The defenestration of Liverpool by Unesco reminded me of the story of Manchester being the only city to campaign against World Heritage Site status.

Usually cities mount expensive campaigns to be recognised as World Heritage Sites. They are attracted by the kudos and tourism that comes from being ranked alongside sites like the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal and the Pyramids. Indeed one of the criticisms of the process is that rich western countries with the resources to assemble expensive bids are over-represented on the list. Not Manchester, whose decision to opt out of the process looks to have been validated by the recent humiliation of Liverpool.

The World Heritage Site process involves each country drawing up a tentative list of possible sites. The current UK list includes Chatham Docks, “Darwin’s Landscape Laboratory” wherever that is, two monasteries in Jarrow and Wearmouth and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

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