If I Was The City Of Manchester…
... (and please excuse me while I anthropomorphise)... I would be wandering around this afternoon behaving like a smug git.
Not explicitly because I'd just been awarded the prize of being picked as the location of this 'super casino' nonsense, though I suppose if I was Manchester and not me I'd probably think that was good in itself.
But the reason I'd be really smug is that every single TV and radio news programme this morning had (usually the same two) people from Greenwich and Blackpool on talking about the competition in distinctly two-horse-race terms, never for a second behaving as if any other competitor was even seriously worth discussing.
EDIT: And I'd be ever more smug once I read the kind of comments the people from Blackpool were making, which just ooze bitterness and envy:
"It is tragic. It is very difficult to see how they have drawn their conclusions," he added.
Previous assessments had put Manchester at the bottom of the seven bidders, while all local government bodies and regeneration agencies in the region had backed Blackpool, Mr Garrett said.
"It is a very strange decision. We need to look into the rationale. Manchester has come from nowhere. It was a real, real dark horse," he added.