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David Porter » Entries tagged with "economy"

Advertising, Television, Web and Film Are the Entertainment Now

As social media, the web and television become interlinked, advertising/shopping/retailing looks set to be the cement that holds it all together. This first published on Suite 101, 31 October 2011 Research studies, commentators and various net and commercial pundits are busy jumping on bandwagons as the advertising industry ensures its prosperity in all media. Advertising, love it or hate it, is going to get ever more intrusive as technology evolves. Brand Loyalty Since 2010 in the UK, it’s been legal to place products within both television shows and films. This goes way beyond mere sponsorship and focusses on simple messages: this hero drinks this particular beverage; that attractive girl is into those named shoes. Now, with simple technology and high motivation, media and advertising are teaming up to retro-fit products into programmes and movies … Read entire article »

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English Historic, Cultural and Heritage Environment

England’s history, heritage, culture and natural environment contribute to the economy and national pride, but would an English assembly make more of it? English people often talk about England and the United Kingdom as if they are the same entity. Of course, they’re not, as most people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would affirm. England’s historic past is not only another country, but also a rich and unique vein of wealth to explore and exploit. Shakespeare had it in the ‘once more unto the breach, dear friends’ speech in Henry V: ‘Cry, God for Harry, England, and Saint George!’ Linked closely, are England’s natural landscape and cultural heritage. All together they contribute to the tourist industry (and transport, hospitality, food/drink industries). While Wales and Northern Ireland have Assemblies and Scotland has … Read entire article »

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Northern Ireland’s Historic, Cultural and Heritage Environment

Ulster’s history, heritage, culture, natural environment contribute to its economy and national pride as part of both the UK and the island of Ireland. While sharing the same geographical island, Ulster’s and Eire’s history, culture and heritage have developed individual and separate yet frequently connected environments and characteristics. In the past, the island has shared common heritage in every way. The exploitation/development versus the preservation/access debate is as vital and urgent here as elsewhere. If the management balance is right, precious assets earn much needed revenue. If it’s not, assets are wasted if not damaged. The Landscape The University of Ulster maintains a website devoted to cultural heritage and museum sites. These include under ‘Cultural Heritage’: Archives of Heritage (forum for academic and industry researchers); Association for Heritage Interpretation (heritage interpretation of sites and … Read entire article »

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Irish Historic, Cultural and Heritage Environment

Balancing history, heritage, culture, natural environment contributes to the Irish economy and national pride, but also informs today’s economic policies. In September 2011, The School of Histories and Humanities at Trinity College Dublin began a new Masters programme: Public History and Cultural Heritage. It should give a ‘thorough grounding in public history, providing students with unique preparation for the management of cultural heritage’. This reflects the increasing importance of history, heritage and culture to the Irish economy as a whole. The course considers cultural memory (its construction, reception and loss), public status of history in modern society and examines political issues surrounding public commemoration and ‘sites of memory’ (museums, archives, galleries and the media) as public perceptions of the past are shaped. It’ll also study conservation, presentation and communication of physical past heritage, … Read entire article »

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Scottish Historic, Cultural and Heritage Environment

History, heritage, culture and natural environment contribute hugely to the Scottish economy and national pride. Do they need so much bureaucracy to thrive? A view about the over-governance of Scotland was expressed by Andrew Gilmour on The Courier (Sept 2010): Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) do not have enough Parliamentary business. He claimed that Scotland was ‘one of the most expensively over-governed countries in the world’. He asked why it took two MSPs and one MP in Scotland to deal with the same workload as one MP south of the border. He demanded a hard look at the ‘massive bureaucratic set-up in Edinburgh’, without advocating abolition of the actual Scottish Parliament. The mechanism was unnecessarily heavy. Considering just one aspect of what the bureaucratic machine deals with, how the vast Scottish natural, … Read entire article »

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Welsh Historic, Cultural and Heritage Environment

  History, heritage and culture add value to the Welsh economy and pride to the Welsh nation. Can they do more without making Wales a heritage theme park? In 2009, the Welsh Assembly published a report, The Welsh Historic Environment: A Celebration. It pointed out that the whole of the Welsh environment contained historic elements, whether in towns and cities, land or offshore. However fast modern change moves, the marks of past generations remained in the present. They’re in buildings great and small, churches, landscapes and commons, fields and ways of doing and seeing things. There is a national perspective and outlook. Literature, music, crafts, arts, beliefs and language are ‘expressions of what it means to be in Wales’, but are also great social assets linking people and giving Wales a … Read entire article »

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Irish Eyes Are Not Smiling: Where Is the Irish Economy Going?

  Little to sing, dance or smile about as world and home-grown economic problems continue to impact Eire, but all is not lost. There’s some optimism around. Harsh economic realities of post-Celtic Tiger years batter Ireland as much as but in different ways from other parts of Europe. The nostalgic, romanticised, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1912), is about Irish character surviving tribulation: ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, sure ’tis like a morn in spring/In the lilt of Irish laughter you can hear the angels sing/When Irish hearts are happy all the world seems bright and gay/And When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, sure, they steal your heart away’. The recession/slowdown of 2008-2009 was felt across the land. Finger-pointing and blame for collapse of housing market and banking, overheating, taxes, unemployment, the … Read entire article »

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A Welcome in the Vales: Where Is the Welsh Economy Going?

  Whether down in the gloomy depths of valleys or high on the hills of optimism, Wales’ economy is in the spotlight as discussion continues about direction. In the traditional-nostalgic Welsh anthem, We’ll Keep a Welcome, the chorus goes: We’ll keep a welcome in the hillside/We’ll keep a welcome in the Vales/This land you knew will still be singing/When you come home again to Wales’. That’s determination to keep going, look on the bright side and welcome people home. Economic realities don’t live up to folk culture and song, but the fact is, that like much of the rest of Britain, Wales has the necessary resilience, commitment, ideas and drive to regenerate and thrive. Of course, different people hold different views. Professor Dylan Jones-Evans is Director of Enterprise and Innovation at the … Read entire article »

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