8 March 2011
It was a classic chaotic start to MIPIM this morning as I rocked up to the UK Mission stand to be presented with a cloth and a bottle of Cif and told to wipe down the window ledges.
Chart Lane’s Ross Sturley even took a picture of me as “Mrs Miggins”. But, notwithstanding the odd bit of dust, the stand looks great (very lilac carpet, and Ross in matching shirt and tie – how very corporate!) and the partners were out in force.
The Edinburgh whisky tasting had just got under way when we were visited by not one, not two, but three politicians. It was an embarrassment of riches and quite wonderful to watch the three entourages snaking around the exhibition to converge by the UKR’s and partners’ logos.
The mayor of London, the prime minister of Rwanda and the mayor of Cannes were all in jovial form (I think Boris had got quite pally with the prime minister of Rwanda, actually: they were virtually cuddling) and all partook of a wee dram.
Alex King, deputy leader at Kent county council, and I did a bit of a double-act on the UKR Place Live stand on the subject of Local Enterprise Partnerships and how the story is emerging nationally, with Kent, Essex & East Sussex LEP as a case study.
The upshot of the debate was that the LEPs are a work in progress. Some will work and some may not. But that’s localism for you. Nothing to be frightened of. And, you know, life isn’t fair; never was. Alex said we needed to revisit the subject this time next year to monitor progress. I am a bit chary of benchmarking progress against annual exhibitions but, in this instance, I think it’s a jolly good idea.
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