Great Games in a great city
As we have imagined on behalf of Thomas Attwood
One of the definite highlights of my time at Paradise has been reclining in Chamberlain Square and experiencing the people of this good city milling around – and even occasionally sitting down and sharing their thoughts with me.
The venerable Mike Bushell, from the British Broadcasting Corporation no less, is one such example after he sat down next to me one morning recently to talk to a camera about all the sport that has been happening across the city in the past weeks.
The Commonwealth Games have really sparked the city to life and brought not just hundreds, but many thousands of people into Chamberlain Square every day. Some have sat and talked to me, some have not, but all have graced the air around me with their good humour and enthusiasm.
For the record, I am happy to chat with anyone who has the time and inclination to sit with me on my redoubt at the top of the steps leading to the Town Hall. You can also read more about my aspirations for democracy and free trade on the bronze sheaves scattered above me and engraved onto the nearby steps – I am much more than a one trick statue, I tell you!
Globalisation has helped realise many of the dreams I had two hundred years ago for expanding good wealth, health and opportunity to as many people as possible. Social capital underlines trust in our interconnected world, democracy and human rights, as the cornerstones on which we can move forward as human beings.
And nothing speaks to the ideals of our common humanity more than sport. With the Games in town, Birmingham has been thrust onto the international stage for all the right reasons. A wonderful celebration of people has enveloped the city, with events taking place from Smethwick to Edgbaston, Perry Barr to Digbeth.
This is a wonderful chance to build community right here in our own city and for us to all share in a spectacle that has been as special as it is unique (or at least from what I’ve seen of it).
The giant bull that graced the Alexander Stadium at the opening of the Games is now awaiting its fate – how wonderful it would be to see it remain in the city in some way. The bull is a prime example of how when people latch on to something they can turn an inanimate object into something else – a symbol of our city and of our story.
A bull is a strong, wilful creature that nonetheless also has capacity for grace and even vulnerability.
These small features of the city and its people can come together to create something bigger and better. If we work together enough, through a process of agglomeration, we become stronger than the sum of our individual parts and can have a disproportionate impact on the world around us. This is exactly what happened during the Industrial Revolution, when the collective efforts of individuals had a huge impact on the many and helped us get to where we are today.