I see the crap towns survey is out again. This stuff really is a nonsense - it seems to take no account whatsoever on what stuff there is to do there and how much the people who live there actual like the places.

I lived in Hull for 9 years. It was great. You can't judge a city as being crap just because it has some bad schools. Of course Hull has some bad schools, it has great big council estates. The schools in the nicer areas aren't bad though. And the inner city isn't scary at all - I always felt quite comfortable even wandering home on my own late at night, in sharp contrast to cities like Birmingham and Manchester where I wouldn't even consider not getting a cab.

Nottingham again is unfairly treated. The fact is the city boundary conveniently cuts off most of the more affluent suburbs - massively distorting the picture of the city as a whole. Until these surveys are actually based on the whole conurbation - rather than nonsense government boundaries - they're meaningless. Saying Nottingham has really bad guncrime because of a few nasty gangs in inner city areas that most normal people don't even interact with have access to firearms is foolish. I was born in Nottingham and lived there for 18 years, and still regularly go back to go out in town with friends- and have yet to see a single person with a gun, period.

I used to travel a lot with work - and have stayed in some seriously dull godforsaken places compared to which both Nottingham and Hull are absolute paradises.