David Parkin gets down with the accountants

HAVE I been on holiday recently?

I must have, because I definitely remember relaxing on a sun lounger in Marrakesh in temperatures so high that I was forced to find solace in the shade with a bottle of chilled Morrocan gris wine.

Despite the name, it isn’t a grey coloured wine, it is a very light rosé and it definitely leaves me in the pink.

I was actually on holiday in Morocco last week, but it seems like an age ago.

That’s because I’ve been working at a conference in Venice for the last few days.

If I told you it was at a five-star resort on its own island in the lagoon near the city of canals, I doubt you’d have much sympathy for me.

If I told you the attendees were 150 finance directors, I think you might.

Actually this lot were definitely not your typical bean counters.

Dance competitions, dragon boat racing, a Who Wants to be a Millionaire quiz, pre-conference exercise challenges and a masked ball.

I was exhausted trying to keep up with them.

The event, like the one I worked at in February in Barcelona, was for a global group and masterminded by Yorkshire lass done good Claire Holt.

I don’t know what they taught her at Harrogate Ladies’ College, but she creates some incredible events which combine inspiration, provocation and celebration in abundance.

I was there to take over the coordination of the event when Claire returned home for the birthday of her seven-year-old twin boys.

Given the challenges that boys of that age can be, I wasn’t sure whether she felt supervising 150 accountants might prove easier.

All went well in her absence and I enjoyed the challenge.

Being delivered to the airport yesterday in a sleek motor boat that I boarded in the lobby of the hotel was a memorable experience too.

I took the photograph above relaxing on the rooftop terrace of the hotel just after I arrived.

I can assure you there were no negronis consumed after that point, it was full-on work, but hugely enjoyable.

The opportunity to work in Venice meant that Harriet and I were able to fly from Marrakesh to Venice to enjoy a couple of days together before the conference in the city we got married in last year.

And that got me a few brownie points because we spent our actual first wedding anniversary at the Bike and Boot Hotel on the Yorkshire coast with the dogs.

Now Scarborough is a lovely place.

But it ain’t Venice.

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I CAN’T quite have a rest yet.

I flew into Leeds Bradford Airport at 10pm last night and today I’m fortunate enough to be compering an audience with England manager Gareth Southgate for the incredible Martin House children’s hospice.

Gareth is a committed and long-term ambassador for the charity and, having hosted a similar event last year, I know that when he says he is happy to answer any questions asked by the audience, I know he means it.

It is his last public engagement before he heads off on England duty in the build up to this summer’s Euros so it promises to be a fascinating experience.

I’m not sure what question I’m going to ask him yet, but I do think he needs to push Jude Bellingham further forward into the number 10 role where I do believe he’ll flourish.

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I’VE got some great news!

The transport issues around Leeds railway station and City Square are going to get better!

Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan says that the challenges to rail passengers arriving and leaving the station, and those driving to it in cars, buses and taxis will improve…in about 12 months time.

So don’t hold your breath.

Speaking at a lunch in the private dining room at Sous le Nez in Leeds hosted by accountancy firm Armstrong Watson just before Easter, Tom told the business people present that he understood the ongoing frustrations caused by the changes being made to the traffic flow into and around the city centre, including the pedestrianisation of City Square, and the drop-off area for cars and taxis at the train station.

Matt Osbourne and Neil Sevitt from Armstrong Watson welcomed guests and wondered if there would be any questions other than those about the state of transport in the city centre.

Turning to me with a resigned smile, Tom said: “Your bloody blog never fails to remind me we haven’t got it right yet!” he said with his customary good humour.

“Every Friday I open it with trepidation, wondering what he’s going to have a pop at me about this week!”

I’m quite sure the CEO of one of the largest local authorities in the country is not quaking in his boots at the prospect of my weekly utterances, but Tom is charming enough to bestow more importance than my missives really deserve.

And on the positive side, a lot of the people at the lunch were happy to sign up to receive my blog.

I just hope they aren’t disappointed, after that big build up.

I don’t blame Tom for these problems. Even the city council can’t shoulder all the blame.

Network Rail must cop for some of it and the contractors doing much of the work around the city clearly haven’t signed up to a performance-related contract.

Tom is a genial and honest guy who in his 14 years as CEO at Leeds has always fronted up to criticism and challenges.

The problem is there aren’t many of his colleagues who are comfortable doing that.

And as for communication, Leeds City Council could give North Korea a lesson in how not to engage with the business community.

Tom makes a compelling argument for the many positives that make Leeds a very modern city success story.

The continuing growth of the financial and legal sectors, the more recent rise of digital and creative enterprises and the many attractions that bring visitors flocking to the city.

Tom Riordan has credibility and is taken seriously by those in business in Leeds.

It is just that you can’t say that about many others within the city council.

And at a time when the local authority, like others across the land, is having to make cuts in staff and spending, there has never been a bigger need for it to trumpet some of the many positive stories the city can surely tell.

Tom is currently something of a lone voice.

He strikes a note of sanity amid the madness that is the road system in Leeds city centre.

But if you are trying to get to or leave the railway station by road, then the message is: ‘Don’t hold your breath for this to be sorted soon.”

In the short-term Tom said that work is ongoing to reduce the traffic congestion to the car and taxi pick-up and drop-off zone (which to most of us is more commonly known as ‘the Wetherspoons entrance’.

Given the lunch at which he was speaking was held at the end of March, he suggested these improvements would be in place after the Easter holidays

But at the same time said that approaching the station by car from Whitehall Road now just took six to seven minutes.

I said I don’t know who had been responsible for coming up with those times, but even first thing in the morning or late at night, there are lengthy delays.

In the long-term the ‘front’ of the station is to be opened up with the taxi rank moved to opposite the Scarbrough Taps pub (I don’t know why pubs define the entrances to the station, perhaps because they provide solace to frustrated travellers) creating a pedestrianised plaza in front of the main entrance.

But this, Tom warned, isn’t going to happen for another 12 months.

By this point of the lunch I wondered if it would be futile to pursue other points such as bus gates, new one-way systems and the pedestrianisation of City Square.

I very much got the impression from what Tom said that the council is happy to listen but I doubt it has any plans to make changes based on the feedback it receives.

Which for the rest of us means we are going to have to continue to endure disruption if we want to access Leeds station.

And I think it is safe to say that menswear entrepreneur Simon Berwin’s regular Linkedin rants about the state of the Leeds road system are likely to continue, at least in the short-term.

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IN a very short time, Amol Rajan has become one of the most ubiquitous figures in UK broadcasting.

A former editor of the Independent, the 40-year-old has made the transition from print and online journalism to television and radio with an ease not always seen when those from the newspaper world make the jump into broadcasting.

Perhaps most impressive has been the depth and range of work he has undertaken across the BBC since first arriving as its media editor.

He is equally at home playing music in between light hearted chat stepping in for Zoe Ball as breakfast DJ on Radio 2 and presenting frothy nonsense on the The One Show as grilling a Prime Minister or Chancellor of the Exchequer on the heavyweight, agenda-setting Radio 4 Today programme.

Add into the mix presenting University Challenge, writing a book about cricket’s greatest spin bowlers and doing set-piece BBC interviews with newsmakers like Bill Gates, Greta Thunberg, Phillip Schofield and Piers Morgan and you’ve got an individual that definitely ticks the box of being a talented all-rounder.

But he doesn’t know everything.

On the Today programme recently he listened to the daily horse racing tips from the sports presenter and said: “Market Raisin, that’s a funny name for a horse.”

Of course, that wasn’t the horse’s name, it was the name of the racecourse where it was running: Market Rasen in Lincolnshire.

Have a great weekend.

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