WRONG MAN FOR GOOD IDEA

Patrick Vallance dominated our lives during the pandemic. He reminds us of those badly handled and miserable days.

The government has a good plan to link two great universities, Oxford and Cambridge. The idea is to link the 66 miles between the cities into an intensive innovation cluster area and, as importantly, a hub for globally renowned science and technology firms in life sciences, manufacturing, and AI.

This Fenland Silicon Valley is to be driven by Vallance.

This is atypical of all governments. Instead of thinking outside the box, it picks an ageing safe pair of hands.

This job should have been given to a young and fiery transatlantic entrepreneur: a man or woman able to relate to the new generation of tech entrepreneurs. One can just imagine what a turn off he will be to young tech pioneers as he drones on about his glory days. Now….someone like Chris Huhne? Different kettle of fish.