Hey ho - the daffodils are out , the clocks are about to go forward ( or is it back ?) and there's a bit of an argy bargy about which is the second City in England. These each seem to be about as regular an occurrence as the others, don't they? The latest flurry was provoked by a couple of TV programmes made by Evan Davis and had no less an authority than Sir Simon Jenkins, former editor of the Times, chairman of the National Trust and general all round panjandrum throwing in his few guineas worth behind the cause of Manchester.

However the excitement over the issue did give me something to think about as I was driving up to Manchester the other day. The West Midlands, I pondered, is the only part of the UK with a positive trade balance with China; Birmingham Airport ( and Marketing Birmingham) have just got in ahead of the pack and persuaded a Chinese airline to dip a toe into the water and bring some charter business directly into the area. All good stuff.

Then why ( should that be why, oh why, oh why ?) do I have to make my way up to Manchester - or to London - if I want to get speedy turn around for the visa I need to travel to China. Being on just such a mission, I worked out three possibilities while making my way through the road works. First, the Chinese Government are conspiring with Evan Davis and Sir Simon to big up Manchester ( not plausible ?); second, the Chinese Diplomatic Service have always been dyed-in-the-wool Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays fans (any more plausible? ); third, it was just sensible to park a consulate half way up England (probably the correct answer ?)

Let's assume it's the last of these options. Now, I am no expert ( in fact on the very long list of things of which I am touchingly ignorant , diplomatic law is close to the top) but I am aware that the operation which actually receives and checks visa applications isn't technically part of the Embassy set up. So if there were demand for such a service in Birmingham sufficient to cover the costs ( which are charged to applicants) maybe it wouldn't be too difficult to get something organised - and the Embassy or their contractors should have full details of the numbers of Midlands based folk who are making use of the Manchester or London facilities for in-person visa applications. And as a general point I would observe that it was standing room only in the Manchester visa centre when I finally got there on Monday.

Because my own visits to China in the last few years have tended to be arranged at short notice, I have made a number visits to the application centres in London - and now Manchester - to progress visas more swiftly than the postal service allows. I have always found the staff to be most courteous and helpful. Customer service is pretty high on their list of priorities.

Nonetheless I always have a twinge of Kafka-esque anxiety when presenting a form to any bureaucratic organisation and that's compounded more than a little when it is to a foreign bureaucracy as dauntingly opaque as that of China. So as I push my papers and other documents across the desk in Manchester, I am half prepared for the sigh and sad shake of the head that presages the identification of an omission or commission on the form and the need to start all over again - possibly from home. But no - all is well . . . until, just as the final stamp is to be administered, the sigh and the shake of the head manifest themselves.

'The photograph on the application form - it is the same as the one on your passport?'
'Yes' ( to myself - isn't that the point of them ?)

'But the passport was issued in 2012 and the visa form requires a photo less than six months old. You will have to provide another photograph.'

You know, irksome as it is to admit it but in its own context spotting that is a bit of flair as mesmeric as anything Lionel Messi might produce. We sort it out through recourse to the photo booth at the back of the office.

But have to say It would all be a bit less stressful if the interrogation was fifteen rather than 100 hundred miles from home.

So, instead of agonising too much over the 'second city' title, maybe it's better to concentrate on the continuing brick by brick process of building ourselves a really international city. And being able to manage a visa process with our crucial new trading partner on our own turf would be a welcome step towards that. Surely ?