Level field is needed again

In the commercial, scientific and industrial world today, you either move forward or fall back. There is no "comfort zone".

That is why figures which show the Government is spending just £1.50 a head on scientific research in the North-East - compared to £50 in other areas of the country - are of such great concern.

It is, an Institute of Public Policy Research conference will be told on Tyneside today, strangling economic growth in the region.

North-East companies do not escape a share of the blame for this situation - but at least they admit to it and the need to address the problem.

But the IPPR says the starkest divide is in spending by Government itself and that a fairer distribution of research and development cash is required.

Science minister Lord Sainsbury will be under pressure to explain this level of investment when he speaks at a conference today.

It is all too easy to see how this situation has arisen.

Decades of hardship in the region's manufacturing sector have done little to create an atmosphere in many firms where "the future" matters more that survival in the present.

Inward investment may well provide jobs - and some very good ones at that - but it rarely brings with it research and development opportunities.

The argument is a simple one.

If Government does not commit a fairer level of scientific research cash to the region - or create a better platform for local firms to do so - the future looks bleak. More science based research projects would help reverse the "brain drain" to the South and address yet another North-South spending divide. Once again, the North-East finds itself looking for a level playing field.

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Hunting issue part of wider discontent

Anyone who has any understanding of rural issues and how the countryside works will not be surprised that hunt supporters in the North-East were last night openly talking of ignoring the impending ban on fox hunting with dogs.

That, it can be argued, excludes the Government who will, presumably, believe the comments amount to little more than empty threats and "hot air".

They are not.

They are deadly serious and - while breaking the law cannot be condoned - it is worth looking at the reasons for this particular stance.

To Mr Blair, who has shown no particular passion either way on this issue, the hunting ban appears little more than a political bone he has thrown to his backbenchers.

A great many people who live and work in the countryside resent that and see this as simply another example of voters in rural areas being treated as second class citizens.

Many of the banners which accused the Government of "not listening" were making a much wider statement.

The hunting issue has simply become the catalyst for a welter of grievances felt by many rural dwellers.

There has been growing resentment of New Labour's handling of rural issues and being used as a political expedient is unlikely to ease that.

Yes, there are very strong feelings about fox hunting - on both sides - but to view the current debate in isolation is a mistake.

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