Now where was I?

Yes I know that I said there was no sign of the recession on Teesside.There still isn't. The shops are still heaving and the traffic a nightmare around the major centres of Middlesbrough,Stockton and even Redcar.
Corus is still working flat out yet orders are being turned away because they are closing at the end of January.
The steelworkers will still be "cash rich" for 3 months after the end of January but then what will happen?
Lord Peter Whimsey of Hartlepool and some village that nobody has ever heard of says that he will offer retraining to the redundant steelworkers.£60 million apparently.
Where will the £60 million be spent?
At least half of it will go to private recruiting agencies and training organisations to train people in customer service industries.Service industries which will in fact be offering services to other service industries.
I know a lot of steelworkers and I know what they do. They lift heavy weights,poke long poles into molten metal,ignore burning flakes getting into their fireproof suits through loose fitting cuffs and collars and speak to each other in shouts and gestures through deafening noise and ear defenders. The steelworks is a noisy and frightening place to the uninitiated.
Considering that there are very few jobs on offer at the moment, especially offering £30,000 a year which is what a steel worker earns then exactly what are they going to train them for?
I have seen call centres which appear to be all that is on offer at the moment and I cannot reconcile the skills of a steelworker with that career change.
In the meantime the local MP's are working flat out trying to keep the works open.Vera Baird says that she is working every hour that she can ,between claiming for £1.47 cable clips amongst other things whilst being on a salary of £125,000 a year and Sir Stuart Bell said that ' in effect' it was a private company and there was nothing he could do or perhaps nothing he could be bothered to do from his homes in London and Paris.
In the meantime TaTa Steel are opening steelworks in India and Holland with Eu Money and are leaving Corus Teesside to die.
My next missive will be on the "great global warming how to make a billion pounds/euros/dollars scam by conning the public " debate.