Sunday 6 March 2011

Jog on

Wow, it's really been two months (ish) since the last meetup. That's really flown and we find ourselves on-top of the next one. A lot seems to have happened since the last time I ventured onto the blog. I never really know if there's any point updating this, but then I remind myself that it's one of the only times that I actually get to do some proper writing. I mean, usually, it's an email, or a comment on a Word document. Not some really,... prolonged... writing.

OK, so this isn't quite that, but I'll take it! As we crash into the third month of year we've seen a couple of changes of leadership in a variety of countries and we're in the midst of this Libyan thing. But in terms of overall controversy, we've had the ongoing MediaCity debate, key figures at the BBC opting (or still finding themselves undecided) to stay in their White City castle. March 31st should be an interesting day.

I'm going to allow a little self-indulgence at this point. Having been in London for nearly six years now , I think I'm fairly well qualified to consider myself integrated with this city. And, I have to say, that it's not all that at the moment. Sure, this is where the perceived "it" happens, this is where parliament is based, web firms flock here putting London on a similar pegging as the west coast US firms and increasingly those from Sweden etc etc. But there's something that everyone here seems reluctant to acknowledge, there's things happening up in Manchester. This isn't a back-water somewhere "up north" as the Evening Standard would have you believe.

Note this, the last few times I've been in the north-west, there is a palpable vibe - not just in Manchester, that's been there for years, but everywhere. It's more fresh than the staid agencies of London-town. To simply ignore this, for the short-sighted reason that your belief that London is the centre of the known universe, is fool-hardy. The two can work better together, it doesn't have to be one or the other. So please, stop painting the bleak, coal powered, vision of the north. It's old. It's been old for 25 years. I would strongly encourage those subscribers of WAcreative to take a look at the industry they're working in. It's in good shape!

Anyway! Rant over! The next meetup is on March 10th at the Lounge and we'll have the wonderful Natalie Edwards delivering a concoction of subjects from working with Radio Warrington, running her own business and doing all this through a recession. We'll also have our largest audience yet and a heap of small-businesses and producers - it'll be a good one!

And, lastly, we're cooking up something a little bit different for April - watch this space!