It was good to see that nearly half a million people visited Turner Contemporary in its first year.

It was always a gamble going ahead with the £17m project but Kent County Council and arts funders recognised that culture can contribute to economic regeneration.

They looked at the example of the Guggenheim in Bilbao and hoped to replicate that transformation in Margate and East Kent.

Despite the cynicism of many locals, the early signs are encouraging. While the town centre may still leave something to be desired, there is evidence that new businesses are moving in, that restaurants are busier.

It’s early days, but you sense a greater buzz around the place.

Turner was not an instant success, and the big numbers may slightly flatter to deceive.

There will always be a strong interest in something new, and the fact that admission is free can only help. But the initial show was disappointing.

It was not uncommon to hear first-time visitors declare it would be the last time. Nice building and great seaside location, shame about the content, was a typical response. A single Turner was not enough to get the pulses racing. No wonder some London commentators were dismissive.

But The Kiss, the current exhibition of Turner drawings and sketches - Turner and the Elements - and the Hamish Fulton’s Walk gave the gallery a real artistic reason for visiting.

Turner C turned a corner with Turner J M W and the next big one - Tracey Emin - will bring even more national and international prominence.

The latest numbers for economic benefit to East Kent - £13.8m - are arguable as they contain £7.6m of publicity value derived from media coverage.

It is an uncertain valuation, but nevertheless, there is no doubt that coverage has brought, and will bring, visitors to Margate. This year, the international visitor numbers are relatively low - just 2% - and Guggenheim can surely beat that tiny proportion. But it’s a start. And trains will speed up after a £5m upgrade of the Ashford - Thanet track.

Cultural regeneration is a slow burn. There is srtill a long way to go but the early signs for the economy Margate and East Kent are encouraging.

The Freedom of Information Act has uncovered many useful things that our rulers may prefer to stay hidden.

But it is becoming clear that it comes at a cost. That cost is risk aversion.

Public officials are now scared stiff of doing anything that may go wrong or expose them or their organisation to media criticism.

Okay, some politicians have brought rightful opprobrium on themselves by shoving their snouts in the trough at public expense. Some have deservedly found themselves behind bars for their greed.

But at more modest levels, local authority executives and councillors are afraid of blowing their noses for fear of ridicule and an FOI request. One even asked for the brand of wine served at an official event. This is trivial stuff. And it’s hitting Kent.

A prime example was MIPIM, the property, development and inward investment show held for the past 23 years in Cannes, with the latest a week ago.

Anyone who matters in the sector is there. 19,000 delegates are there.  You need to be there to meet the right people and make the right contacts.

But MIPIM has a fundamental flaw. It’s in Cannes, the exotic resort on the French Riviera beloved of the well-heeled and flighty starlets.

Switch it to Huddersfield or Halifax and you wouldn’t hear a peep from a forensic FOI hunter.

But Cannes sounds glamorous and pricey so by definition it has to be linked to public sleaze and is surely “a jolly on the rates?”

So much hogwash of course. Paul Wookey of Locate in Kent and Alex King, deputy KCC leader, risked FOI probes to wear their shoe leather out for Kent.

They flew with a no frills airline because it was cheaper than the train, and Wookey stayed in a rundown hotel whose decor would hardly rate one star let alone three.

King stayed in a posher place, but only because he is not as mobile as he once was  and needs to be close to those vital contacts with financial resources to stay in classier hotels along La Croisette.

Attendees walk miles with precious little time to savour an exotic lifestyle and flutes of champagne. You won’t find our intrepid duo hiring luxury yachts to entertain clients.

The county once enjoyed profile at MIPIM but no longer. A tiny Locate in Kent logo on a stand with multiple funders is the best it can do.

The global shift towards Eastern Europe, the Middle and Far East is evident at MIPIM, backed by massive government subsidy.

Even our cross-Channel neighbours Lille and Calais paid a fortune for huge stands, with Lille staging a classy fashion show to spotlight its design heritage as well as boasting of its Olympic training camps and easy access to Olympic Park through the Tunnel.

Only big UK cities such as London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds have any presence, and they are heavily financed by the private sector which seems unwilling in Kent to do the same.

Kent ought to do more and be less embarrassed about being at MIPIM.  It is faintly embarrassing to see how low we have slipped in the pecking order.

Without some investment in events like MIPIM there can be no payback and that’s to the detriment of the Kent economy and job creation.

Media folk have got to get away from the shallow journalism that suspects every public representative of wrongdoing.

The public sector – elected or not - must have the courage and confidence to do what is right - albeit without excess - for the county. At the moment, they live in a climate of fear.

We need risktakers to create jobs and wealth. Our public sector should be encouraged to take sensible risks, and going to MIPIM is one of them.

Past attendance has sown seeds that eventually sprout jobs and inward investment. We should never let the paralysis of fear prevent that from happening again.

It may not be the thing to blog about your boss but Edwin Boorman, president of the KM Group, and former chief executive, was out of the ordinary.

I have known him since joining the company some 24 years ago. Before that, I had only heard of him by reputation. I recall my mother, a staunch WI member in North West Kent, once remarking that the head of the Kent Messenger had given a talk to her Institute. “What a handsome man,” she recalled. “The ladies were swooning.”  The content of his talk was an afterthought!

Those looks stayed with him, an attractive imposing figure who commanded a room and always appearing far younger than the calendar suggested.

To many staff, he was more than a boss, a father figure who was also a man of the people, happy to chat with his team, even though he might forget your name. He was no hire and fire executive, preferring a paternal outlook that sometimes meant keeping people on instead of  cutting an overhead.

He was a member of the Kent Establishment, a VIP fraternity rooted deeply in the county and committed to batting for it at all times.

Edwin held a position of influence and was so well connected. A supreme networker who would often suggest I contact so-and-so about a good story he had picked up.

Yet he was happy to chat to the humblest member of staff. I was impressed that he found time for hand-written letters of congratulation or condolence.

A family ethos fostered personal loyalty and led to the KM Group being voted Best Company to Work For - based on staff opinions - for several years in a row.

That did not mean an easy ride. There were targets to meet and always better results to achieve, yet staff would invariably go the extra mile for Edwin.

There were rocky economic times to negotiate and Edwin - a keen sailor - was on the bridge at difficult times.

Unusually, Edwin was a business leader with an extensive hinterland, investing huge amounts of time, energy and resource in community work. His combination of business leadership with deep commitment to good causes meant delegating KM work to non-family members. Yet he was always alive to new business opportunities.

His charitable outlook spread across his company which would sponsor and support many worthwhile initiatives for young and old, business and leisure, all with the ultimate goal of being good for his beloved Kent.

I was disappointed that Edwin did not receive a deserved knighthood like his fellow media magnate and pal Sir Ray Tindle with whom he often shared the London-Brighton veteran car run. Others have received it for less. But the Queen honoured him with an OBE and Prince Charles gave him a Spirit of Kent award.

It is easy to knock people in influential positions. The media which Edwin championed love to kick doers and risk-takers. Edwin was nothing if not a doer and risk-taker. Not every idea worked. He made mistakes but learned from them.

He was not an interfering media baron laying down a political line but content to leave editors to determine their own path. However, when it came to any campaign he judged good for the county, he would encourage them to give it widespread coverage.

It is easier to do nothing than stick your head above the parapet. Edwin preferred to invest in the public realm and make a difference.

He touched many lives in so many walks of life. But especially those staff who had known him a long time. No wonder there is an atmosphere of unspoken sadness across KM Group newsrooms and offices.

I have every sympathy for Fabio Capello.

He was left with little option but to quit after his falling-out with the FA. Who wouldn’t want to get out when your employer fails to consult a senior member of staff on a crucial issue?

Too many employers - and the FA has a poor track record as a model employer - make arbitrary decisions at senior level without proper consultation or communication. It is a curse of much of modern business.

For a chief national coach paid £6m to have his captain stripped of the captaincy - granted, a more symbolic than critical role in football (unlike cricket) - without prior knowledge or consultation was crass and high-handed by the nabobs of soccer. 

I hold no brief for John Terry, but he should have been treated as innocent until proven guilty of alleged racist remarks.

Under the same principle, Harry Redknapp would have been suspended from management of Spurs when he was charged with alleged tax evasion. Sensibly, his employers kept faith in their key employee during a stressful time.

Fabio was misguided to air his concerns on Italian TV but his limited English language skills – and fury at the decision - probably prompted that.

He should have gone after the World Cup fiasco, but the FA failed to act when they should have done. Now they have acted when they should not have done.

It’s another object lesson in how not to do HR – and PR for that matter.

Now the FA must up its game on senior staff recruitment.  With a pretty miserable record on hiring England managers since the exceptions of soccer knights Alf Ramsay and Bobby Robson, few fans will bank on them or their headhunters getting it right next time - with or without ‘Arry.

So Fred Goodwin has joined traitor Anthony Blunt in the Hall of Infamy wherein languish the handful of once revered people stripped of their gong.

But what has the former Sir Fred the Shred done to deserve a criminal’s fate?

He had hubris - what successful businessman hasn’t? He shredded jobs. Nothing unusual there then.

He wanted to expand his company’s global reach and market share. So what’s strange about that? We criticise local business people for lacking ambition, and preferring a lifestyle enterprise.

By many accounts, he was not the nicest of people. But show me a nice boss and I will show you an under-performing business. Yet he has ex-racing ace and nice bloke Jackie Stewart as a friend who obviously shares a love of life in the – former - fast lane.

So why has Fred been shredded by the Establishment?

One reason only of course, Political symbolism. Somebody had to pay for the crash, for the misery inflicted on so many, for the taxpayer bailout, and frankly, for embarrassing politicians who deserve to be embarrassed.

I’m assuming that Fred did not set out to wreck the economy, to ruin the Royal Bank of Scotland with a takeover too far. With hindsight, military planners would not have asked our troops to go a Bridge Too Far at Arnhem with disastrous consequences. How many generals were demoted and ridiculed after that Dutch debacle?

Did Fred set the level of his own pension pot? It was more likely a remuneration group, Have they been stripped of their honours for living in a false world of astronomical rewards?

Stephen Hester is used to six-figure payouts. That’s what happens in financial services yet their practitioners do not merit the remuneration so out of kilter with rewards for people in equally necessary jobs and craftspeople paid little or nothing beyond their normal salary, wage or fee. Hester and his kind would get nowhere without the support of the humble teller at his local branch.

These bankers may well give away lots to charity and keep employees of Rolls Royce and Lamborghini happy. But the public don’t see that.

Fellow banker Stephen Hester should have had the wit to see the storm that would brew over his bonus. Why didn’t his PR people see it coming and advise appropriately?

Perception in today’s world is reality. He would have earned plaudits for either turning it down or giving it to charity. In the end, he was forced to yield by media and political denigration.

Fred’s public humiliation was symbolic and political and in a fairer world undeserved. Hester’s decision was forced and should have been taken earlier.

Both episodes damage business credibility and, when it is only business that creates the wealth of the country to help the sick, the young, the jobless, the elderly and the disadvantaged, that is an unhappy place for our wealth creators – and there are many in Kent.

In his rags to riches to rags disgrace, Fred is only human, a risk-taker who ultimately got things wrong. That’s what happens to entrepreneurs.

However much we deplore banking greed, he deserves a measure of sympathy rather than the gleeful grins of a crowd cheering a public hanging.

Hooray for the business people who have called for the HS2 to go ahead.

At long last, a real-world case is made for a project that would - albeit belatedly - put the UK on the right track in the new era of international high-speed rail travel.

We know all too well in Kent about the disruption and damage that construction causes. It was horrible while it lasted. There were ugly scars on the landscape.

But engineers did a great job. The wounds have healed. For all the protests about HS1 many years ago - similar to those we hear along the proposed HS2 - Kent now has a superb high-speed service, even though some of the advantages have come at the expense of old-style train performance.

Okay, fares are high but increased prosperity brings more wealth.

High-speed rail is slowly transforming the economy, with house prices leaping in towns like Ashford, Gravesend and Folkestone which are well plugged into the service.

It’s not just about people travelling to London, it also encourages people to commute into Kent, adding to the county’s skill base.

The same scenario will apply to Thanet when Manston, for example, has a Parkway station and journey times to London fall to an hour.

As for the feared landscape damage, few people now complain about the environmental impact of high-speed trains. It now blends into the landscape.

Initial Kent protests succeeded, forcing the then Government to abandon the initial route through South Darenth in favour of a northerly route. But thank goodness the principle of high-speed to the Continent was retained.

No doubt there were protests from residents between Settle and Carlisle about a “damaging” new line in Victorian times, but it is now cherished as a scenic and engineering wonder.

HS2 to Birmingham and beyond promises economic growth on the back of faster journey times.  It should help bridge the widening North-South divide.

The Chilterns are a precious asset but skilful - and no expense spared - engineering can mitigate the impact.

The French have led the way on Les Grands Projets while the UK is usually late into the big idea, frightened off by cost or public protest.

HS2 is a bold initiative that should be welcomed. OK, there will be pain, and plenty of fury from affected locals. But as we have found in Kent, both are temporary. The longer-term economic gain for the UK will be immense – and it should not be just business people who can see this light at the end of the tunnel.

You may not like Tracey Emin but you have to hand it to her – she's a great flagwaver for her home town of Margate.

She guest edited the Today programme earlier this week and featured a piece on the town's economic revival and the importance of Turner Contemporary in that process.

Emin has not always been a good role model for young people. Her Turner prize-winning unmade bed with associated detritus was not to everyone's taste and did not endear her to traditionalists.

Her ripe language in some of her work also upset the purists, even though it's pretty commonplace to anyone listening to yoof chatter.

But things are changing. As she gets older, she is becoming less of a wild child, more an inspiration to a new generation, and more an ambassador for Thanet.

Despite a minor outcry – the lot of most artists while they are alive - she has just been appointed professor of drawing at the Royal Academy and pledged to donate her fees to students.

Young people can identify more easily with Emin than a stuffed shirt like bumptious art critic Brian Sewell who became a target for East Kent abuse after dismissing Turner Contemporary as a white elephant and Margate as Slough-on-Sea.

Emin also went back to King Ethelbert School in Birchington which fostered her love of art and still has a strong art department. She spoke to young people about their feelings about art and its importance to their lives. It was all good stuff and a positive perspective on a reviving East Kent. It might well encourage a few more visitors to the area in 2012.

And while on that subject, I wish you a profitable and healthy New Year.

Flybe’s decision to pull out of Manston is another blow to the airport, especially disappointing at the turn of the year.

However attractive we in Kent think Manston is, it seems that not enough people agree.

Flybe’s bold experiment to run flights to Edinburgh, Manchester and Belfast was welcomed, but once again it ends in disappointment. The Manchester service was pulled some time ago, and the Belfast operation was grounded at the end of the summer.

Edinburgh has been popular with leisure flyers, students, servicemen and women, and some business folk. But the lack of a day round trip made it inconvenient for business.

It was a similar disappointment a few years ago when the Irish-based airline EUjet went belly-up after stretching itself over too many services.

So despite the smiles on the ebullient airport CEO Charles Buchanan, Manston has a problem with scheduled passenger services. What message does Flybe's decision send to other would-be operators?

Manston has no difficulty with freight - including horses through its new equine centre - and charter flights to holiday places in the summer do pretty well. Car parking is a breeze. Two minutes after unloading the boot, you are in the terminal.

Yet there just doesn’t seem to be a big enough market for scheduled services. Why is this? OK, the downturn has not helped but there must surely be something more fundamental than that.

One factor is constrained night-time flying. Thanet council should back the airport's modest demands, despite opposition from some residents. It would, after all, be good for jobs and local people desperately need them.

Manston ought to be the solution to over-crowding at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. But the Kent terminal with one of the longest runways in the UK has been largely overlooked in official reports, even though senior Kent people are always talking up its credentials.

Manston’s disadvantage is that it’s more than 60 miles from London. At the eastern end of the UK, It is not surrounded by chimney pots.  But remote airports are not seen as a disadvantage by the likes of Ryanair and EasyJet who bus people miles from a cheap out-of-town terminal.

Roads like the Thanet Way are pretty good but potential customers from South East London probably think they are worse than they are.

So make it easy.  A Manston Parkway station and dedicated high-speed railway –a “Manston Express?” – would make a huge difference. The Regional Growth Fund allocated some welcome cash for a track upgrade. For a fraction of the cost of a Boris Island or Foster's Grain proposal, upgraded links would transform Manston's image. It would be great to see politicians "getting it" in 2012.

But the sad truth at the moment is that investors - and other scheduled operators - will be wary of committing to a terminal that keeps suffering setbacks.

Good riddance!

You can imagine that retort ringing out on both sides of the Channel after the UK turned its back on a new European treaty.

I don’t know what the French or German equivalent is - maybe they don’t have one - but the feeling is pretty mutual.

Most British people don’t want closer ties with the EU, although many stop short of wanting to get out altogether.

Most Europeans don’t like us much, and the Eastern newcomers even less - after all, they hardly ever give us more than Nul Points in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The worry about David Cameron’s decision is that it will prove even harder for Kent firms to win work on the Continent, especially in France.

It has been hard enough already, with the French in particular erecting unspoken but real barriers to outside competition.

If Brussels talk of revenge seeps through to potential buyers across the EU, fostering an undeserved anti-British feeling, that’s bad news for our businesses desperate to boost imports at a time of falling orders at home.

The hope is that any bitterness felt across the EU about Britain’s decision will not last long and that trade - the main reason we joined the EU and why a majority supported membership in a referendum - will fade.

As for the decision, it is hard to see how any other could have been reached.

Maybe an alternative negotiating strategy that stroked the backs of Merkozy would have worked better. It is intriguing in the What If Game to ponder whether the approach of a belligerent handbag-waving Margaret Thatcher or an emollient Tony Blair or Gordon Brown would have fared better.

Probably not.  But with the eurozone financial crisis set to deepen, and the euro in great jeopardy, it is surely better to be the one independent-minded lemming that turns away from the cliff rather than follow its mates over the edge.

It is far from edifying to hear a politician blame an official for wrongs without any immediate right of reply.

Home Secretary Theresa May went down in my estimation when she publicly criticised Brodie Clark, the UK Border Agency chief, for the failings of his organisation.

It is all too easy in a blame culture environment - as this country and a lot of business is - to pin everything that goes wrong on subordinates.  Local MP Mark Reckless was equally quick to pillory officials.

Politicians – and it’s often the same with bosses - are all too keen to shift blame from themselves to save their own skins.

Mr Clark and his colleagues may have something to answer but they should have been given a right of reply to Mrs May’s tirade. They are an easy target.

It was good to hear Mr Clark come out fighting. And there should be some more fighting talk from him in front of MPs today. Let’s hope that at last we get more truth than political spin.

The UK Border Agency has an impossible task. For a start, this Government has slashed staff numbers to such dire levels that compromise is inevitable. The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents border agency staff, said the service had suffered a 25% cut in budgets over four years.

Yet given the sensitivity of immigration, it should have been protected, just as overseas aid is.

Who can wonder at any attempt to simplify entry procedures.

Who has not left a plane at Gatwick or Heathrow and found thousands queuing in the immigration area? Your heart sinks at the prospect of long delays.

Anyone travelling by coach from Europe has been grateful for quicker procedures. I remember disembarking from a bus, trekking through a building, showing passports and going on our way. On other occasions, a coach has been waved through. There was a sensible assessment of risk.

The truth is that the UK is visited by millions, many through Kent entry points. The Border Agency systems just do not work quickly enough for the majority. The danger is that the handful of people bent on causing trouble hold up the rest - as of course they do when you enter the United States.

Unless the Government invests in more - not fewer - staff, gives the UK Border Agency more money, equips it with better IT systems, and adopts a more co-operative approach to staff, the crisis will continue and lapses will occur.

If border controls are tightened further, catching even more law-abiding folk, the UK will be a turnoff. That may be good for safety, but bad for tourism and business.