A rock and a hard place

ENGLAND'S North East is the kind of place George Osborne had in mind when he spoke this week of helping the private sector grow in parts of the country where the state had taken a larger and larger share. Dependent on coal-mining, shipbuilding and steel, the region was effectively nationalised after 1945. As those industries waned, new jobs, mainly public-sector ones, were created. One person in four works directly for the state.

The North East, and Newcastle Gateshead in particular, have been transformed in the past two decades by regeneration programmes that built business parks, created museums and a concert hall, improved housing and schools, expanded universities and increased confidence all round. It was not enough to erase the legacy of low skills, low aspirations and low business start-ups, but it was a good start.