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A wry take on life around the UK.
Brian Groom is the FT’s UK business and employment editor. He has previously held a number of senior posts at the FT, including political editor and Europe edition editor, and is a former editor of Scotland on Sunday. - -
Wordsworth’s fair friend turns nasty
Wordsworth House is counting the cost after rising waters carried the wrought iron gates off to the Irish Sea and demolished the front garden wall. More than 200 Cockermouth residents were rescued by emergency services, says Brian Groom
Canny approach to the Scottish issue
The Conservatives appear to want to recreate the buzz Labour managed with ‘Cool Britannia’ in 1997, though that flimsy phenomenon was overblown, writes Brian Groom
Baloney or not, this is important
The confusion over official economic data threatens to make companies even more risk-averse. That, in turn, could help to ensure recovery is slow, says Brian Groom
Do we still love Royal Mail?
In spite of the residual affection for it, attitudes to Royal Mail and its future seem confused, writes Brian Groom. According to one poll, two-thirds of people oppose the current strikes. Yet in another, twice as many sympathised with the workers as with the management
When Yorkshire boycotts Yorkshire
It is with sadness I report an unseemly spat between Leeds and Sheffield over the former’s plan to build a £78m entertainment arena, writes Brian Groom
Royal Mail faces prolonged agony
Industrial militancy tends to be suppressed by recessions but as the postal workers – who are threatening to strike – show, there are always exceptions to the rule, writes Brian Groom
Can the north love the Tories?
David Cameron’s toughest challenge on the road to Downing Street will be to close the north-south political divide, writes Brian Groom
The private sector’s public dilemma
Business is torn between wanting the public finances brought back into balance and not wanting to halt the flow of government orders, says Brian Groom
Suffering Brum and a tale of two women
Recovery may be close but there is little comfort for the West Midlands. Its unemployment rate is 10.5 per cent, the highest in the UK, up 4.2 points in a year. But Brian Groom says there has been a distraction in the contrasting stories of two women
