EVEN my breakfast table was shaking with excitement when I opened my morning Guardian and out dropped an eight-page supplement on the West Midlands.

It was headed by the familiar logo of Advantage West Midlands, the regional development agency.

At last, I thought, here was the Government paying for a marketing initiative to attract new investment, jobs and industries to our city.

I carried out some expectation management when I discovered that almost the whole front page was about Birmingham. Its car manufacturers were apparently celebrating a £19 million boost from Lord Mandelson.

We did get a mention at the very bottom of the page where it said: "Other unique selling points would include... the traditional skills of ceramicists in the Potteries".

Page two was altogether different and my heart leaped. Here was a beautiful full colour picture of the Staffordshire Moorlands.

Well, at least I thought it was until I looked more closely. Then I realised that it was, in fact, The Malvern Hills. Closer to Birmingham I suppose.

Never mind, the page also had views from business leaders "from around the West Midlands".

One of our entrepreneurs would surely be quoted here. Well, you guessed it, not a mention.

I won't go into the rest but, suffice to say, Birmingham Airport, New Street Station, the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone rail line, Warwick University, Birmingham Science Park, Stratford Theatre and Edgbaston cricket ground all figured prominently.

We got only one mention for having been the place that the Staffordshire Hoard went after it left Birmingham.

To say I was angry would be an understatement. Would I write and complain? I read some more and realised what a futile exercise that would be. The chairman of the new board responsible for this supplement had pre-empted my complaint. He said he had a single message of "pride and advocacy". We were told he "believes this can be best achieved by concentrating on the self-evident strengths of the region.... the tourist attractions that range from Shakespeare Country to Cannock Chase".

So that's us out. "The strengths of the region," he states. "Rely on the transformation of Birmingham".

This ignores the fact once the recession is over, developers will build in Birmingham without any need for public subsidy at all.

Most infuriating is the identity of this newly-appointed champion of our region. He is none other than Professor Michael Clarke, better known as the chairman of Stoke-on-Trent's governance transition board, which is supposed to be helping modernise the council.

He has already shown himself unable to persuade Government of the need to implement the most important of his recommendations on the number of councillors.

More importantly, Stoke-on-Trent needs to re-examine its relationship to Birmingham. We should tell Government we want to point north, not south. We should be considered for funding and regional development as part of the North West. We should join the success of Crewe and South Cheshire, nearer to us than Brum.

We should combine our traditional creativity to that of Manchester and ensure our people take advantage of the transport available to get us to Manchester much quicker than Birmingham.

As this costly supplement demonstrates, Birmingham has never been a friend of ours. It is time we told them the feeling is entirely mutual and we moved ahead with the North West.