Bill Midgley column

Jul 8 2003 By Bill Midgley, The Journal

Once upon a time a group of prominent individuals formed a committee and decided they would set up an exhibition to demonstrate the wealth and energy of their own country to the rest of the world.

The committee included a Prince, a Prime Minister, a past and future Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, assorted Peers of the Realm, and what may be described as "eminent individuals".

That committee first met in January 1850, and on May 1, 1851, the Great Exhibition opened.

A huge hall was built in Hyde Park, choosing from 233 different designs, and between its opening and closure in October of the same year, over six million people had visited this great demonstration of the industrial might of the United Kingdom.

Compare that with today. The Millennium Dome was a farce, in spite of the money spent on it and the years it took in planning and building. We seem unable to produce a national sports stadium worthy of a country which boasts the fourth largest economy in the world.

To bid for the Olympics seems far too hopeful given our facilities.

There is a great danger in looking back and seeing everything through rose tinted spectacles, but nevertheless the ability which previous generations had in thinking in straight and clear lines, making decisions and acting upon them, is a talent which we have lost.

If we were to attempt to establish even a small exhibition these days, and I am thinking no more than on a regional basis, it would be subject to the scrutiny of committees, to public hearings, and long debates, before there would be any thought of any agreement being reached.

Particularly, and this applies to the North-East, there would be sub-regional jealousies to dispose of with far too many local authorities seeking to host such an exhibition themselves rather than considering what may be best for the region.

The planning process would take years, which would, I concede, keep a whole host of experts in highly paid employment, but would do little to improve the final result.

Far-fetched? I think not. It happens time after time. We have lost the ability to make things happen.

And those who do, which is often demonstrated in business, are viewed with suspicion and with a great deal of jealousy.

The gap between what happens in the public and the business communities seems to be ever widening. If business does not move forward, it fails. The public sector merely throws more money at the problem.

The real lesson to be learned from the Great Exhibition of 1851 was that everybody wanted it to happen. And among those "eminent individuals" that sat down with the Government of the day were a great many leading business figures. They worked in partnership, and that is the real lesson that has yet to be taken on board.

There is rightly great concern about future economic development nationally, and particularly within our own region.

Solutions will only be found in a real partnership of equals, not Government adopting and discarding the business community as and when it suits its purpose.

The business community has to learn it cannot always look at short-term gain and immediate returns to shareholders, but has to realise that a longer-term plan will benefit all businesses in the future.

It may be that it is the greed of business that has frightened away many local authorities and their Government colleagues.

The Victorians left us many things, not all good, but they did have that ability to "make it happen."