Andrew Hebden

Optimism in the region

BUSINESS leaders in the North East insisted that the region was still seeing growth despite the widening effects of the economic slowdown. Read

We would like your views on Northern Rock

HASN’T all the coverage of the Olympics over the past few days been awful? I am sick of seeing happy faces beaming from our front pages, the headlines heralding the long overdue return of “GREAT Britain”. Read

Inflation proves worse than expected

IT took just 20 minutes for the first words of warning to filter through on the wires yesterday morning after the latest inflation figures confirmed what we have known for some time: prices are in danger of spiraling out of control. Read

Inflation proves worse than expected

Customer service at top of Sage agenda

GLOBAL software giant Sage has launched a new brand for its UK business as part of a major drive to boost customer service. Read

Economics will strike at football

AFTER a build-up that seems to have lasted an eternity, the waiting will finally be over for millions of sports fans in the next few days. Read

Lord Stevens, former Metropolitan Police Commisioner

Stevens will chair security business

LORD Stevens, the former Metropolitan Police commissioner, has revealed his ambitious expansion plans for a North East security business after buying a stake in the company. Read

STRONG CV

Lord Stevens served the police force for 42 years, culminating in his five-year spell as Commissioner of the Met, from 2000 to 2005. Read

Andrew Hebden, assistant editor (business), The Journal

The queues do not seem to be getting any shorter

IF we are witnessing the death throes of the cappuccino years – as the recent era of credit-fuelled spending has been dubbed – the demise of Starbucks may provide the subject of an appropriate epitaph. Read

This timing could be fortuitous

ALISTAIR Arkley and his nine unnamed associates who have just ploughed some £3m into a new fund for budding North East entrepreneurs may appear to be taking something of a gamble with the economy facing such troubled times. Read

A plan to mobilise the North’s rising young stars of business

AN ambitious plan to mobilise scores of bright young business talents from the North East to help drive forward positive change in the region has been unveiled. Read

POOR GROWTH PERFORMANCE

THE problems at Northern Rock, and Barratt Developments’ decision to move its head office to the Midlands, has robbed the North East of two of its highest profile plcs in the past 12 months. Read

Our success stories

IT’S fitting that today we are hailing the contribution of Nissan – officially the North East’s top company – to the region’s economy. Amid all the fuss over the R word last week, what better way to show the world that we are still very much open for business. Read

It’s time to club together

THE Journal and its sister title on Teesside, the Evening Gazette, are today unveiling plans for a new club for members of the business community in the North East. Read

High-profile casualties of market slump

Today’s publication of The Journal Top 250 companies has two notable absentees. Andrew Hebden reflects on how the credit crunch and the collapse of the housing market has robbed the prestigious listing of two of its best-known names. Read

Angus has his Hotel Chocolat but no plans to rest there

AS the son of Prontaprint founder Edwin Thirlwell and the grandson (on his mother’s side) of Ted Vardy, younger brother of Reg, you could say enterprise was in the blood of Angus Thirlwell. Read

1,000 jobs boost with pioneering partnership deal

MORE than 1,000 new jobs could be created by telecoms giant BT in the North East as part of a pioneering deal with a local authority. Read

1,000 jobs boost with pioneering partnership deal

MORE than 1,000 new jobs could be created by telecoms giant BT in the North East as part of a pioneering deal with a local authority. Read

It is hard to believe that we are not in a recession

EXACTLY how miserable do we have to be before we can officially say we are in a recession? Builders have stopped building houses, shoppers are deserting M&S and Gordon Brown is considering issuing ration books to stop us wasting so much money on food we can’t afford. Read

Author Profile

Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) at The Journal, responsible for overseeing the development of the paper's business coverage in print and online. He was previously Business Editor then News Editor at the Press and Journal in Aberdeen and Business Editor at the Telegraph & Argus in Bradford.