WE have a river, a cathedral and the finest cricket ground in the world. CrownGate is visited by shoppers from near and far, the Worcester Festival has become a byword for top-class entertainment, and Worcester Warriors have placed us at the centre of the rugby universe.

On the face of it, fortune does seem to be smiling on the Faithful City. Our profile has never been higher. Even those heady days when Beefy Botham was playing cricket with members of the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton could be found gigging at Martley pale in comparison to how it is today.

It is all the more tragic, then, that the old industries of Worcester are taking such a hammering.

The demise of Cosworths and Royal Porcelain were depressing enough. But just when you thought it couldn't get much worse, along came the grim news about Carmichaels.

Three great Worcester companies grievously wounded in little over the space of a year. And for more or less the same reason - foreign competition.

Whether it is cheap labour in the former Soviet satellites or the bear economies of the Far East, this country is fast losing the ability to compete.

No one in their right mind is going to suggest British workers' pay should reflect that of their counterparts overseas. It's wrong morally, and also economically.

Those who would argue such a case forget that people's spending power is the fuel in the engine of commerce. Low wages just mean a slow-down economy - fewer goods are bought so companies start to feel the pinch.

So what can we do? Well, it may be that Worcester has to grasp the nettle, accept that its manufacturing base is in terminal decline, and gradually move towards being a tourist city like Cheltenham or Bath.

We must build on the Worcester Festival, get it right with the boat and river festival, flog the Civil War links for all they're worth, and promote sport big time. The writing's on the wall. Worcester needs to diversify if it is to survive and not become a backwater on the River Severn.