gatwick the only way to get there? That might not be the most practical. Also, I'd expect Brighton to be more expensive than cities in the North.

...

Manchester as a close second choice - more central in the UK, I believe Manchester Airport handles trans-Atlantic flights (I wonder how their prices compare to Gatwick?), and pretty cosmopolitan.

I've never been to Manchester, so I've no idea how good this would be.

My first choice is Birmingham. It's England's 2nd city, but much cheaper than London. It has an international airport which is just 10 minutes by train to the city centre. It has a large range of conference venues and lots of cheap accommodation, from the 3 universities and many youth hostels, and every other type of accommodation. Public transport is better than London (as in less crowded, less confusing). It's only a couple of hours on the train from London if people want to fly to Stansted (very cheap from Europe) or other London airports.

Angela.