Coc13 is weakest part of UK economy

DESPITE being identified as both the weakest part of the UK economy with a jobless rate of 55.4 per cent and a bombing target for dissident republicans, the UK City of Culture has produced an impressive programme of more than 140 events for 2013.
By Kevin Mullan
Published 25th May 2013, 13:15 BST
Mayor Kevin Campbell and Shona McCarthy with David Shrigley's 'Small City Becomes Huge' artwork.Mayor Kevin Campbell and Shona McCarthy with David Shrigley's 'Small City Becomes Huge' artwork.
Mayor Kevin Campbell and Shona McCarthy with David Shrigley's 'Small City Becomes Huge' artwork.

Thus says Dr Paul Nolan, who in a new Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report notes that the city spent much of 2012 preparing for 2013.

Dr Nolan explained: “It won the bid in 2010 – the year an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report identified the city as the weakest part of the UK economy, noting that its employment rate was a mere 55.4 per cent.”

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“An End Child Poverty report issued in January 2013 showed a 35 per cent rate of child poverty, the fourth worst of UK local authority areas,” he went on to say.

The academic also points out that these are not the city’s only problems. He explains how dissident republicans have opposed the award of UK City of Culture 2013 due to its ‘United Kingdom’ aspect.

Notwithstanding these problems, Dr Nolan, thinks Londonderry has managed to produce an exciting schedule for its year in the cultural spotlight.