Last week, various jobsworths from Bradford Council were quick to take credit for Saltaire's uniqueness. The truth is that if its fate had been left to local politicians over the years, there would have been little left to admire.

When textile production ceased at Salts Mill, the village was in danger of falling into dereliction. The council were worse than useless. The village society accused them of leaving the great mill to rot, along with Saltaire's other public buildings. The Department of Transport wanted to put four lanes of highway through the village. Only the efforts of local people helped to defeat that idea.

When Illingworth Morris decided to sell off the mill, it was offered to Bradford Council with a 25-year lease but the council wasn't interested. There was a danger of the whole village falling into total decay. But cometh the hour, cometh the man: enter Jonathan Silver.

He was a visionary entrepreneur, artistic genius: a wonderful mixture of practicality and wild imagination. The fact that he was answerable to nobody, and need have no truck with councils or committees of consultants, meant that he was able to transform Salts Mill into an enterprise of international status within eight years.

The other great figure associated with the Salts revival was David Hockney, a long-time friend of Silver's. Starting with 55 pictures, the Hockney gallery was born. Now thousands of visitors every year come to enjoy it. But Salt's is not an arts centre or a museum. It is also now a centre for microtechnology with the advent of Pace Microtechnology and other enterprises. Prince Charles said it was wonderful to see a high-tech business located within a 19th century mill. Commerce and culture are combined in a way that is a permanent memorial to Jonathan, who tragically died of cancer at the age of 47.

From being a stagnating backwater, Saltaire Village blossomed from its association with the mill. The council, in all its forms, will doubtless try to take credit for it. But, if Saltaire had had to rely on them, it would now be derelict.

The council's contribution to Bradford was to ruin the city centre, ripping out fine old buildings.

The story of Salts and Saltaire makes one realise the debt we owe to gifted individualists like Jonathan Silver – and his old sparring partner, Sir Ernest Hall, with the Dean Clough Mill at Halifax. They are the modern-day equivalent of Sir Titus Salt. Britain should cherish such men.



ANOTHER record crop of GCSE results. Does this indicate dumbing down? Not a bit of it, says the Schools Minister, Lord Adonis: "All students can achieve good grades."

He produces the barmiest argument yet by comparing the results with the Olympics. "In Beijing, world records are being broken in quick succession, with previously unattainable standards becoming the norm. Success at school, too, is becoming the norm, not the exception," he said.

If the Olympics were run in the same way as our education system, competitors from underprivileged backgrounds would be given 10 yards start. The way state schools lag compared with independents is a scandal. Nor is it a case of smaller classes or better teaching – some of our finest teachers are in the state sector. By denouncing selection as a dirty word, Labour has well-nigh wrecked education.

The war against selection began with the destruction of the grammar schools. Until then, the grammars were wiping the floor with the public schools. One London grammar school which included many youngsters from families who had fled Nazi Germany had the most spectacular record in the country. Now it only gets into the news because of crime and vandalism.

A grammar school from a small Yorkshire town had not one but two Nobel Prize winners in science, both taught by the same teacher at different times. What kind of mentality would want to destroy such a school? Yet the destroyers are still up to their tricks, as with the grubby campaign against Ripon Grammar School and the other remaining standard bearers. Why do these people hate excellence?