Updated 10:59am 11 February 2012:

Get involved

RSS news for you
Send your stories

Powered by Google

Nicholas Craig

Nicholas Craig

We must not kill the thing we love

HADRIAN’S proving a huge hit at the British Museum. Television documentaries and a film being shot by John Boorman reinforce the mass media’s current fascination with the emperor’s extraordinary life.Read

North needs funding, not relocation

WHAT a wind-up. What a result for Policy Exchange. The mass migration to the spacious South East which the think-tank appears to recommend is doomed to failure.Read

High cost of homes drive talented people away

THE fastest-disappearing breed in the North East is the first-time house buyer. They’re more difficult to spot because so few can now afford to be seen climbing on to the property ladder.Read

Let’s have a campaign to revive YES

THE long-awaited opening of the Beijing Olympics takes place today. It will be an astonishing, jaw-dropping event. The Chinese are determined that it will outshine all previous opening ceremonies.Read

Public art is great: this bridge wasn’t

FAITHFUL readers of this column will know that I hold much of the region’s cultural offerings in high regard. We are rich in talent, venues, imagination and diversity.Read

Beware the thundering hooves in the east

ACCORDING to top-rated economists Goldman Sachs, the UK will be the world’s richest country in terms of wealth per person in 12 years’ time.Read

Football flop has made us healthier

SOMETIMES an armchair close to a television is the best location from which to enjoy sport at its best. Wimbledon’s Nadal-Federer match and the Lewis Hamilton win at Silverstone last weekend were phenomenal viewing experiences.Read

Tradition that serves the region well

IT’S the season for shows. Not the musicals, but the proper, annual, outdoor ones. Our county shows, fairs and festivals are so well entrenched in the North East that we often take their presence for granted.Read

Soldiers face new battle in civvy street

SOLDIERS are a significant part of North East life. This month, with hundreds of military reservists celebrating the Territorial Army’s 100th anniversary on Tyneside, and marking the tragic deaths in action of Private Nathan Cuthbertson from Sunderland and Corporal Sarah Bryant of Cumbria, soldiers are more high-profile than ever.Read

Times are getting hard

BANKRUPTCIES in the North East have soared to seven times the national average this year.Read

Are you Facehooked?

Social networking has caught on so much that some employers have been driven to ban sites such as Facebook and MySpace from employees’ computers. They claim that £130 million is being wasted each day because of their popularity.Read

Let’s focus on our natural and historic attractions

I’VE been seeing stars. I was invited to a fascinating astronomical event – the launch of the Kielder Observatory – at the aptly-named Black Fell. Northumberland has some of the blackest, unpolluted skies in the UK.Read

Life goes on with gap years for Grumpies

I’VE been reading about Gaps for Grumpies. The ethos suits me down to the ground. It’s a volunteering and holiday package from which the under-40s and Peter Stringfellow wannabees are banned.Read

With our rail travel, it makes sense to reach for the sky

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm.Read

Value of apprentices highlighted

THE first national Apprenticeships Week took place recently. My usual scorn for manufactured ‘weeks’ to garner publicity is missing on this occasion. Apprenticeships are a great way in which to learn a profession or trade, and are in need of a year-long spotlight to reveal their value.Read

People are the region’s best advert

We may not be so passionate in the near future. The Regional Image campaign which dreamt up ‘passionate places’ is unveiling the next phase of its marketing programme this month. As the focus is moving towards business and innovation those places of passion may cool.Read

Nicholas Craig, partner at Watson Burton

Auschwitz visit is not for the faint-hearted

I SEE pickled cucumbers in an altogether new light. I have just returned from a week in and around Krakow, living life as a communist, being driven in a Trabant, visiting Nova Huta and seeing the horrors of Auschwitz, all in the company of a bizarre, larger than life guide intent on revealing the “real” Krakow.Read

Nicholas Craig column

I'm delighted the North-East is bidding to become a green energy capital. It's even better to hear of the launch of the Evopod - a tidal turbine prototype created by a North Shields company, and TidEl, produced at Wallsend.Read

Nicholas Craig column

The effects of top class sport and rich culture on a region are immense. They affect people deeply and resonate in the memory.Read

Nicholas Craig column

If it weren't for the energy of more mature workers who decide to stick it out at the office way past the age of 65, economic growth worldwide would slow to 1.7% during the next 30 years.Read

Author Profile

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm. Previously one of the leading commercial and corporate law partners with Eversheds Newcastle, Nicholas has particular inward and outward investment expertise. He also has unusually broad experience of acting for clients with interests in the Far East and Asia, and decided to join Watson Burton LLP to broaden the development of his interest in inward and outward investment.

nebusiness.co.uk - business news and financial news from across the UK. Updates on local businesses in Newcastle, Middlesbrough and the North East, farming, technology news and sector reports. For our complaints procedure, click here.