Skip to main content

THOUSANDS OF WELSH JOBS SAVED

Yet another interesting omission yesterday by the mainstream press regarding the defence review and its effect in Wales.

While much of the focus was on St Athan, the UK Government also made the decision to upgrade the air transport fleet with A400M and A330 aircraft, replacing the Tristar and VC-10 from 2013.

So what effect will this have on Wales and the Airbus plant in Broughton?

Well, according to Mark Tami, Labour MP for Alyn and Deeside, thousands of Flintshire jobs could have been put in jeopardy if the Government had backed out of the contract as Mr Tami feared that the scrapping of the agreement could put future projects at risk.

In addition, the Flintshire Chronicle reported that, according to  Mr Tami,

“The A400M is the best product for our armed forces and for the British taxpayer. It will help ensure the UK aerospace sector has a strong and purposeful future. The Government should do what is right for Britain and back the contract.”

Can we therefore now see headlines such as:

"Thousands of Welsh jobs saved by Government decision to buy military planes" or

"Local MP welcomes UK Government decision to secure future of Welsh Aerospace industry".

I thought not.

Comments

Anonymous said…
fab. I imagine all the scousers who travel across to Wales daily will be immensely pleased. Meanwhile the passport office?

Popular posts from this blog

THE CRACHACH

Unlike me, do you consider yourself part of 'the establishment' here in Wales?  As thousands gather for the Eisteddfod in Mold this morning, they will, according to some social commentators, not be participating in the greatest cultural festivals of Europe. Instead, they will merely be bit-part players in one of the annual gatherings of the great and good of Wales.  Unkindly, this set of the movers and shakers in Welsh society is known as 'the crachach' , and constitute a social class all of their own, dominating the educational, cultural and media sectors of Wales and allegedly looking down upon any outsider with new ideas, reinforcing mediocrity and failing to see beyond the limits of their own narrow experience.  They are said to live in a comfort zone that awaits the expected invitation to the next glass of chilled chardonnay and canapés, forgetting that due to their lack of leadership and drive, Wales remains firmly rooted to the bottom of the UK prosperity league ...

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They ...

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MONITOR WALES 2022

How entrepreneurial is Wales? That is the question that the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) attempts to answer in its latest report which investigates those involved in early-stage entrepreneurship i.e. starting and managing a new business.  This year’s results show that the rate of total early-stage entrepreneurship (TEA) in Wales in 2021 was 10.3% as compared to 11.5% for the UK. This is significantly higher than the previous year (6.5%) and means that around 192,000 adults aged between 18 and 64 are involved in entrepreneurial activity in Wales.  Nearly three quarters are in the very early stages of starting a business and the rest involved in managing a new business aged between 4 and 42 months old.  This is an important finding as not only is the overall rate of entrepreneurial activity in Wales increasing but this is largely accounted for by those starting a business. In this respect, it is critical that the right support mechanisms are in place to ensu...