When I read Milo Yiannopoulos’s article ‘Sun Tech Mission 2009: it’s (still) grim up North’, in yesterdays Telegraph, I was at first shocked, then outraged and finally somewhat dismayed.
How could the Telegraph publish, such a damning report, and how could a serious journalist get it so wrong? Is this really how people in the south feel about live in the North?
That was last night. This morning I woke, relieved that I resisted last night’s urge to post and instant rebuttal (that would have put me in the same league as Milo, and I credit myself with more self respect than that).
Perhaps, what got to me most about the article, wasn’t that it was poorly written, with little evidence of substance or research, but that the author seemed to revel in his own ignorance, and that he wrote with an arrogance that implied this was not only his opinion but that of the whole London Community.
I truly believe it would be just as foolish for VC’s in London, not to also look and regional talent, as it would anyone working in the regions, not to be prepared to regularly travel London.
For those people brought up in our national capitals, its not uncommon (or terribly unreasonable) to think that you’re are the centre of the universe. Much of the money, talent and conferences do gravitate towards that centre, but Washington is the capital of the US, yet Silicon Valley may be the heart of its Tech industries, were also currently seeing great start ups coming from cities like San Francisco.
Its important to realise that what made Silicon Valley a success, was a combination of factors: Start-ups that made money in Silicon Valley, reinvested that money, talent and knowledge back into tech in the Silicon Valley area, allowing a growing number of companies to prosper. They also had the space and resources to grow (The North doesn’t have some of the power issues of the South, and we are seeing increasing numbers of call and data centres as a result) and that start-ups worked with first rate educational institutions (something that we in the North are now getting very good at, Digital city in Middlesbrough being a great example – Google started with 4 people in a university basement).
Admittedly I am not a VC or an Entrepreneur, so maybe i should really leave this debate to those more qualified that i to debate, but like many in our region i am passionate about the North East. I live and work, in the North East and for the past 5 years I have been involved with organizations like Codeworks, Middlesbrough Uni’s Digital City, Newcastle Uni’s Culture Lab, groups like Supermonday’s, Thursday Fizz, The IT Director’s Forum, TuttleNorth East,Digital Marketing Debates and events like Thinking Digital, Game Horizon, the AV Festival, Barcamp,Science week,Tynetwestival and Cloud Camp, and to that end i consider myself very lucky.
Its important not to forget, that many people live in this area out of choice. Yes, there is often a cost to that choice, in that we have to travel a little more often, and that sometimes means days away from home, but its its about choosing a livework balance that works. If success is involve living in a pokey flat in the mile end road, and spending hours a day commuting, then I’m not sure I would be willing to make that sacrifice.
My work involves working with leading contemporary artists from around the world on sometimes very complex and very technical projects and i have yet to find a project that i couldn’t find a solution to locally, (often at a fraction of the price of solution from outside the region). Another lesson I’ve learnt is you get back what you put in, and that while I have very limited budgets, that talking to the local tech communities and getting involved with universities and local start ups is a great way to stay in touch with what is going on. In the last six months alone I have seen some fantastic start ups and projects. I would hate to think, that we could loose them to London because of the sort of scare mongering and poor advice given by Milo Yiannopoulos.
I have been somewhat heartened to see comment after comment, come in as the day went on, supporting the North, including declarations from Manoj Ranaweera (organiser of Sun Tech Mission 2009), Herb Kim (organiser of Thinking digital), Nick Bell of Quick.tv and comments from VC’s and entrepreneurs both from London and the North.
I can but conclude that either Milo Yiannopoulo and the Telegraph made a huge lapse in Judgement in printing such a potentially damaging article (not only to the North, but all the Regions and London itself), or that I (and many of the people i hold in high regard) are missing some hidden genius. I like the regions am an optimist and would like to end on a positive note by reiterating Manoj Ranaweera’s sentiments and saying that this is a great opportunity to come together and show what the North (and other regions has to offer) and I would encourage those London based companies and VC to get on the train and see this for themselves…you never know you may not only be surprised but also inspired!
NOTE. I believe that Milo has taken up Nick Bells offer to come up to Newcastle to see whether ‘life up North’ is really as grim as he believes. He will visit in 3-4 weeks and I encourage any VC’s or Entrepreneurs based in London to join him and see what they’re missing, I would also encourage some of the many fantastic North East Start-ups to take some time and show them what we’re capable of.
While i have generalized about London based VC’s,angels and mentors not venturing out of their comfort zone, i should point out that there are exceptions, people like Mike Soutern, columnist for the Times, Public speaker and all round good guy, made a point of staying in the North East an extra couple of days after thinking Digital to mentor several North East Start ups, as did several other speakers to be fair.
I should also add that while i have talked mainly about the North and North East, i’m sure that there are outstanding companies in Wales, Scotland, the North West, South West, Midland…you get the picture! It is essential to all these regions that they look after their talent and invest in it, if those regions are to have any future at all. The implications of a mass migration to start ups to London would cause a devestating skills stortage in the regions that would make the credit crunch look like a ‘good day’.
I’m glad he got fired. Aren’t you?
I wasn’t aware that he had been fired, and I don’t think i’d have gone as far as to wish him to be fired, but it doesn’t come as a big surprise.
I have to say i was disappointed that with so many good articles and so many good journalists out there, that the Telegraph would post an article that was so obviously ill informed and badly researched. If i were to be kind, I could only assume that they intended to provoke a response, which is exactly what they did.