Awards remind us of North successes
May 5 2009 By Neil Warwick, The Journal
THE Commons vote against the Government last week was unusual. Perhaps what was more unusual though was that the vote centred on the right of Gurkhas to reside in the UK, indicating a lack of understanding of the mood in the country.
Most people could tell you that the "Boys’ Own Heroes", supported by Joanna Lumley whom the red tops label a "national treasure", was always going to carry public sympathy.
This, coupled with the scandal of MP expenses and a possible flu pandemic, makes some of the positive signs in the economy seem a far off dream, made ever worse by media obsession with wanting to continue printing bad news.
Recent articles in this column have highlighted that the North East cannot compare itself with the overall state of the national economy and the recent nebusiness awards dinner organised by The Journal and the Evening Gazette at Hardwick Hall was a useful litmus test to assess other people’s thoughts on how the region is faring.
Reflecting the economy itself in some ways, the event was more tightly run, ran to a strict timetable with fewer frills and Guy Browning provided an undercurrent of sardonic humour. All of this is not dissimilar to the way the North East economy is responding to the recession.
Lord Bates gave the keynote speech and opened with two great jokes about economists.
"There are only three types of economists – those that can count and those that can’t." "Economists have predicated nine out of the last three recessions!"
He was passionate about the need to be positive about the North East economy and felt the business awards demonstrated positive thinking about the region. With more than 800 people from the business community in attendance to celebrate the success of 40 businesses, sponsored by 20 institutions from the North East, this reinforced Lord Bates’s positivity.
There was a fair amount of gallows humour during the networking, but the fact remains that there were regionally, nationally and internationally regarded companies being showcased at what is believed to be the largest regional business final of its kind in the country.
The intention of this article is not to give a vacuous message that everything is all right. There is still a long way to go in the recovery cycle and it would be foolish to think we will return to the highs of 2006/07 quickly, if ever, but perhaps the North East is not performing as badly as the national picture paints.
Neil Warwick is partner and head of the Kudos department at Dickinson Dees LLP
