Reading Roars!

Microsoft said recently there were similiarities between Seattle and the South West of England, in particular lifestyle and hi-tech “hotspots”, and that the Regional Development Agency (RDA) should build on the region’s IT strengths.

Now, I have nothing against Devon - they do good ice cream and I hear that their waves aren’t bad either - but we must, must ensure that the Thames Valley retains its status as a leading region to invest in (10 of the top 50 organisations in the world have their European HQs here). Continue Reading »

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) is to make a GB£ 5m donation in what will represent overall the biggest single corporate investment in any business school in Europe. This institution is not the London Business School, nor the Said Business School in Oxford. The recipient of this considerable contribution is Reading’s own Business School for Financial Markets, otherwise known as the ICMA Centre (and formerly known as the ISMA Centre - !).

More than 300 smart and savvy students are studying for professional quals at ICMA related to the securities industry, and research at the centre covers areas such as fund management, risk management and quantitative finance. In fact, the Business School has the same research ranking as Cambridge, LSE and Oxford. How about that!

ICMA’s donation will finance a three-year building project, with expanded teaching facilities to be made available to students in 2008.

So to all readers wishing to embark on a high-flying City career: you can bank on first-class training at Reading University!

Find out more about this, and other news on innovation and enterprise at the University of Reading, by downloading the PDF document below. Please note that you will need Adobe Reader to open it.

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I’m not a keen follower of celebrity news, but I do like to see Reading’s most famous export Kate Winslet do well. Superstar Kate has now been named favourite actress of the last 16 years by readers of Empire magazine, ahead of Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, Jodie Foster and Julia Roberts.

Kate said recently

sometimes I’m scared that I’m going to be hit with this awful realisation that I’ve been bad all these years.

Kate, the people have voted - you’re the nation’s favourite!

I was stunned to read a spiteful article about former Reading East MP Jane Griffiths in the Reading Chronicle (22 December 2005).

The story by the paper’s news team, From Blair babe to the Baltics - Jane heads East, concerned Jane’s departure to Latvia to embark on a teaching career. It had a nasty tone, and was not at all funny. These were the opening paragraphs:

BITTER and broke, former Reading East MP Jane Griffiths is departing these fair shores to bring democracy and good fiscal practice to millions of new EU citizens.

Whether the good people of Latvia are ready for this is something else.

The closing paragraph of the article was the following:

But with a Baltic Air flight taking off from Heathrow for Riga at 10.40am tomorrow (Friday), the Chronicle wishes Jane “bon voyage”. Although, given her current financial predicament, the £9.19 Ryanair service might be more within her budget.

After the article, “helpful hints” on Latvia were provided (despite that Jane is a former GCHQ linguist and BBC Foreign News Editor). This factfile contained helpful information such as, er, the Latvian national anthem and the admission price for the Riga Museum of Horns and Antlers.

This is bad journalism that should not have appeared in the Reading Chronicle.

Two goals from Kevin Doyle (59) and Brynjar Gunnarsson (86) this evening ensured a 10th successive Reading FC victory in the Championship - their victims this time being Leicester City.

The three points were earned in front of a marvellously-attended Madejski crowd, 22,061 in total.

This is getting rather boring, isn’t it?

The Evening Post reports that Reading had the highest level of internet Christmas shopping in the UK, with 34% of the town’s population buying online. Southampton and Oxford were second and third in the South of England, respectively.

This is a fantastic figure and demonstrates how far ahead the people of Reading are as far as using the web is concerned. We really are embracing the digital revolution here and long may this continue. Of course, it helps that the technology influence in Reading is strong. Also, the town gets very crowded at this time of year as shoppers from across the region rush to its stores, so I’m sure that consumers have chosen the online medium to avoid the queues.