The idea of boosting the number of Bradford "ambassadors" is an excellent one. The concept has already been pioneered successfully via the four people chosen two years ago to take part in a pilot scheme.

Their task has been to spread the good news about Bradford to the wider world via their network of contacts in their own specialised fields. Now the Council wants to increase their numbers to 50 local people whose job, as they go about their day-to-day professional duties, will be to help to create a positive image for their home city.

By the summer we will know who the 50 are. They have already been nominated by community and business organisations and by the Bradford PR Group. They must be committed to singing the praises of Bradford, and will be expected to move in influential circles and travel widely.

But the task of "selling" Bradford to the wider world need not be the exclusive domain of the great and the good. It is something that all of us could do when we are out and about, away from the city.

It surely is the duty of everyone who lives in a place not only to do nothing which will discredit it but also to promote its benefits to outsiders. Certainly, there are things that are wrong with Bradford. But let's keep them at home and whinge about them among ourselves if we must. There are things that are right with Bradford too. Those are the things we should be stressing to those who live elsewhere.

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