The best of times, the worst of times…

Women

On occasion I do get the strange impression that I have fallen in to a deep sleep only to awake in an episode of ‘Life on Mars’ as it becomes evident that twenty first century progress simply hasn’t reached some key, fundamental areas of society that by now ought to have been well sorted.

This week a couple of things came to my attention that made me angry and somewhat baffled as I travelled around the various ‘Downtown Towers’ across the North of England, where businesses are finally celebrating the end of the long, hard recession.

The first was the issue of domestic violence. This is a taboo subject that I got involved in many years ago as a councillor when I was part of an ultimately successful campaign to establish a women’s refuge in Skelmersdale.

I saw first-hand the devastation to families that ‘men’ bullying and battering their wives causes, and it is an issue I have remained concerned about and interested in for over twenty years now. The shame is that there is as much need for the Refuge in Skelmersdale now as there was back in 1989; and that there still appears to be a reluctance of police, courts and politicians to treat the beating of women as a serious criminal act.

It emerged this week that a majority of domestic violence offenders are more likely to be given a slap on the wrist and community service than serve a prison sentence. This is just not good enough. If you beat a woman up then a jail sentence ought to be the automatic penalty. Repeat offenders should be jailed for a significant period, named, shamed and put on a public register that can be viewed by the entire community.

The recent ‘docudrama’ screened by the BBC ‘I was Murdered by my Boyfriend’ was the true story of a young woman who was beaten to death with an ironing board in front of her young daughter by the man who ‘loved’ her . This programme should be an essential part of the curriculum for teenage boys and girls at school. It really is time to start to take this issue seriously, raise awareness and educate. We need to be closing Refuges in the years ahead because the need for them should be redundant in a modern twenty first century society. Sadly, I’m not holding my breath.

The other issue that had me shaking my head in despair was a reminder, via a tweet from a Liverpool Labour Councillor, that UK Plc, which currently boasts one of the fastest growing economies on the planet, has to stock food banks in order for some of its citizens to get a decent meal. If that doesn’t make you a little ashamed to be British, I don’t know what would.

We can argue all day long about the ‘scrounger’ culture, which is largely a fictitious account of millionaire benefit recipients, usually Eastern European immigrants, peddled by UKIP and some of the more unscrupulous sections of the media. But do we honestly believe that in 2014 kids and pensioners should be having to queue up at nineteenth century style food banks? I think not, and again until this is tackled and a fair welfare system re-introduced, then we cannot truly celebrate the economic ‘miracle’ that we are apparently witnessing.

Of course there are benefit cheats, just as there are tax cheats. But just as we wouldn’t penalise every successful billionaire entrepreneur for the sins of a few, we shouldn’t penalise those who have unluckily and reluctantly fallen on hard times through unemployment, disability or old age. We shouldn’t – but we do.

To end on a lighter note, because it is Friday and I am generally an optimistic, happy kind of guy, there was one other thing that made me truly believe that I had slipped into a coma, been thrown in to some sort of time machine and transported to a time man (and woman) forgot.

The news that Everton Football Club had smashed their transfer record and spent a staggering £28million on Romelu Lukaku was a genuine ‘back to the future’ moment. The first time I remember Everton smashing not only their own transfer record for a centre forward, but the country’s, was back in 1974, when we signed Bob Latchford from Birmingham for £350,000! Or, put another way, for what Lukaku will earn AT Goodison Park over the next six week’s!

It’s a funny old world – but sometimes it’s serious.

Give Your Business a Boost

Boost Business Lancashire

During Downtown’s recent Lancashire Business Week there was much concern raised about the county being overshadowed by the Northwest’s big cities, Liverpool and Manchester.

In terms of profile, political influence and marketing collateral the ‘big two’ have a significant advantage over Lancashire and indeed the rest of the region.

However, the more entrepreneurial and ballsy members of Downtown relish that challenge, and rightly expressed the view that we should just roll our sleeves up and get on with it, because that’s what we Lancastrians do.

I can subscribe to that approach, but would also want to take this opportunity to remind the local business community that  if you are ambitious, and you do have genuine aspirations to grow your business, then Lancashire has something that is a far more effective business support initiative than anywhere else in the Northwest  – BOOST!

The growth hub that has been created by the Local Enterprise Partnership in association with Lancashire County Council is private sector led, easy to access, and offers the most effective business support tools to high growth businesses that are around.

As someone who is involved and aware of similar initiatives in Liverpool, Manchester and indeed Leeds, there is no doubt in my mind that Lancashire has got the business support model spot on – and has a programme that is way ahead of its city rivals.

Nevertheless, I still have businesses saying to me that they are struggling to find the necessary help, guidance and support to grow. My advice to them – and to you – is to do your business a favour and visit the BOOST website today. What have you got to lose?

The BOOST business hub services can be found at www.boostbusinesslancashire.co.uk.

The Big Partnership

Big Partnership

There has been much talk in recent weeks from government ministers, shadow ministers and political commentators about the creation of a Northern ‘super city.’

Evan Davies presented this solution to the growing North – South divide in his two part documentary ‘Mind the Gap’ earlier this year, and it is something that has been picked up by the chancellor George Osborne and Labour’s Lord Adonis who has the brain the size of the planet, in recent policy papers.

There is no suggestion that there should be any administrative governance arrangements for the whole of the region at this point; but clearly there has been a warming towards the establishment of city region or metro mayors. Scotland’s continued drive for devolved powers has no doubt impacted on the latest Westminster thinking.

But equally there has been a recognition that there is no sense in talking about bridging the economic gap between London and the rest of the UK unless you recognise the need for huge investment in big infrastructure projects north of the Watford gap, and that one of the essential ingredients for this to work is the need for the big northern cities to work in a more co-ordinated and cohesive way if those schemes are to be delivered effectively.

Business leaders are sceptical about the ability of politicians to put aside long standing city rivalries and parochialisms in order to create this new panacea. However, evidence on the ground is that there is genuine and positive dialogue taking place between Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.

This week Leeds chief executive Tom Riordan tweeted; ‘Very good meeting with Sir Howard Bernstein aligning Leeds & Manchester plans on HS2 and HS3. Transpennine working stronger than I have ever seen.’

Meanwhile, the chief executive of Liverpool Vision Max Steinberg announced last week that Liverpool and Manchester will be sharing a stand at MIPIM UK in October.

Conversations are leading to tangible actions and outcomes, and the ‘One North’ document that is due to be released on 5th August will further accelerate the process of the North working together in a far more collaborative fashion.

All of this is great news for the region, for the economy and for business. It is an agenda Downtown has been promoting for ten years. It is an agenda the North’s private sector should be vociferously welcoming and supporting.

Le Tour – what next?

Le Tour

There are many things that distinguish my home town of Liverpool from Leeds, and before you Yorkshire folk start quoting the fact that Leeds has the biggest professional services and finance sector in the UK outside of London; or that Leeds is the home of the most impressive talent as far as the health sector is concerned; or indeed that Leeds has a population almost double the size of its Merseyside counterpart, can I remind you that Liverpool has TWO Premier League football clubs, and both of them are competing in Europe next season!

On a serious note though, there are many similarities between these two Northern giants too. Both have fallen behind Manchester in economic and reputational terms and, albeit grudgingly, accept that we are playing ‘catch up’ with the region’s major powerhouse. Both Leeds and Liverpool failed to introduce a modern, twenty first century mode of travel in the way in which Greater Manchester has done through its super tram system, leaving Leeds to fight for a ‘Trolley Bus’ project, and Liverpool still searching for an alternative to its own failed tram initiative. Both cities have also successfully utilised physical regeneration to enhance their offer, most particularly, though not exclusively, through large scale retail developments.

Where Liverpool was slightly ahead of Leeds was in the area of events. Winning the title European Capital of Culture 2008 was its catalyst for a much stronger visitor and destination economy focus for the city, and since 08 Liverpool has hosted the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, hosted the world famous French ‘giants’ outdoor extravaganza and is currently the home to a seven week International Festival for Business which will be returning to Liverpool in two years time.

This will surely encourage Leeds to take full advantage of the Tour de France, which was so spectacularly and superbly organised across Yorkshire last weekend, and to begin to build a genuine legacy.

Things move so quickly now that the success of the Tour, however great it was, will soon be forgotten. Now we must move on to the next big thing for Leeds; find the next major event to host; cement the city’s position as a great venue for world renowned occasions.

I am sure Tom Riordan, his team at the city council, the inspirational Gary Verity and indeed Leeds & Partners are planning the next moves as far as a future events programme is concerned. I would simply urge them to engage with Leeds’ independents, creative’s’ and artisans, of whom there are many in the city, who can often bring a fresher more innovative eye to such things.

It is no accident that Liverpool built its success through the maverick figurehead Phil Redmond. Indeed twenty years ago a ‘posse’ of renegades that included Tony Wilson, Tom Bloxham, Colin Sinclair and Peter Saville formed the ‘McEnroe Group’* and were eventually engaged by the civic leaders to help shape Manchester’s future.

We need to use the Tour as Leeds’ catalyst as another great Northern events location. We need to build a legacy. We need to engage with the wider private sector across the city, those that are not necessarily ‘the usual suspects’.

*The McEnroe Group was formed by a group of independents and creative’s’ in Manchester following the publication of a blueprint for the rebuilding of the city by Manchester’s then regeneration agency following the IRA bomb of 1996. It was named the ‘McEnroe Group’ because they said the council ‘cannot be serious’ about those plans, which they believed lacked dynamism, imagination and ambition. Senior council leaders, to their credit, agreed, engaged with the underground Militia and twenty years later we can see the results.

Beware of over the top ‘spin’

over the top spin

Liverpool has enjoyed a fabulous seven weeks in the sun as the city has played host to the International Festival for Business. So successful have we been in the execution of what was a challenging gig, the government have announced that they will let us do it all over again in 2016. The ambition now, rightly, is that this will become a biennial event and IFB18, 20, 22, and so on will all be held here.

On the back of a ten year regeneration and renaissance that has included the total transformation of our world famous waterfront; the European Capital of Culture celebrations; the Liverpool One development; the establishment of a first class arena; a myriad of new, quality hotels; the Super Port; the giants and let us not forget, the return to Europe of our two Premier League football clubs, and it is absolutely right that Liverpudlians should be encouraged, confident and have a bit of a swagger.

However, a strong word of warning against this extremely positive backdrop. The city is at the start of a comeback journey – nowhere near at its end. The narrative we should embrace ought to be one of aspiration and ambition. We are aiming to build on recent successes after a generation of struggle. We want to be taken seriously on the national and international stage again and regain our reputation as a smart city that you can do business with. We want to attract more people – many, many more people to work, play and most importantly live here.

We are not, however, as some of the more over excited ambassadors for Liverpool have been increasingly claiming in recent weeks to delegates from all across the globe, the ‘best city in the world’. In fact, we are not even in the top 100!

A  city that has a much higher number of unemployed people than the national average, a startlingly low rate of business start-up’s, and a worrying skills shortage cannot and should not claim to be the best in the world.

Does the hyperbole matter? Well, in my opinion, yes it does. The biggest asset of any business, and of any city, is knowing your strengths, knowing your weaknesses, and being able to engage with potential investors in an honest and open manner that will get them to take you seriously.

Standing up and saying ‘welcome to the best city in the world’ may impress the indigenous business community, though my guess is not that many of them. To an international audience it is at best a bit of a joke; at worst over the top, unnecessary hype.

Liverpool has a huge amount to shout about. We should do that in an effective, consistent and realistic fashion – then we can continue the momentum and fantastic success that we have enjoyed during the past decade, carry on tackling the very real and serious challenges that we still face; and one day, maybe one day, actually be able to stand up and say ‘Liverpool is the best city in the world’ and be taken seriously.