But will it cost less than £6 per hour?
Archive for 16 January 2004
A fascinating essay in the Washington Monthly by Prof Richard Florida (sounds like a made-up name, but isn’t). In it he argues that the US is heading for long-term decline because it’s cutting itself off from the world, and more importantly the international talent that drove the success of the last 20 years or so.
On the face of it, it sounds a bit simplistic, but there’s a persuasive argument underneath. And it’s also gone part of the way to being able to understand the logic of projects like Leeds Media and eHQ Leeds – once you’ve got a critical mass of similar companies and like-minded individuals, you become a destination point for others in the same field and the environment becomes self-sustaining.
My scepticism probably comes from the involvement of people like Yorkshire Forward and Business Link, both of whom seem to prefer headline-grabbing press releases and “initiatives” to practical work, and have managed to employ some seriously-useless people. But if you accept the article’s assertion that Wellington is the next Hollywood, then there’s no reason why it couldn’t work in other places, Leeds being one of them.
