Birmingham received some good news this week, with the announcement that New Street station is to go ahead with the help of £388 million from the Government.
But even this is unlikely to end the lingering suspicion that the city doesn't always receive its fair share of resources and prestigious events, which are often directed at London instead.
For example, Birmingham went up against Greenwich, London, for the right to host the Millennium exhibition - and lost.
Instead of a West Midlands event at the NEC, boosting the nation's leading conference venue, Britain instead received the white elephant of the Millennium Dome, now named the 02.
But part of the package was a massive regeneration programme for the Greenwich area.
Later, Michael Heseltine, the former Deputy Prime Minister, admitted the contest had been rigged. Although Birmingham had been encouraged to throw its hat into the ring, he had privately decided from the start that the exhibition would be held in London.
It was a similar story more recently, when Birmingham drew up a bid to build the new national stadium to replace the old Wembley Stadium Cabinet ministers encouraged the city to submit proposals, but it eventually emerged that the Football Association, which had the final say, wanted a London stadium from the beginning.
It seems Birmingham had been used by senior Government figures as a way of pressuring the FA into getting its act together.
Then there was the bid for the 1992 Olympics, which eventually went to Barcelona.
Of course, many great cities always bid for the Olympics - and most have to lose.
But there was never a sense that the great and the good got behind Birmingham's bid in the way they did for London's plan to host the Olympics in 2012.
London can now look forward to billions of pounds of investment, thanks to its role as an Olympic city. This money, being poured into the East End, will pay for regeneration projects which are described as the Olympic Legacy.
But the truth is that they are not needed for the Games and could have taken place just as easily without the Olympics.
They are certainly not paid for by the Games. While Londoners will have to pay a premium on their council tax bills, most of the cash comes from general taxation and from the National Lottery.
In other words, the Olympics is being used as an excuse to pour billions of pounds of national money into the capital.
Finally, what about New Street? It's superb news that the rebuild is going ahead.
But London is to benefit from the £800 million rebuild of St Pancras, the £3.5 billion Thameslink upgrade and the £16 billion crossrail scheme.
It does sometimes appear that London has far more clout with the people that matter than the West Midlands.
