Dewsbury, a middle-sized mill town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was my home for 17 years. After I left I paid little attention to the town, though I've always come back to see my family. When people asked where I was from, I'd say it was a place called Nearleeds, because no one had heard of Dewsbury, unless they'd read Betty Boothroyd's biography or remembered who Eddie Waring was. But then the headlines started coming: the highest BNP vote in the country; the attempted hanging of a small boy; a 7 July bomber from Lees Holm. Each a surprise, and yet not.

LRB 17 November 2005 | PDF Download