Has it been that long?

I've just checked the stat page for my blog and noticed that its accessed on average 7.03 times per day. I think thats a lot! and I'm pleased. But I really did or should appologise for my lack of blogging over the last month. Its been so hectic here and I really have been running around left right and centre trying to get things done. Currently there is an immensely annoying man with a chain saw, endeavoring to do something to his side of the 12ft high garden hedge, while I appreciate his enthusiasm (I won't be getting up there) I really could do with some peace and quite, to at least think about what I'm doing this afternoon, and on current analysis, with chain saws, an incessant ringing phone and a stream of unanswered emails with the current top of the list reading "new weight management classes", I'm not entirely sure that anything this afternoon will be of much worth to the continuation of blogging or anything else for that matter....
And perhaps this is the problem, noise. There is always a new story, craze, or hype in the media, that runs through the businesses world, half the time there is so much media noise its hard to see where the real messages stop and start. But the recent announcement by the prime-minister to scrap our favoured plastic carriers, cannot have escaped our hearing, and while it may have come no surprise to those of us who have already spent out on purchasing sustainable shopping bags, we are more likely to add to the noise momentum by mouthing "I told you so" to our husbands, partners, wives or girl friends as we pat ourselves on the back for our forward sightedness. While the unassuming consumer who has perhaps always felt that stores like Lidals have been somewhat behind the times in their lack of bag usage, will now have to begin to look at the ways that they carry, hold, move and collect their shopping. Perhaps even harder will be the blow on those retailers who have just reordered or stocked up on this years supplies of branded bags, and likewise will no doubt prove a challenge to the companies currently producing 'carriers' to become more environmentally friendly. Part of me wonders if it was really necessary for technology to take us around in circles and I'm sure that lots of you will remember the shopping bags your mothers had, with separate compartments for meat, milk and veg, all within the same reusable bag, that often lasted for life. I wonder if in a few years time some scientist will measure the impact that several billion tones of plastic in landfill has had on our future and will relay some depressing figure masked in some type of noise that lets the next generation know exactly what a mess our generation have left as a legacy.
And its with a somewhat sober mind I come to think about convergence. This months Business Cornwall mag has on its front cover "counting on convergence". You can I think look at this in two ways, are we counting on convergence to leave a legacy of self? or are we counting on convergence to help our economy, our businesses and our workers work better, harder and smarter for the good of future generations, and perhaps as this is our last chance, my generation too. I haven't I hasten to mention read the article yet, but I get the feeling that less is more, is where this round of European money is coming from, less small projects more things that will only increase our 'knowledge based economy' as a point of reference from the Lisbon agenda. And yes there are different strands, in fact here there are four, one of which, all 13 sectors will fit, helping our businesses and in this case retail invest in skills training and development that is demand led. But behind all the noise, and promise, what is it really that we are aiming for? Is scrapping plastic bags going to save the planet? In isolation no, is convergence going to 'save' Cornwall in terms of our underperforming economy, remembering the reason that we qualify for convergence is not because we are a small county but because our GVA is less than 75% of the EU average. Probably not in the way we would expect it too. I guess what I'm trying, poorly, to get at is that it is very easy to push things aside, add another sheet to the already mounting paper trail, procrastinate about the use of bags and plastic, rejoice because the region, once again, is several million pounds richer, and claim that this is the answer to all our problems... and while we are talking and suggesting and waiting for businesses to come and demand of us, suddenly the program is finished the pots empty and we are back at the beginning with a different set of noisy interruptions filling evaluation forms and account sheets.... This is our chance to demonstrate and bring about a new culture of learning, if only we can find the right types of noise and the right medium for dispersal to tell businesses all about it.....