“Genius is not bound by geography”
Academic recruitment, roads, films, jobs and big cats
“Genius is not bound by geography,” says science minister Lord Vallance…but it doesn’t travel north of Birmingham apparently.
Of the 12 institutions chosen to deliver the Global Talent Fund, none are in England north of Birmingham.
The programme is designed to bring 60-80 researchers into the country to support innovation in areas related to the industrial strategies main pillars.
The pot of £54m will be shared between the universities and centres, which include both Oxford and Cambridge…actually, there are two locations in Cambridge, as there’s the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology too.
I don’t think the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge struggle to attract talent. And even if they did, I don’t think they need a few million to solve that problem, given Oxford and it’s colleges have endowments worth £8.3bn, and Cambridge £2.6bn.
Chi Onwurah, who as well as being a Newcastle MP, is also chair of the relevant Select Committee is quoted in the Guardian piece I link to above, calling the decision “neither evidence-based policy nor place-based policy” and has asked for clarity.
The Northern Mayors have asked for a new funding model.
Maybe academics are scared of lynx?
There are plans to reintroduce the lynx into the UK in Kielder Forest.
It’s a move welcomed by 72% of those consulted, with the introduction of 20 lynx expected to lead to a sustainable population of around 50 over the course of a few years.
Kielder was chosen for the modelling and the consultation because large, dense forest is hard to find in the UK, but is what lynx prefer, and is the habitat they’ve been successfully reintroduced to in various European nations.
I like lynx, they have cool ears.
And I’m excited by the prospect of some new folklore emerging relating to sightings of the giant Kats-of-Kielder.
But they won’t arrive in Northumberland by dual-carriageway
The Government have formally revoked the development consent order that was in place for the A1 dualling between Morpeth and Ellingham.
They announced back in October they wouldn’t be backing the scheme, but this confirms that.
They are instead looking at alternative solutions to the issues the A1 faces on that stretch (Lay-bys for the tractors? A monorail? Moving Alnwick closer to Newcastle?) because the cost of dualling has gone from £290m in 2014 to half a billion today.
Probably should have done it ten years ago then, eh?
Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.
No backing for the A1, but ‘full backing’ for the Crown Works film studio.
The Prime Minister was asked about the project, and said “let me be really clear on this because I know it really matters” before saying something really quite vague about ‘working very closely’ with the North East mayor to secure private backing for the studios.
This is obviously better than not backing it, but it would be nice if backing it involved some more cash…
Jobs figures
Nationally the jobs story has been about a slowdown in the labour market, as vacancies have fallen - down 5.8% on last year.
We don’t get regional vacancies data, so we have to rely on the current (i.e. past, these are from June) stats not the ones which point to the future.
The North East’s unemployment rate is down 0.3 percentage points in the latest figures, at 4.8%.
The employment rate is up 0.3pp to 68.2% (we’re now about 3.5% adrift of any other UK region or nation), and inactivity fell 0.2pp to 28.2%. That’s nearly 8% above the English average.
Congratulations to Chris Owens
My pal Chris, who you’ll all know from Pattern, has been shortlisted for the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.
His photo of Abe, an 11-year old ballroom dancer, will be part of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
The Chronicle have a lovely write-up of it, including the portrait that done it.
Getting in touch
Hope you’re all enjoying the summer.
I’m booked up into September, but I’m now putting work in into October and beyond.
If I can help with anything you have on your radar, get in touch on arlen@arlenpettitt.co.uk.
A great piece of analysis about the Talent Fund and its distribution. Another black mark against a government which seems to fail at every turn.🐰