Get a life (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Get a life

Swindon has taken another bruising this week. The editor of Country Life magazine has branded the town as a place where residents apologise for living in.

LYNDSAY SCANLAN takes a closer look at what he thinks about the town

SWINDON has, yet again, been subjected to another acid- tongued attack.

This latest beating comes from one of Britain's best-known magazines, Country Life.

In the latest edition of the magazine, a traditional publication for the Barbour jacket wearing, pipe smoking rural gentry, editor Clive Aslet, has slated the town as the sort of place residents apologise for living in.

In spite of our best efforts at the Advertiser with our Swindon And Proud Of It campaign to educate people about the many great things in Swindon we are still battling against the Mr Aslet's of this world.

The weekly magazine devoted an entire page to knocking the town.

Unfortunately Mr Aslet's PA told us he had nothing more to say on the matter. However, she did point out he has visited the town a few times and has spoken to people who live here.

The criticism follows a story in a previous issue, which studied the reasons why the National Trust moved to the town.

According to the article, the move of the National Trust's headquarters from London was not about the supposed benefits, which the Trust would get from the move, but instead the benefits the town would receive by having the National Trust based here, to apparently 'raise the cultural tone of a singularly dull town.'

It also said that the town seems to be the antithesis of everything the Trust represents.

But Mr Aslet should have actually taken the time to really get to know Swindon before launching his attack.

If he had he may have stumbled across Lydiard House or Barbury Castle each an historical site. Or what about the Steam museum, which tracks the town's deep-rooted history in the Great Western Railway.

But he doesn't stop there and moves on to criticising the town's nightlife, saying: "A night out in Swindon is hardly a hot date."

I wonder if he has enjoyed a drink in The Apartment on a Saturday night.

And there's no stopping him as he begins his whinge about the town's road network.

"There is little street life, because the town's streets have been built for cars rather than pedestrians," he says.

Yes we have the notorious Magic Roundabout and of course there are others this is a industrial 21st century town where cars are an important feature.

But why should Mr Aslet make this a target for attack.

Surely in London, his home and place of work, the roads are even busier. I don't see Swindon having to introduce a congestion charge just yet.

And as for Swindon residents not being able to cross the road, what about trying to get from one side of Oxford Street to the other on a Saturday afternoon?

At least we can go between shops without dodging buses, angry cab drivers and other fast moving vehicles.

And does he not know that most of the town centre is pedestrianised so that it hardly merits a danger for shoppers from speeding motorists.

Strangely he also decided to knock the fact that Swindon is home to more corporate headquarters than anywhere else in the country except London including Intel, Zurich, and Nationwide.