In article , A H
wrote:
"Michael Bell" wrote in message
...
[snip]

Looking at that now, 15 million is probably a bit of an exagerration;
but it's certainly well over 10 million, I think more than 12 million.
That's still more than Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham
combined.

I'm not sure you're right there. As so often, it depends on where you draw
the boundaries. But the difference can't be large.


Capital cities are big because governments want them to be,
think how
Ankara grew from a small town to a metropolis when it was made the
Turkish
capital, how Moscow grew when it became capital after St Petersburg.

[snipped]

FEDERAL states (Germany, USA, Switzerland) do not grow big capitals, thouh
sometimes the capital was big before the federation was formed, eg Austria.

In the case of Scotland, Edinburgh is only the 'capital' due to an accident
of history....... The Scottish Executive seems determined to inflate
Scotland's 2nd city at all costs though.....

Glasgow (Scotland's largest city) appears to be a *major* irritant to the
Edinburgh establishment's plans for world domination (or at least, to their
version of Scotland)..

Glasgow was the second city of the British Empire, a big, interesting place.
Edinburgh is a joke 'capital' with ideas well above its (small) station.

The rivalry between Glasgow and Edinburgh is of long standing, bordering on
the destructive, just like between Liverpool and Manchester before John
Prescott got them to "sign peace", and Liverpool to acknowledge Manchester's
supremacy. As an Englishman I have no wish to get involved in the Glasgow -
Edinburgh squabbly.

Michael Bell
--