Houchenism

Houchen appears to be delivering to make Teesside a better more vibrant place. I can’t understand why people who live here can be against it. I couldn’t care less what colour tie you wear, if you’re gonna do your damnedest to make my area of the country a better place to live with more opportunities then you’ll get my vote. If you’re going to take me for granted and sit on your laurels, you won’t. More power to him I say and I hope he continues to pull the correct strings to drive through the improvements and opportunities this area needs.
 
Houchen appears to be delivering to make Teesside a better more vibrant place. I can’t understand why people who live here can be against it. I couldn’t care less what colour tie you wear, if you’re gonna do your damnedest to make my area of the country a better place to live with more opportunities then you’ll get my vote. If you’re going to take me for granted and sit on your laurels, you won’t. More power to him I say and I hope he continues to pull the correct strings to drive through the improvements and opportunities this area needs.

Seems to just be a few out of touch “labour for life” types on here who can’t quite grasp that Houchen maybe does want to make the area better and that not everyone in blue has an ulterior motive.

I question whether many of them even live in the north east.
 
El Guapo and Alzi - Better keep your heads down if you post against the Momentum Massive on here! Give them a break - they're just managing to scrape some crumbs of comfort by announcing all the Labour victories of the last few days. If they were in any way representative of local or indeed Boro supporters political feelings, Labour would have the biggest landslide victory of the last thousand years.
 
Seems to just be a few out of touch “labour for life” types on here who can’t quite grasp that Houchen maybe does want to make the area better and that not everyone in blue has an ulterior motive.

I question whether many of them even live in the north east.
Or are over sixteen years of age ?
 
I firmly believe that he will end up as an independent. He is totally committed -and to the area (vice versa) and I think he will eventually A- become too big for any party allegiance or B - get frustrated as the cash dries up and feels let down or C - both
 
Houchen deserves credit for his approach to Teesside Airport for certain. Without him the place would be shut by now. As someone who used the facility twice a week for years I can appreciate that. Peel were dreadful and managing a decline on purpose.

Other than that, Houchen is benefitting from timing. The likes of Teesworks, Wind turbines and such would have happened anyway. It allows him to lay claim to it all and people readily accept the narrative.
 
Any investment in the area is welcome and BH has successfully become the figurehead for the area - now even on the national scene. He has however something of a reputation amongst local authority figures as a ‘piggy-backer’ ie claiming success for projects that have been in the planning for years or done by someone else - much to their frustration. Whether this is true/justified who knows/cares?
 
Any investment in the area is welcome and BH has successfully become the figurehead for the area - now even on the national scene. He has however something of a reputation amongst local authority figures as a ‘piggy-backer’ ie claiming success for projects that have been in the planning for years or done by someone else - much to their frustration. Whether this is true/justified who knows/cares?
Of course it's true and is what I was alluding to. Houchen is lucky with many things. Life is like that mind and it's important to recognise opportunity and act on it. He's done that but people shouldn't think it's all because of him. It would have happened anyway.
 
As Napoleon said “I'd rather have lucky generals than good ones.”

If the 'Red Wall' MPs are political cousins of Houchen, they have shown signs that they are prepared to make a stand for their election promises vs the party line. A similar thing seems to be happening re the fight for leaseholders with flammable cladding (although this doesn't figure so much in the 'Red Wall' seats). Interesting to see how it plays out.
 
Discussing Houchen’s achievements is worthwhile and whilst not criticising his efforts or that his commitment to the area there does seem to be some discord between the figures and the general perception of his delivery.

1. Since Houchen took over as Mayor, unemployment in TVCA has risen from 4.0% to 7.9

2. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of jobs in TVCA has shrunk by 11,789.

3. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of people claiming benefits outside of Covid furlough etc in TVCA has risen from 16,795 to 32,314.

Let’s have a look at the 18,000 additional jobs that have been promised, in the small print there’s an important caveat that seems to be overlooked and that is the potential of up to 18k jobs, the reality is the current scope seems set to create around 3.5k long term full time jobs and around 6k short term construction and supply chain jobs, whilst that’s still great for the area that’s only around half the jobs that are being promised and still leaves an overall employment shortfall of approx 2.5k.

The airport having a link to London is great and it’s hard to make judgements in the current restricted climate of whether that will be a success, the concern is already routes have been reduced and the funding of the deal looks to put any shortfall in running costs onto the LA rather than the operator.

Freeport’s are not a new idea and have been tried in the past in the U.K. with limited success, you can go back to the Anglo-Hanseatic war to show what happens when a country goes it alone after a long time trading alliance.

Regardless of piggybacking etc Houchen has spent x10 more than any other Mayor or politician on social media advertising, so his reach is wide spread but isn’t unbiased.

So whilst not questioning Houchen’s desire to improve the area there is the question of who do we point the finger at for the figures, have the National government botched the surgery and is Houchen the aftercare nurse doing his best with sticking plasters and paracetamol or is he to blame and has the use of his £470m budget failed to deliver as he has claimed.
 
Discussing Houchen’s achievements is worthwhile and whilst not criticising his efforts or that his commitment to the area there does seem to be some discord between the figures and the general perception of his delivery.

1. Since Houchen took over as Mayor, unemployment in TVCA has risen from 4.0% to 7.9

2. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of jobs in TVCA has shrunk by 11,789.

3. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of people claiming benefits outside of Covid furlough etc in TVCA has risen from 16,795 to 32,314.

Let’s have a look at the 18,000 additional jobs that have been promised, in the small print there’s an important caveat that seems to be overlooked and that is the potential of up to 18k jobs, the reality is the current scope seems set to create around 3.5k long term full time jobs and around 6k short term construction and supply chain jobs, whilst that’s still great for the area that’s only around half the jobs that are being promised and still leaves an overall employment shortfall of approx 2.5k.

The airport having a link to London is great and it’s hard to make judgements in the current restricted climate of whether that will be a success, the concern is already routes have been reduced and the funding of the deal looks to put any shortfall in running costs onto the LA rather than the operator.

Freeport’s are not a new idea and have been tried in the past in the U.K. with limited success, you can go back to the Anglo-Hanseatic war to show what happens when a country goes it alone after a long time trading alliance.

Regardless of piggybacking etc Houchen has spent x10 more than any other Mayor or politician on social media advertising, so his reach is wide spread but isn’t unbiased.

So whilst not questioning Houchen’s desire to improve the area there is the question of who do we point the finger at for the figures, have the National government botched the surgery and is Houchen the aftercare nurse doing his best with sticking plasters and paracetamol or is he to blame and has the use of his £470m budget failed to deliver as he has claimed.
I doubt you’ll get many fanboy replies to this. Everyone wants him to do well because we all want Teesside to do well there’s just “happy clappers” and “ believe it when we see it” people. And as for the start arme comment from Alzi about living local, if the hag Thatcher and her cronies (ooh look Tories again!!) hadn’t destroyed Teeside then I would imagine the vast majority of us would still be fcuking well living there!
 
Discussing Houchen’s achievements is worthwhile and whilst not criticising his efforts or that his commitment to the area there does seem to be some discord between the figures and the general perception of his delivery.

1. Since Houchen took over as Mayor, unemployment in TVCA has risen from 4.0% to 7.9

2. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of jobs in TVCA has shrunk by 11,789.

3. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of people claiming benefits outside of Covid furlough etc in TVCA has risen from 16,795 to 32,314.

Let’s have a look at the 18,000 additional jobs that have been promised, in the small print there’s an important caveat that seems to be overlooked and that is the potential of up to 18k jobs, the reality is the current scope seems set to create around 3.5k long term full time jobs and around 6k short term construction and supply chain jobs, whilst that’s still great for the area that’s only around half the jobs that are being promised and still leaves an overall employment shortfall of approx 2.5k.

The airport having a link to London is great and it’s hard to make judgements in the current restricted climate of whether that will be a success, the concern is already routes have been reduced and the funding of the deal looks to put any shortfall in running costs onto the LA rather than the operator.

Freeport’s are not a new idea and have been tried in the past in the U.K. with limited success, you can go back to the Anglo-Hanseatic war to show what happens when a country goes it alone after a long time trading alliance.

Regardless of piggybacking etc Houchen has spent x10 more than any other Mayor or politician on social media advertising, so his reach is wide spread but isn’t unbiased.

So whilst not questioning Houchen’s desire to improve the area there is the question of who do we point the finger at for the figures, have the National government botched the surgery and is Houchen the aftercare nurse doing his best with sticking plasters and paracetamol or is he to blame and has the use of his £470m budget failed to deliver as he has claimed.
The first balanced, informed and accurate post I've read about Houchen.

He's an opportunist politician and I'm not as convinced as some people by his successes.
 
Discussing Houchen’s achievements is worthwhile and whilst not criticising his efforts or that his commitment to the area there does seem to be some discord between the figures and the general perception of his delivery.

1. Since Houchen took over as Mayor, unemployment in TVCA has risen from 4.0% to 7.9

2. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of jobs in TVCA has shrunk by 11,789.

3. Since Houchen took over as Mayor the number of people claiming benefits outside of Covid furlough etc in TVCA has risen from 16,795 to 32,314.

Let’s have a look at the 18,000 additional jobs that have been promised, in the small print there’s an important caveat that seems to be overlooked and that is the potential of up to 18k jobs, the reality is the current scope seems set to create around 3.5k long term full time jobs and around 6k short term construction and supply chain jobs, whilst that’s still great for the area that’s only around half the jobs that are being promised and still leaves an overall employment shortfall of approx 2.5k.

The airport having a link to London is great and it’s hard to make judgements in the current restricted climate of whether that will be a success, the concern is already routes have been reduced and the funding of the deal looks to put any shortfall in running costs onto the LA rather than the operator.

Freeport’s are not a new idea and have been tried in the past in the U.K. with limited success, you can go back to the Anglo-Hanseatic war to show what happens when a country goes it alone after a long time trading alliance.

Regardless of piggybacking etc Houchen has spent x10 more than any other Mayor or politician on social media advertising, so his reach is wide spread but isn’t unbiased.

So whilst not questioning Houchen’s desire to improve the area there is the question of who do we point the finger at for the figures, have the National government botched the surgery and is Houchen the aftercare nurse doing his best with sticking plasters and paracetamol or is he to blame and has the use of his £470m budget failed to deliver as he has claimed.
@American_Mary what’s the source? This information something that needs to be considered wider. A progress review is something the Gazette seems reluctant to do - that said this article was buried away at the foot off the app last week.
Teesworks: A bright future or empty promises
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/teesworks-bold-claims-new-jobs-20514765
 
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