Poles apart
A tale of two towns provided a very interesting and very long (but worth it) read in The Telegraph - a comparison between Gliwice, once part of Poland’s rust belt, and Darlington, which has similar industrial roots
“While change in Darlington has been slow, fitful and often for the worse, in Gliwice it has been fast, forceful and positive,” say the authors.
When Polish workers flocked to the UK in the early 2000s, British living standards were more than twice as high as Poland’s. Today, Gliwice’s residents are 45% richer than those in Darlington, and Britain’s advantage has shrunk to just 16%.
Gliwice has drawn a new lease of life from start-up industries such as IT, aviation, defence and space. It has revitalised its housing, public spaces, and local businesses. Cafés and social hubs have replaced dingy bars.
And Darlington? It has not been singled out by The Telegraph, just used as an example of what they say is Britain’s relative stagnation.
Nick Gray, a research fellow at Teesside University, was quoted in the article. He later said on his LinkedIn: “I’m briefly in it, being miserable, but – honest - I was mostly positive.” His post drew a comment from another interviewee, Rachel Anderson from the North East Chamber of Commerce, who said: “Yes, I was a lot more positive as well but there has been some cherry picking to suit the narrative.”
Despite that, the article is well worth a read when you get a spare 15 minutes - if only to see The Telegraph print that one of the ‘five Es’ behind Poland’s growth story is - “Europe”. You can access the article here.
Another interesting aspect to the article is the collaboration between academia and business. The Silesian University of Technology introduced “dual study” courses - companies get access to a pool of talent, while Gliwice gets to retain skilled, well-paid workers who might otherwise move to Warsaw or overseas.
Over budget
Is there any point in saying too much more on the Budget right now? It’s been talked about and analysed so often and for so long before it was even announced (prematurely!). There will undoubtedly be more to pick on in the coming days.
The scrapping of the two-child benefit cap is a big deal for this region and mayor Kim McGuinness hailed it as “a major victory in our fight to end child poverty in the North East.”
Blyth and Ashington MP Ian Lavery was understandably elated at the news the Government will release £2.3 billion from the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme reserve fund and pay it directly to scheme members, backdated to November last year. And the announcement of £16m for a new STEM Centre in Darlington was undoubtedly good news for the region.
Mayors have also been given powers to introduce a levy on overnight visitors. Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen said: “There will be no tourist tax in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool for as long as I’m mayor. Thanks, but no thanks.”
Kim McGuinness takes the opposite view: “A visitor levy means we can enter a new era of regional events and festivals. This will create thousands of jobs, while attracting even more visitors to our unique world heritage sites at Hadrian’s Wall and Durham Cathedral, our stunning coastlines and the iconic Tyne bridges and Quayside.”
Councillor’s debts to council
Property developer Barry Elliott, a Reform UK councillor in Northumberland, has been ordered to pay almost £40,000 worth of business rates and council tax debts to the authority he sits on.
He had applied to Newcastle’s Civil & Family Courts to have a statutory demand served against him by the council set aside. He told the hearing he was not seeking to avoid paying due taxes but disputed some of the figures.
The Blyth councillor’s appeal was dismissed by the district judge who granted the council permission to pursue a bankruptcy petition against him.
Last week a BBC investigation reported building companies owned or run by him have been ordered to pay £140,000 to three customers. They had all agreed to buy bungalows but pulled out following major complications, broken promises and delays, they said.
Better late…
A few months later than expected, the High Streets Commission launched by North East mayor Kim McGuinness met for the first time in South Shields yesterday.
With TV architect George Clarke as ambassador, the panel of experts have been tasked with identifying a handful of locations suitable for substantial public investment that would stimulate private sector funding.
The group’s co-chair Andrew Haigh, chief executive of Newcastle Building Society, said the commission was “not about coming in and putting a lick of paint on something, it is about changing the economy and changing how we see the high street”.
Computer says ‘no’
The future was looking bright for Tyneside-based robotics company Wootzano, founded in 2016 by Atif Syed, whose sensor technology allows for the delicate handling of fresh food.
It exports robots to Japan, Australia, Malaysia, and the US. It employs a skilled team at Cobalt Business Park in North Tyneside. It has £570m of contracts on its books - but it faces being liquidated today after a petition from the Government-owned agency Innovate UK resulted in its bank accounts being frozen.
Atif launched a £10,000 crowdfunder to pay for legal representation at today’s hearing in Edinburgh in a case which raises serious issues in the way Innovate UK carries out its mission to fund and support the development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services.
Honours at the double
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education are the highest honour you can get in further and higher education. They are part of the national honours system and awarded every two years after a rigorous judging process.
Only 19 were awarded this year - so take a bow Gateshead College and Newcastle University who are two of the recipients.
The university was awarded the prize in recognition of their research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and management of Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) over three decades.
The college was recognised for its unique PlanBEE apprenticeship programme which was inspired by Ryder Architecture who identified a skills and talent gap in the built environment sector.
College principal David Alexander broke the news on his LinkedIn. “What a way to celebrate Gateshead College’s 80th birthday this year,” he said.
“PlanBEE started in the North East back in 2016. The programme now operates in Manchester and London and has even expanded internationally with a partner initiative in Vancouver. Over 70 businesses have supported us and 98% of apprentices have gone on to great careers in the built environment.”
New inquiry
A long-delayed investigation into the leadership and culture at Newcastle City Council is now expected to begin before the end of the year.
The Labour and Lib Dem groups had voted in favour of an independent inquiry in December last year but it was decided to hold off until the outcome of a separate investigation into allegations of bullying made by senior official Michelle Percy against former leader Nick Kemp.
That took nine months to conclude that Councillor Kemp did not breach the council’s code of conduct. Does anyone want to give odds on how long this inquiry will take?
GoFaster
Farmer Jen Johnson lives 10 miles from the nearest pint of milk. She has become GoFibre’s most rural customer to date as the rollout of the Government-backed ultrafast, full fibre broadband connectivity was completed in Teesdale.
More than 8,000 premises have been connected. “Before GoFibre, I’d have to drive to a layby several miles away just to get enough signal to do business calls or send invoices from my phone,” said Jen. “It’s turned what used to be half a day’s job into a few minutes and that’s priceless when you’ve got livestock to look after.”
£1 for £1.2m
A family gang of professional touring burglars who stole more than £1.2m from three houses in the North East - including the home of former Newcastle striker Alexander Isak - have been ordered to pay back £1 each following a proceeds of crime hearing at Newcastle Crown Court.
On the record
Newcastle has had the MOBO Awards and the Mercury Prize - now plans to convert a Grade II-listed building on the Quayside into a world-class recording and podcasting studio complex have been approved.
The building is owned by Live Theatre and will be run by music development agency Generator in partnership with Warner Music UK. It is expected to open in April next year.
Not that long ago, the venue next door was called Charts which would have been a lovely juxtaposition. It’s now called Chart House which dilutes the deliciousness a little.
A quick word
The new version of the Nissan Leaf, which goes into production in Sunderland next month, is one of 39 models to qualify for the Electric Car Grant scheme, offering drivers a £3,750 discount. Cleveland’s Chief Fire Officer Peter Rickard is being investigated after a formal complaint was made against him. An independent investigator is handling the case and the brigade says it would be “inappropriate to comment on specific details” while this takes place. Newcastle’s Discovery Museum has secured £193,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop a flexible space for holding bigger temporary exhibitions. Teesside is to become the only UK airport outside London to host Mavi Gok Airlines which will begin weekly flights to Antalya in Turkey, running every Wednesday from July until late October. easyJet is adding Wednesday and Saturday flights from Newcastle to Majorca from August next year. A sapling from the Sycamore Gap tree has been planted outside the entrance to Hexham General Hospital - the first of the 49 saplings to be planted in the North East as part of the National Trust’s Tree of Hope initiative. Northern Pride, the charity behind Newcastle’s Pride parade for 17 years, has ceased trading and handed over to Curious Futures. North Tyneside Council has paused plans to close Monkseaton Middle School and merge Langley First and Appletree Gardens First schools to explore “potential viable options” following a consultation.
Puffin count
The annual birdlife count on the Farne Islands has revealed a picture of winners and losers.
This year’s count on the National Trust’s Northumberland islands, an internationally significant sanctuary for the 200,000 seabirds that return each summer to breed, was vitally important given the islands’ three seasons of closure between 2020 and 2024.
Breeding pairs of puffins dropped 23% on 2024’s figures. But experts are cautioning against interpreting it as a sudden population decline, noting the need for long-term monitoring, as Tony Henderson reports for Cultured. North East.
Business bites
Gateshead-based OES Group, whose technology expands the lifespan of offshore wind farms, has won a £5.5m contract with a Belgian offshore wind farm specialist. Global operator LV Shipping has taken an additional unit at Infinity Park in Hebburn’s Monkton Business Park where it has had a base for several years. More than 260 companies registered their interest following a supply chain briefing event hosted by Tees Valley Lithium (TVL) which plans to refine lithium into battery-grade chemicals at a plant at the Wilton International site in Redcar from 2028. Prudhoe-based OpenWorks has strengthened its position as a leading developer of counter-drone and air defence systems after receiving two business growth grants through the Northumberland Small Business Service (NSBS). Despite a mild winter, Northumberland chemicals company Kilfrost, whose roots are in aircraft de-icing fluids, recorded a strong performance with turnover up and a doubling of profits. Construction work has restarted on the site of Berwick Community Hospital. Opus Building Services has been appointed interim contractor and has re-employed most of the team from Merit which went into administration.
1981 ad break
Some great shots of the Tyneside of old in this 1981 ad for McEwans Best Scotch which received a diploma in that year’s British Television Advertising Awards.
It’s back to the days of doorsteps getting cleaned and horse and cart deliveries, and features a young husband with his foot in plaster desperate to get to the pub for a pint before closing time.
THE WIDER VIEW
Pushed to the ‘cliff-edge’
It’s not the Horizon scandal - but it’s on that scale. Hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers will have their cases reassessed after a review concluded they had been left with huge debts because of government failure and maladministration.
The stress, ill-health and anxiety endured by carers who were pushed into debt and hardship by “cliff-edge” earnings rules emerged as a result of a series of articles in The Guardian over the past 20 months.
Many carers said they were harassed and treated like criminals by DWP staff. Hundreds were convicted of benefit fraud.
Welfare secretary Pat McFadden said putting right past failures was essential to rebuild trust with unpaid carers. “We inherited this mess from the previous government, but we’ve listened to carers, commissioned an independent review and are now making good for those affected,” he said.
No, Tesco hasn’t cancelled Christmas
Ever heard of media laundering? It’s where a fringe claim made by an anonymous account gets political validation, which gives news desks an excuse to ‘report’ on it, giving the narrative mainstream validation.
Emma Monk can tell you all about it in her Substack column Monk Debunks: Beyond the narrative. The case in point this week is Tesco, which was accused of cancelling Christmas.
Here’s how it went: A right-wing Twitter account posted a picture of some boxed Tesco Christmas trees that were labelled Evergreen Tree with the words: “TESCO ARE NO LONGER CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS! Their Christmas trees are now called Evergreen trees. Tesco do better.”
That Tweet had more than 3 million views when Emma began her investigation. It was retweeted by the former Conservative mayoral candidate for London Susan Hall, who added: “No, no, no Tesco, they are CHRISTMAS TREES!”
Hall’s quotes triggered an article in The Telegraph which generated a discussion on GB News then articles in the Express and Daily Mail - all including the claim that this ‘name change’ is Tesco trying ‘not to offend’.
Two days later, columnist Allison Pearson published a piece in The Telegraph, entitled ‘Why Tesco cancelled Christmas’. That’s media laundering.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, as Monk Debunks so expertly demonstrates, the Tweet that started it all was as close to the truth as Wile E Coyote was to catching the Road Runner.
The Evergreen Tree is part of Tesco’s luxury range of artificial Christmas trees. They all sit in the Christmas section in pallet boxes labelled “MERRY CHRISTMAS”.
And then they discovered Tesco’s top iced fruit cake…
Parlez-vous francais?
Learning another language may offer more than better holidays and smug bragging rights.
New research suggests it could help keep the brain younger for longer. Scientists looked at more than 86,000 adults across Europe and found that people in multilingual countries were less likely to show signs of accelerated ageing. Even better, the effect was strongest in people in their 70s and 80s.