There was some concern expressed last year, after Bradford Festival had come "under new management", that it didn't match some of the previous ones in size and scope. Even allowing for the fact that some of the criticism came from loyal supporters of the former festival team, there was a degree of justification for those claims.

However, to be fair, the new organisation running the festival did take over at short notice. They have now had time to take opinion on board and learn from any mistakes they made as they plan for the future. And for this year those plans are impressive.

The Bradford International Festival will run over 11 days in June, include at least 200 events and involve more than 350 professional artists, 130 performing companies, 80 community groups, 40 schools and hundreds of children. We're promised that it will be bigger and better than ever, with a good mix of home-grown and "bought-in" entertainment.

Yet even this is expected to be only a stepping stone towards the festival that Bradford deserves. The best is yet to come as each year builds on the success of the last.

It is something well worth supporting. Not only will the many events provide Bradford people with some first-class entertainment over the best part of a fortnight. They will also give a major boost across the country and indeed around the world to the reputation of a city which aspires to be acclaimed as a centre for culture and the arts in general.