Beirut cannot be compared with Bolton
9:41am Friday 18th April 2008
IF I were Mayor of Beirut, I would launch a civil action against Cllr Walter Hall, of Bolton Council's planning committee, for his slanderous remarks in which he described Bolton as "looking like Beirut".
Cllr Hall was referring to the proliferation of metal security shutters on shops and takeaways on some stretches of the town's main roads, which he inferred gave Bolton a downmarket look. Well, yes, they do, but that's because Bolton, like much of the UK, is downmarket.
That is not the fault of Cllr Hall, the planning committee, nor any council departments, here and elsewhere. No doubt these municipal worthies wish things were different and that Bolton, in particular, could again be a town of which they were justifiably proud. Sadly, that prospect has long evaporated, along with responsible behaviour, respect and civility.
However, to return to the disparaging references to Beirut and why they are not only misplaced, but actionable. For 20 or so years after the end of World War Two, Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, was the intellectual hub of the Arab world and a major commercial and tourist centre.
The civil war between Muslim and Christian factions, from 1975 to 1989, saw death and destruction on a massive scale in Lebanon. Its population, assisted by outside investment, succeeded in restoring much of Beirut to its former elegance and commercial success before the Israeli-Lebanon conflict in 2006 again laid waste to huge areas of the city. That short history lesson will, hopefully, explain why Beirut has become a metaphor for rubble, wasteland, violence and a displaced and suffering population.
Comics often refer to parts of urban Britain as "Beirut with a job centre". It might sound funny the first time but laughter fades with repetition and, anyway, it's not Beirut's fault. It just happened to be in the way when Armageddon came. Twice.
Bolton has no such excuse. That is why Cllr Hall's statement deserves rebuke and he should apologise unreservedly. Bolton, like every town and city in Britain, has shuttered shops because if they weren't so protected, there would be looting on a grand scale. That's the way it is and nothing can be done about it, just like nothing can be done about the litter that has turned our town into a mini-tip, despite the efforts of the council and its environment agencies.
Just the other day, I walked past a child, no more than five years of age, outside a fast-food outlet. He was cheerfully whizzing his empty cartons on to the pavement, watched, indulgently, by a strapping, twenty-something male, possibly his parent, or parole officer. The adult was finishing a cigarette and he, too, flipped away the butt, even though there was a waste bin only feet away. The kid will grow up believing that's the norm.
That sort of behaviour would not happen in Singapore, where stringent anti-litter laws operate. God knows what they would make of our speckled pavements, the result of lorry loads of discarded chewing gum. Bolton like Beirut? Make up your own mind. I wish it could be like Singapore, but know it never will.