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Wellstream success is worth celebrating

ON a day when it was revealed by The Journal that the North East exported £10bn worth of goods for the first time in the last financial year, it was fitting that Wellstream chief operating officer Chris Braithwaite was guest speaker at the North East Chamber of Commerce annual meeting yesterday. Read

Revised forecast doesn’t mean there’s a recession

IT is true, CBI are predicting the lowest GDP growth since 1992 in our revised economic forecast. However, let’s be clear – this is not recession – our best bet is still that there will be a measure of economic growth in 2009. Read

North is leading the way

THE North East is leading the way in providing opportunities for young people to take up apprentice placements. Read

It’s crucial to continue investing in skills

WHEN the economic climate is tough, the first two budgets to get slashed are marketing and training. Read

University talent shining through

DURHAM’S historic town hall provided the majestic backdrop yesterday for a landmark moment for one of the region’s most exciting and innovative companies. Read

Are we getting in too deep with the surfing?

THE widespread availability and use of internet has revolutionised the way many of us work. We can access our emails from almost anywhere, conduct virtual meetings and have access to huge amounts of data often for free, 24 hours per day. Read

Tough line on pay angers staff

THERE was doubtless a feeling of relief in government on Friday when the result of the Unison health service ballot on their pay offer was accepted by a significant majority Read

Heading in the right direction

AS consultation periods go, the one ending on the 20th of this month is one of the most significant in recent history for the regions. Read

Few signs of investors capitulating

FOR most of the past year, riskier assets have been under pressure, as the US sub-prime crisis and toxic financial over-engineering sent shock waves through markets. Read

Undesirable echoes of Rock reporting

PERHAPS I’m just a paranoid Northerner, but I couldn’t help feeling that the television coverage of the Bradford & Bingley profits warning this week had undesirable echoes of the patronising style of reporting which was so prominent during the Northern Rock crisis. Read

Are you losing out on your petrol claims?

In all of the column acres of opinion and comment on the increasing fuel prices there is one issue that has been given little if any coverage, yet it it affects the majority of those individuals who have to make their vehicles available for the benefit of their employer. 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

Timing is everything – so it seems

I HAVE a knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We once went on a family trip to New York, to find we had booked the St Patrick’s Day weekend. Read

Flexible working is good for you

I remember seeing a movie once about time travel. It was Woody Allen who travelled into the future to find people gorging themselves on cream cakes and red meat whilst washing it down with plenty of alcohol and finishing off with a cigarette. He was of course horrified at this unhealthy behaviour until, to his delight, they explained that in the future scientists had discovered it was all very good for you! Read

We must treat all workers more fairly

A COUPLE of weeks ago the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employment highlighted that around 100,000 workers in the North East were in “vulnerable employment”, many of these were in temporary contracts or employed through an agency. Read

Diversified economy is region’s strength

IT is nearly two decades since the government of the time designated an unremarkable 125-acre greenfield site on the outskirts of Sunderland as an enterprise park. Read

Changing times for local government

THE world of local government is sometimes viewed by business as one where change happens at the speed of a steamroller conducting a three-point turn in a terraced street with the handbrake on. Read

Kevin Rowan, regional secretary, Northern TUC

Time we all curbed bad employers

THE TUC has recently published the first report of the Commission on Vulnerable Employment. The North East has one of the highest proportions of vulnerable workers, almost 100,000, or close to 10% of those in work in the region. Read

Stating the obvious

THE other week I made some comments about the odd language our councils use when they talk about the blindingly obvious. Read

How migrant workers have helped us all

LAST week’s report from ippr, Floodgates or turnstiles? showed that around half of migrant workers that have come to the UK since 2004 have already left, most returning to their home country. Read

Associated Partner

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North firms vie to connect across the pond; Microsoft leaders in thrall to Northern expertise; Businesses urged to join Fast 50 showcase.Read

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