There is something special about Sunday Morning, The Sunday Times, hot croissants, with honey and butter rather special. Opened up my croissant to find a full apology from the Murdoch empire inside. Boy when those crisis management teams finally swing into action, it really is the full treatment. But why does it take so long?
Crisis management is straightforward. Declare the enormity of the problem, apologise, offer damage control and damages, a full enquiry, new code of conduct and throw a few people out of the window. Simple.
It was not always like this. In the 1980s, you were trained never to admit the mistake and certainly never to apologise. Now it is appropriate to apologise for everything, from the treatment of the Aborigine to the Zulu. Over three hundred years of slavery and human misery can be atoned by a simple sorry. I think Mike Blackburn is missing a trick. As chairman of the new LEP, he should issue an apology to the people of Manchester for the Peterloo Massacre.
Back to the day job, Monday - internal meetings and a chance to meet up with Tim Roberts from i-com and a new member of the e-team. Tuesday was my first meeting of the Business Leadership Council. Really enjoyed the session, good presentation on transport policy, Sir Howard explained the partition of Warrington and the annexation of Daresbury working with Merseyside. This to be followed by a move on Cheshire and the incorporation of the Northern States of Nelson, Burnley and Colne. I think I have the gist of this. Mike Emmerich then explained the reorganisation of the Manchester family of companies. Marketing Manchester, MIDAS and the New Economy have become centres of excellence.
As two of the new members, Sue Woodward and I sat together. We had agreed not to join any sector working groups until we had settled in. A momentary lapse of concentration, a fiddle with the mobile was all it would take. Sue was co-opted onto the early years working group. As for me, it was already too late, I had been co-opted onto the Chris Oglesby working group in advance of the meeting.
After the meeting was a chance to catch up with Mike Emmerich. I had slipped on the Gulag to Glasnost chart with an ill advised, there is no such thing as market failure statement. This placed me on the interventionist landscape somewhere between Ayn Rand and Atilla the Hun, perilously close to the enemy of the people pen. A brief apology and slight recant and I have every chance of getting back into the New Economy Access to Finance working group.
Wednesday and the first meeting with Clive Memmott to discuss the SME club. Thursday a pre board meeting with Paul Lupton as the new chairman of pro.manchester followed by a great meeting to finalise details of sponsorship for SME club. Hopefully we will make an announcement following the board meeting next week.
Friday a few meetings and a chance to blog on economics. Florence Nightingale would say of hospitals, the first requirement is they should do the sick no harm. The same should be demanded of economists in relation to the economy. There is something horrible in the claimant count figures for June, the Q2 GDP estimate due shortly is going to look terribly weak. The trade figures for May confirm the march of the makers is failing to rebalance the economy towards net trade growth. No surprise there. In other news, CPI inflation fell slightly but CPI-MK the MPC favored indicator was on track at 2%.
Finished Afghantsy, The Russians in Afghanistan. It is a sad read. So easy to slice in topical headlines from the current adventure. The Russians announced a victory and left. They may have had the watches but the Taliban had the time, the chilling comment.
Congratulations to Pete (my youngest) and Kate (his partner) on the arrival of Joseph Michael a second grandchild. We wish them well. Hope all is well with all, more news next week,
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The views expressed are my own and in no way reflect pro.manchester policy. In no way should the comments be considered as investment advice or guidelines or reflect political bias. UK Economics news and analysis : no politics, no dogma, no polemics, just facts. JKA is a visiting professor at MMU Business School, an economist and specialist in Corporate Strategy, educated at LSE, London Business School with a PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University.
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