Two interesting articles in recent days.
First the IW County Press carrying an article Data shows Isle of Wight businesses struggling this is based on statistics from Inform Direct, a business information provider. As always the accuracy of data like this needs to be taken with a pinch of salt – there is no compulsory registration scheme for businesses – indeed define business – other than confidential tax records.
Apparently:
541 companies were started in 2014, compared with 516 in 2013, bringing the total number of businesses operating on the Island to a record high of 4,665.
In contrast however, 401 companies were dissolved, making the Isle of Wight growth rate 3.1 per cent, compared with a national average of 6.6 per cent.
The second article was Polly Toynbee in the Guardian Back on the Isle of Wight, Tory Britain rehearses its collapse providing an economic and social commentary on the Island and its politics. Whether her comments are fair are for others to decide:
Escaping is what many of the young do here. The long-serving editor of the island’s County Press says he urged his children to go. But, he says, people get stuck. I met a good few – professionals too – who hadn’t left the island in months. I never came back, except to see Bob Dylan in 1969. How do the young feel? I noted a youth club called Wight Trash. And to London eyes, the place does feel bleached at 98% white, plus 1% Filipino nurses and care home staff. It’s not rich – posh Royal Yacht Squadron Cowes is a fragment of island life, with the food bank HQ nearby and Ofsted denouncing island schools as among the nation’s worst.