Week Ending: Sir Richard’s T-shirt Wednesday & more
MANCHESTER prides itself on breaking the mould – and Wednesday’s launch of the city council’s pioneering link-up with the Home and Communities Agency saw the first of what could be a new trend in sartorial standards.
Council leader Sir Richard Lees appeared on the panel, in front of dozens of developers and property investors, in a rather well-worn 2009 Bupa Manchester Run grey T-shirt.
While the compere at the event said Sir Richard needed to leave early because he had a “business meeting”, Sir Richard admitted that he had in fact forgotten to bring a shirt, having cycled in to town that morning, and had no time to buy one.
“I’ve a full council meeting later so I’d better go and get one now,” he stated as he departed Central Library to considerable mirth.
Week Ending wonders whether T-shirt Wednesday could catch on in corporate life. Dress Down Friday has, so why not?
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MANCHESTER Council’s other famous knight, Sir Howard Bernstein, was on tip top form at the Manchester Place launc h, though he may have inadvertently given the game away to the audience as to how Manchester manages to do so well by securing central government cash.
Praising the supportive and close relationship the council enjoys with its partner in Manchester Place, The Homes and Communities Agency, SHB said: “We’ve always worked well with Deborah (McLaughlin the HCA’s executive director in the region) – who of course used to work for us at the council – and before that with Eamonn (Boylan).”
Pausing for a beat, and then beaming, Sir Howard, added, “Who also used to work with us too.”
With regional devolution such a hot topic, Sir Howard’s cunning tactic of embedding friendly old boys and girls in Whitehall departments, is sure to pay further dividends.
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WITH Russian banks and institutions facing tough EU sanctions in the wake of the Malaysian jet outrage and its links to rebel fighters in the Ukraine, Week Ending wonders whether one of Manchester’s most celebrated sons, economist Jim O’Neill is currently re-writing his theory on the BRICs – (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which he earmarked as the world’s fastest growing economies.
With no signs that Russia’s new status as international bad boy is going to change soon, how much longer before the BRICs become the BICs or the CIBs?
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WITH FIFA overlord Sepp Blatter is coming to Manchester for the Soccerex Global Forum next month, Week Ending wonders what kind of access to football’s boss will be afforded to journalists.
To say the most powerful man in football is no lover of the English press would be under-statement in the extreme as a consequence of several front page articles alleging corruption in the bidding process for the World Cups in 2018 and 2022.
While there will of course be a big media presence at the event, one suspects there will be as many PR minders and security guards surrounding Blatter as there are hacks, giving new meaning to the notion of ‘man for man marking’.
