The demise of Peacocks and the 249 staff made redundant was a sorry site last week coming just a day after official unemployment figures showed a small decrease in those unemployed in Wales, but this post isn’t going over the wreckage and playing the blame game, it one that fits into bug bear I have and have blogged about many times, the lack of a decent Welsh press or in this case a Welsh business press.
Because it wasn’t just Peacock whose woes were exposed too late in the day for anyone in Government or the company to actually do something constructive last week, how many people know that the Swansea to Cork Ferry service is in trouble and will cease sailing in over a week if a solution can’t be found to its financial woes and given the current climate and Bank intransigence I bet they aren’t alone sadly.
A good Business Editor or journalist could easily have seen the warning signs and flagged up issues a few months ago at Peacocks and the Ferry company, instead of what we had in Peacocks case, the main stream media highlighting the story less than a few days before the company filed for administration. The Swansea to Cork ferry story only seems to have made the South Wales Evening Post on Friday the 13th February.
The companies in question might not have liked it, but it would have given them and the UK and Welsh Government’s more time to try and solve some of the issues they face and put more pressure on the Banks and kept workers in jobs at a time when jobs in Wales are proving to be as rare as Hen’s teeth.
A decent Business media would also have consistently exposed the fraud and corruption of the likes of Naz Malik at organisations like AWEMA and pushed harder for answers over how European money has been spent.
If Wales is to have a healthier relationship with the private sector and become a better place to invest and grow business and explain the Welsh and UK Government’s role in the economy to voters then a robust business press needs support, here’s hoping someone takes up the challenge.Any source
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