Gareth BethellSWINDON...AND PROUD OF IT: IT'S a sign of the times that when you meet American people abroad they'll often try to hide their homeland and say they're Canadian, writes Gareth Bethell.

The way they see it is a little white lie saves them from the constant abuse they have come to expect in recent years from those outside the good old US of A.

The way Swindon seems to keep coming in for stick I wouldn't be surprised if people in Toothill started saying they were from Tottenham and those in Covingham claimed to be from Coventry.

I could handle it when it was Ricky Gervais having a dig because you can't argue with The Office.

But when some little bloke called Wayne starts going on about ugly houses then it really is time to say enough is enough.

I was brought up in Swindon and on the occasions when I've lived elsewhere, in Lancaster and Leeds, revealing my home town has met with ridicule bordering on abuse.

But apart from the fact that they don't like Swindon there is little else the detractors can agree on such as a reason why.

Because the truth is most of those who criticise it haven't even set foot here, let alone lived here.

I'm proud to live in Swindon and I know there's far more to it than a few dodgy buildings.

So next time you're out of town, don't say you're from Wiltshire, or near Oxford, hold your head up high and spell it out to them.