蜜芽传媒

Good morning

Shortly after this programme I shall get the train. The Trans Pennine Express. To be fair, it鈥檚 more Trans Pennine than it is express. But it鈥檚 a train I love.

It begins in Scarborough and ends in Liverpool, taking in Leeds and Manchester via some of the most uplifting landscapes in England. Over the last twenty years since becoming an 茅migr茅 to the north I鈥檝e travelled from one side of England to another countless times.

Last Thursday I got on the Trans Pennine Express in Warrington at quarter to five. From Manchester to Leeds it was standing room only, and impossible to work on my journey of two and a quarter hours covering about a hundred miles.

It made me want to replace the S in HS3 with C and plead for the debate to be about capacity as well as speed.

Because of the way the vote went in Scotland there鈥檚 renewed interest in the English regions and specially in the north of England. Along with HS3 there are now new plans for Metro Mayors to drive forward the generation of City Regions.

For two decades I鈥檝e been involved in the regeneration of Hull and Liverpool. Although Northern Cities offer huge opportunities for the entrepreneur, there are still deeply ingrained social problems needing both private and public investment.

But there鈥檚 an area of inward investment that鈥檚 often overlooked. Each year thousands upon thousands of young people vote with their feet and travel north 鈥� to the universities 鈥� Newcastle, Hull, York, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool. Some of the best in the country. The secret for the future of the north is to keep the brightest and the best of them and their own. Their motto should be 鈥業 came, I saw and I stayed鈥�.

There鈥檚 huge scope for new alliances between the Universities and the recently chastened bankers to spot this talent and invest in it extravagantly to start new businesses in the North. This will irrigate local communities with new wealth.

There鈥檚 a quaint little poem in the Psalms which begins,
鈥淓xcept the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain鈥�.

It goes on, 鈥淎s arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.鈥�

In other words, there鈥檚 no substitute for human capital.

Trains and boats and planes all have their place. But in God鈥檚 economy (it seems) it鈥檚 the investment in young human capital that, as the Psalm goes on, keeps the enemy from the gate.

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