Lessons to be learned

Belated congratulations to English Teacher for their Mercury Prize win. I may have been a bit lukewarm about their live show, but debut LP This Could Be Texas boasts plenty of quality beyond those stand-out singles.

As Laura Molloy has noted in an article for Dazed, the victory had significance beyond the band themselves. Shockingly, they were the first winners based outside the capital for nearly ten years.

Tracing how English Teacher managed to buck that depressing trend, Molloy writes: "The saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, but it often takes a city to forge a great band." The city in question - Leeds - has developed an ecosystem conducive to musical creativity and critical to English Teacher's success: accessible independent venues, a supportive local radio programme with clout (BBC Introducing West Yorkshire) and an array of funding and development organisations.

But, as Molloy notes, we shouldn't be too hasty in celebrating English Teacher's triumph with unalloyed delight. After all, each of those elements that make up the ecosystem are under strain in Leeds and elsewhere: financial support drying up, radio stations folding or being merged, grassroots venues closing down at an alarming rate. Molloy is right to end with a stark warning: "[I]f our music scenes continue to be an afterthought, both by the government and the wider industry, we may be waiting longer than a decade for the next winner outside the M25."