Merchants of Norwich: on the trail of the city’s lost fortunes
Here’s my recent travel story for The Independent, a lockdown-friendly tour of our fine city of #Norwich. My quest for clues takes me through the medieval streets of one of East Anglia’s finest cities. It’s a fascinating story: for hundreds of years Norwich was England’s richest provincial city. But just when the rest of the […]
Qatar – the Barzan Gas Project
I’ve been in Doha, Qatar, writing about the $10.4bn Barzan Gas Project for RasGas. Working with The Point again and other media partners, we’ve been developing a commemorative book – 166+ pages – over a period of around six months. Barzan is one of the world’s largest natural gas projects to date, and the book […]
Work in progress: Italy feature
I’m finalising the latest “country” feature for RasGas magazine. It’s focusing on Italy’s economy and I’ve uncovered a lot of surprises. In the north, in regions like the Veneto, business is booming. Italy is changing fast, so it’s not the poor relation in Europe that you might expect. Far from it, I’m finding… The story will be published in […]
Arcadis – set of 10 brochures
Working with The Point, I’ve been writing the copy for a series of 10 brochures for Arcadis. They’re one of the world’s largest consultancies in natural and built assets, so it’s been a fantastic project. I’ve interviewed their global sector leads in sectors ranging from bridges to urban transportation, finding out the key concerns. For […]
RCPsych project
It’s really good to see this completed project for RCPsych (The Royal College of Psychiatrists). I’ve been working with BSI experts and the RCPsych team to reduce a large number of standards to two sets – in-patient care and community care. It’s been a complex project involving a lot of conceptual thinking. The streamlined set has removed duplication, […]
Taiwan: Asia’s high-tech powerhouse
I’ve been writing for RasGas magazine on Taiwan’s economy. It’s everyone’s idea of a success story: one of the four Asia ‘tiger economies’, manufacturing more of the world’s IT products than anyone else – but things are not quite as simple as that. There’s a complex (and politically tense) relationship with China. Most of Taiwan’s manufacturing […]
What our East of England MEPs really think about the Eurozone
What do our MEPs and business really think about Europe? It turns out that there’s a strong view in favour of staying in Europe (more than 90 per cent of local businesses think that leaving Europe would be bad for business). I’ve been interviewing our local MEPs for their views on Europe and the Eurozone, […]
Is there a high street renaissance?
I’m researching a story about the fate of the high street and quickly discovered that it’s not all doom and gloom here in the East of England. But some cities and towns are much more successful than others. It’s not enough to have a wonderful historic centre; there’s got to be more to it than […]
Decommissioning – big money in the North Sea
I went along to the EEEGR event on decommissioning opportunities in the North Sea, to find out what this could mean for our region. There’s enormous capital investment, more than in recent years, as the ‘dash for gas’ speeds up and the coal-fired power stations run down. It’s a £35bn market, a great opportunity for […]
Diversification pays off for Suffolk farmers
Suffolk farmers produce some of the finest food in the country, and they’re finding innovative ways to survive and thrive in difficult times. I’ve been talking to three farmers who’ve diversified their business: James Foskett, who’s growing organic vegetables and salads for the supermarkets; Jonathan Simper, who’s farming shellfish in the Deben estuary, and William Buchanan, […]