Please leave the North East alone Mr Osborne

George Osborne's failure to take responsibility for his actions is breathtaking. The withdrawal of public sector funding was disproportionally targeted at the North East, undermining any chance of a private sector revival. The abolition of One North East, the most successful Regional Development Agency in the UK was an act of vandalism that lost this Region a major driver for growth, One North East had a gearing ratio of 8 to 1 (private sector investment of £8 for every £1 of public sector money) and was delivering new jobs and opportunities up to the day the Tory's shut it down. The reality is that policy driven from London cannot appreciate the needs of the North East, or understand the economic infrastructure that is waiting to grow. The LEPs that they created to replace RDAs cover too small a geographic area to have any impact, and the decision by 7 North East Council's to merge these functions is an important step forward in freeing the North East from 'remote control' from London and creating an environment for innovation and growth. Mr Osborne, you are the primary cause of the economic woes of this country, having snuffed out the recovery with a string of ill-thought out policies that has delivered zero growth for 3 years. If you want to really help, then leave the North-East alone.

[in response to press release from Osborne stating that  more needs to be done for the North East]

No School for Michael Gove's Children

Being denied the right to go to school is something we oft think of as happening 'somewhere else'. The outstanding speech by Malala to the United Nations this week being a great exemplar. Yet it is happening here too, not by force of arms but by legislation. 120,000 children will be denied a school place this September because provision of school places has been thrown into chaos by Michael Gove. His neo-Stalinist desire to seize control of schools from local people has led to the replacement of School Organisation Plans that took account of local need and parents wishes, with a dogmatic driven desire to spawn academies and free schools regardless of the resultant localised over-provision. Thus we have the absurd phenomena of Free Schools opening around the country at great public expense, which are less than half full. Yet there are dramatic shortages of primary school places elsewhere. To hide this fact Michael Gove has used executive powers to allow schools to refuse admission to children seeking to start class on September 1^st of the year of the their 5^th birthday; a decision taken without Parliamentary approval. Far from seeing a growth in Localism, so trumpeted by David Cameron when he forged his coalition after failing to win the General Election, school provision has been centralised in Whitehall, with scant regard to local need. As a result £millions will be poured into empty schools that are not needed, whilst under-provision elsewhere will deny education to 120,000 children.

Regional Development Agencies are back!

The decision by 7 North East Council to merge to merge their economic roles is a ground breaking decision, which has passed unnoticed by the London based political elite. This is exactly the sort of innovative thinking that Eric Pickles has been calling for, so solid support from the Government should now be forthcoming. As well as economies of scale, the key Economic Development remit will pass to this new Regional Authority, enabling the North East to present a united message when seeking inward investment. Similar plans are emerging elsewhere in the country, with Leeds and Sheffield also looking to develop similar Regional structures to match Boris Johnson's London, and the major Metropolitan Regions of Birmingham & Greater Manchester. It is now widely recognised by industry, academia and Local Government that the abolition of the Regional Development Agencies was one of the Government's worst decision. Yet swathes of English Regional economic delivery organisations established by the RDA's survived abolition because they are successfully delivering badly needed economic development (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland's RDAs were not abolished). Now these successful legacy bodies are set to be joined by new Regional Authorities which will be accountable to local people via the ballot box.

The European Arrest Warrent, UKIPs gift to fugitives from justice

As Jeremy Forrest starts his 5.5 year goal sentence for child abduction, few in the media have highlighted that his speedy return to justice was thanks to the European Arrest Warrant. This is one of the many common policing measures that make our continent safer, yet are threatened by a vocal gaggle of Torys and UKIP, who seem to detest all things European. Clearly they view short term electoral popularity as a higher objective than citizens safety and the UK's security.

UK benefits from EU's science fund

Framework 7 (FP7) is the EU's little-known, but vital, science and technology programme.
Over the past seven years, a total of £42 billion has been awarded to international consortia to develop and bring to the market cutting-edge solutions. The UK is the second largest benefactor, after Germany, having secured inward investment from the EU's FP7 programme of about £800,000 per annum (representing about 12.5 per cent of what we put in to the EU).

The range of research is staggering and translating research into commercial realities is a key factor in all EU programmes. Perhaps the most ubiquitous example is the mobile phone.
The EU financially supported the European Telecoms Standards Institute (ETSI) development of the mobile phone standard. Europe led the world in commercialising this technology, creating hundreds of thousands of European jobs as a result.

In medicine, there are now a number of stem cell trials that could lead to new therapies for motor neurone disease, blindness and other diseases – in part greatly assisted by the EU bringing the continent's leading medical researchers together to collaborate on tackling major causes of disease.
Collaborative research into intelligent vehicles has been supported for decades by the EU and now we take these features in our cars for granted.

As finance for small businesses  dries up, due to banks not lending, and the abolition of the regional development agencies, the EU offers great opportunities for British business to seek financial support for innovation. In fact, over one-third of the funds from FP7 went to British companies and research institutes to support their investment into new technologies.

To walk away from the world's only international science and technology network is utter folly.

England's long relationship with Islam

In the 8th century much of what is now Leicestershire came under the control of one the Anglo-Saxon's era most powerful Kings, Offa of Mercia, who ruled from 757 to 796.
A significant find from this period can be seen in the British Museum, a gold coin with King Offa's head on one side and the Arabic inscription which roughly translates as: "There is no god but Allah and there is no other like him".
A lot of early English silver coinage also bore Arabic inscriptions. King Offa and the English were not Muslims, but it is strong evidence that England and the Islamic and Jewish world had strong cultural bonds and trading links from the very earliest days of English migration to these islands.
The English immigrants of the 4th century were denounced by Roman propaganda as Barbarians, but in reality they did in due course settle, intermarry with the indigenous Celts, and after the later French conquest moulded this country's language and culture into the foundations of what we now know as England.

Islam was present at its beginning, and has remained with us to today, adding to our language (alcohol being just one Arabic word), culture and, most important, science and trade.
The very pages of this newspaper are identified by Arabic not Latin numerals. None of this of course has ever undermined English identity or culture – it has merely enriched it.
Recently, however, the true Barbarians returned to the street of Leicester, in the form of the English Defence League. Their message of hate and intolerance has no place in English society, which has a world-wide reputation for tolerance.
The violence that always comes with the self-styled EDL speaks for itself. Meanwhile, the majority of the population of this great city, which is a shining example of cohesion, have with dignity and respect, reclaimed the flag of St George for us all, from those who have only brought it shame and dishonour.
St George is the patron saint of England and Istanbul, a modern link between our country and the Islamic world that brings us back to the beginning.
As the Arabic coinage of the earliest English kingdoms demonstrate, we have had links with the Islamic world for hundreds of years.

Michael Gove has gone 'Bonkeroony' - a new exam for mediocrity

Dumbing down our exam system by abolishing the rigour of modules and coursework will damage the life chances of our young people, undermine excellence, and damage our economy.

Modularity brings out specialists, with a passion for a subject. This is essential to support UK research & development. Instead we going to abandon support for highly gifted students, to be replaced by a single bland generalised exam structure. Clearly Gove has not consulted any UK universities, else he would have discovered that undergraduate courses are taught using a modular approach.

Coursework is rigorous, and requires students to deliver throughout their training and learning period. Simply regurgitating facts in a 2 hour exam is insufficient to demonstrate true understanding of a topic, and the ability to apply that learning.

As someone who both runs a small business and teaches part-time at an English university, my advice to young people is to ask to be entered into exams set by Scottish or Welsh examination boards.