Doesn't she know we are a CITY ? Daft lazy stuck up cow ! Talk about never forgetting your roots.

Typical Guardian snobbery akin to the dross that Andy Wilson churns out. Its a shame that any outsiders reading that might think the only thing Wakey has got going for it is Jane McDonald and Rhubarb at which point I stopped reading the article.

I can think of a good place to stick the rhubarb what a silly cow

Oooh it does make me proud that I have never purchased a copy of the Guardian, nor will I ever!

The last bit that really gets me, sad cow...

Thankfully I think the bitterness in her 'article' is what people from outside of the city reading it will take from it. Personally I'm looking forward to the festival and the belly is rumbling already!

yeah me too, love Rhubarb, you ought to get the walks in Rhubarb triangle book and check out the Rhubarb cheesecake recipe , made it a couple times and its to die for. Just been looking at all the events for the festival and my mouth watering, maybe Wakey T have missed a trick by not having an element of the event there today, especially the Rhibarb Beer

btw appalled by the article in the guardian re the festival, the City and the way she mentions our team

Typical nasty, mean-spirited guff from an Uncle Tom Guardianista trying to ingratiate herself with her new posh friends.

As someone else has mentioned, at a time when small businesses are being asked to take up the slack in economic terms, a festival like this provides an opportunity for local businesses to showcase what they do in a positive way and potentially, grow their business; it's irresponsible for a journalist to denigrate that by sitting at her laptop and pounding out a load of innacurate, supercilious bile and it's even more irresponsible for the paper to publish it.

I'd encourage everyone to contact the Guardian and express their views - I will be.

I already have done.

Asked if am email mentioning her & this article is sufficient to count as an official complaint or if I have to request a form ect..

If I have to go down a specific procedure to complain about this article I'll post details on here.

Can we invite her to BV?

I will gladly build the stocks myself and supply any amount of various veg to pelt her with, what an utterly vile stuck up bitch, may she suffer with thrush till leaves this planet.

Where's the smiley hitting another smiley with a piece of 4x2 when you need one! This will have to do for now!

From an outsider looking in, in that I haven't lived in Wakefield for twenty years, I think Wakefield is doing pretty well. I live in a city that is extremely similar in terms of population size, industrial history, and administrative importance, and Wakefield beats it. Apart from the big cities, which are getting by on coffee outlets and fancy pubs, it is common to hear about town and city centre centres dying, with proper shops being replaced by poundshops and charity shops. Wakefield is just like everywhere else, but still it opened its new sy shopping centre, and the top of the precinct near the cathedral is still a glorious place to be on a sunny day.

She waffles on about Sandal Castle and the Chantry Chapel. I spent a lot of my childhood playing at Sandal Castle, and it is better preserved now than it was then, but she needs to learn her history. My understanding is that Sandal Castle was largely uncovered not long before the seventies, so rather than letting it crumble, the city unveiled it and preserved it for the city. What does she want: it rebuilding in breeze blocks?

The Calder bridge hasn't changed in decades, and so what does she expect with the Chantry Chapel? Blame whoever designed the access into the city all those decades ago, not the city now.

To me, the city has hardly changed, and that is no bad thing. Any problems it portrays in the city centre are no different to anywhere else in the country. It's a sign of the times. I can remember my mother doing the weekly shop in Hillards off Northgate. Who would go into the city centre to do any shopping now, other than for treats and browsing?

As for the rhubarb festival, if they were selling the stuff from little stalls in a twee little back street in Camden, with signs written in chalk, she would be cooing over it, waffling on to her mates about how authentic it is.

Your past is what makes you. The fact that she is ashamed of it tells us more of her own self-image that it does about Wakefield.

My message to her is this: I've written things that have been read by more people and in more countries than you ever have, and I'm proud to put Wakefield in my biography. It made me the person I am: a Yorkshireman who likes drinking bitter, who looks after his brass, and likes spending his weekends watching rugby league. I go to London sometimes and meet high and mighty types who I know will think I am an uncultured oaf, but you know what, I don't enjoy their company. They drink wine I don't understand, guffaw a lot and talk about rugger. I can deal with that. Why can't you?

maybe we should send a few of the boys round to have a word?

A letter to the grundian from the club wouldn't be a bad idea, "disappointed by the image portrayed of the club " and inviting the "journalist" to be a guest at a game to get a better view of the current position of the club.

Her mate probably got it up cheapside every Saturday night after coming out of rooftops and she didn't that's her problem

Kerching!