COMMENT
Business Buzz
with Harry Pearson
The rest , as they say , is history !
In just a decade , Tees Business has already seen seven Boro managers , six prime ministers and two Donald Trump presidencies – and like the region it serves , it ’ s in tip-top shape to deal with whatever challenges come next ...
Hotseat – there have been seven Boro managers since the first edition of Tees Business was launched , including cult football legend Neil Warnock . PIC : TOM BANKS
The Czech writer Milan Kundera believed history was happening faster in the modern age than it had ever done before , events coming at us at ever increasing speeds like a meteor shower .
Kundera thought that way back in 1978 , long before the internet pushed things up to warp factor five ( ask your dad ), it started to feel like we were being shaken apart by the pace of change , barely able to absorb one new crisis before we were hit by the next .
Since Tees Business launched its first issue back in 2015 we ’ ve had Brexit , Covid , the Russian invasion of Ukraine , a cost-of-living crisis , Donald Trump ( twice ), three general elections , six prime ministers and seven Boro managers .
Looking back now , 2015 , with its headline news stories that included the Dalai Lama appearing at Glastonbury , the death of Cilla Back , the BBC sacking Jeremy Clarkson and the introduction of the mandatory 5p charge for a plastic carrier bag , seems a pleasant oasis of peace , the calm before the coming storm .
Indeed , even the coming storm ( named Desmond , lest we forget ), had nothing on the Beast from East ( 2018 ), Storm Arwen ( 2021 ) and Storm Darragh ( 2024 ).
Yet through all these icy blasts , both real and metaphorical , Tees Business and the community it serves has not just survived but thrived .
It is further proof , if any were needed , of the resilience of the region and its people . Weathering storms is a way of life on Teesside ( another headline from 2015 was the announcement of the closure of Redcar steelworks ).
My maternal grandad was born in Essex Street in 1906 . He lived through two world wars and the Great Depression . He worked at ICI Billingham , cycling to work from his house in Marske along the Coast Road .
Sometimes when he got home in the winter his hands were so cold Gran practically had to prise them from the handlebars .
“ I ’ m not saying it was freezing ,” Grandad said , “ but when I got home an ice cube dropped out of the bottom of my trousers . When it melted in went paaarp !”
Tough times had given Grandad a sense of humour that was typically Teesside – slightly on the shadowy side of dark .
When he caught a serious case of hepatitis in the 1960s , he told my mother , “ The doctor says I have jaundice ”.
“ Did he give you any advice on what to do ?” my mother asked .
“ Aye ,” Grandad replied . “ He said , ‘ If you buy any new clothes make sure they go with yellow ’.”
One Sunday afternoon when I was a kid , there was a knock on the front door . My grandfather opened the door to find a religious missionary standing there wearing the steely , focused look of Cristiano Ronaldo spotting a mirror .
Perhaps scenting the pre-Sunday lunch pint of Cameron ’ s Strongarm on Grandad ’ s breath , the missionary began to describe the fiery pit awaiting all sinners .
“ And the inferno will scorch your flesh , and scorpions scourge your body and the servants of the Devil will prick you with their tridents ,” he raved .
When he stopped for breath after outlining what was a veritable Heritage Hamper of pain and torment , Grandad said cheerfully : “ Sounds champion . I ’ ll have four tickets .”
As a decade of Tees Business has shown , we cannot know the future , but one thing we can all be certain of is that when it comes to Teessiders , whatever history throws at us , and however fast it delivers it , we will carry on with courage and ingenuity , laughing in the face of it all .
Cheers !
Harry Pearson ’ s latest book The Farther Corner – A Sentimental Return to North-East Football is out now .
162 | Tees Business