It is said that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in something. Fortunately, economics observation is not as demanding as becoming an expert violinist or footballer. But it remains true that if you want to understand an economy, a good place to start is by immersing yourself in the data, day in, day out, until you can get a ‘feel’ for how things work, and how things are breaking.
One of my interests is in the economy of North England. I was born there, and escaped for wider, bluer futures in Asia as soon as I could. Now I look back and see decades of national British policy neglect and worse, and consequently embrace a vision of NorthernFuturism which can imagine and work towards a future for the North which is radically different both to its present, and to the models currently offered for emulation in the rest of Britain.
NorthernFuturism is initially an attempt to imagine an alternative future for the North, and eventually to work towards bringing that future to life. It is self-consciously visionary, and consequently self-consciously slightly daffy, slightly idiotic. I do not expect the normal visitors to Coldwater Economics to embrace it, or even respect it much.
Nevertheless, one has to start somewhere, and The Grit is where I’m starting. Its ambitions are tightly limited to providing ongoing uncomplicated but consistent economic observation of the North, comprising in UK regional terms, the North East, the North West and Yorkshire. There is more detailed data-coverage of these regions than is ever presented in national coverage, or is acknowledged in the UK’s London-based media. The hope is that by consistently engaging with that data, both I and any readers who choose to follow The Grit can begin to grasp just what the economy of the North actually is - it’s challenges and its triumphs.
Only when we can grasp The North as a legitimate and comprehensible economy in its own right can we genuinely start to think about how to bring NorthernFuturism to life.
For the time being, do not expect revelations or dramatic economic commentary from The Grit. For now, writing it, reading it, is simply about developing the knowledge-base and the expertise that we’ll need if we are to help transform this economy, or these economies.