Chapter 534: Science and Technology City Launched

By the time Barron returned to London, the impact of the News Corporation "phone-hacking" incident had been brought under control.

Of course, it was far from being eliminated. It was only after News Corporation announced the permanent closure of the News of the World and several executives of News Corporation, including News International CEO Rebecca Brooks, announced their resignation and accepted investigation that the destructive power of this incident on News Corporation in the UK was controlled within a certain range.

This was also largely related to the tacit understanding between Barron and Murdoch after the completion of some transactions - so that under Murdoch's personal connections, the British government would not pursue him relentlessly after gaining some "results".

It can be said that there is always a new hot spot to replace the old hot spot.

During this period, the most concerned thing of the British media was no longer the "phone-hacking" incident of News Corporation. What occupied more pages in many newspapers was the news about Prince William and Cather's breakup...

The British media broke the news of their breakup on April 15, and then countless reporters surrounded Cather's residence on Oxford Street.

According to media reports, at 10:30 am on the 16th, Cather's brother James drove and returned to Cather's London apartment with her from her parents' home.

Then, Cather combed her hair, put on a pair of gold earrings, and walked out of the house with a tennis racket.

At that time, Cather smiled and walked straight to the paparazzi waiting at the door.

Then, the two drove back to the tennis court at their parents' home to play tennis.

It is reported that "Cather has many close and trusted friends, and it is not a problem if she wants to avoid the media."

However, Cather obviously does not want to do this.

Just like on the evening of the 16th, a close friend of Cather revealed: "Cather feels that running away is the worst choice. She doesn't want people to think that she is sad and can't face reality. If she leaves now, people don't know what conclusions they will draw. Cather is a strong girl and has the support of her family. She doesn't need people's pity." ... "Because of the recent situation, I gave Cather a two-week vacation to let her adjust her mood first..." Barron first met Yulia Moore. The Harrods where Cather works is owned by the Devonshire Family Trust, and Yulia also serves as the chairman of Harrods. Of course, the meeting between the two was not so formal. Their conversation was conducted on the bed of Yulia's residence... "As for the media that came to the store to interview, we have dealt with them. By the way, Cather said that she wanted to meet you." Yulia didn't know about Cather's past with Barron - after all, it was at most a fleeting encounter. Because Barron has a good relationship with William and has arranged a job for Cather at Harrods, Yulia only mentioned Cather's desire to meet Barron casually, and did not think too much about it. She just thought that the other party wanted to talk about William through Barron.

"Recently, the media's attention has been focused on her. Let's wait until this matter cools down a little before talking about it."

Yulia also agreed with Barron's words:

"Now there are many reports that gloat over the misfortune, and they are all watching the joke. It is better not to get involved too much and wait to arrange a quiet place to meet."

...

April 20, Thursday.

Brown attended the launch ceremony of London Science City in East London.

The Prime Minister said that he would vigorously promote Britain's technological innovation capabilities, and the government would provide preferential policies to support companies and start-ups in Science City.

At first, Digital Future Investment Company under Caesar Fund bought a dilapidated warehouse in Shoreditch, East London, and built the 15-story Digital Future Building after demolishing it. At that time, in addition to DailyVedio settling in here, the Digital Future Building also became an incubator for technology projects.

By now, DailyVedio has built a new headquarters building next to the Digital Future Building, and the Digital Future Building has become an incubator park, providing some start-ups with initial development space with low rent and investment support.

In addition, Klarna Pay has also moved its headquarters from Sweden to here.

The e-commerce business of Argos Retail Group has also built a research and development and operation center nearby.

It can be said that Shoreditch at this time has been very different from the original dilapidated old town. Many new buildings continue to appear, showing a vibrant scene.

It can be said that the participation of Digital Future Investment Company and related Internet companies has boosted the development of this area.

Therefore, after seeing the current results, in order to help make the original industrial cluster larger, the Brown government issued a plan to support the development of the "Mini Silicon Valley" and build East London into a high-tech industrial center, named "London Technology City".

The government will invest more than 500 million pounds to support the development of the technology city, formulate preferential policies and ensure that part of the space in the new building is used as an incubation area.

Currently, large companies including Cisco, Intel, Qualcomm, Woaw, Google and others are about to move in, and financial institutions such as Barclays Bank will also launch special financing services for start-ups.

In the original time and space, London Technology City was not launched until 2010, mainly due to the promotion of Cameron, who came to power later, and Johnson, the mayor of London at the time.

But now with Barron behind him, this Science and Technology City project also received Brown’s support in advance.

After attending the launch event of Tech City, Brown also met with Barron.

In this meeting, he still talked about the topic he had mentioned before, that is, he hopes to promote more industries to land in the UK to enhance the industrial capabilities of the UK and improve the hollowing out of its industries.

Generally speaking, if the proportion of manufacturing industry in GDP is less than 15%, it can be regarded as industrial hollowing out. According to 2006 data, the added value of manufacturing industry in Germany accounted for 20.66% of GDP, the EU region accounted for 15.81%, and the UK only accounted for 20.66% of GDP. is 10.04%!

Outside the EU, China is 32.45%, Japan is 21.4%, and the United States is 12.99%...

It can be clearly seen that both the UK and the US are facing industrial hollowing out, especially the UK.

What Britain and the United States have in common is that they have developed financial industries, mature markets, and strong capital.

And if financial capital is too strong, it will crowd out the capital of the real industry. In addition, the financial industry can make money quickly, so the citizens of the two countries who are accustomed to making quick money are unwilling to work hard in manufacturing.

On the contrary, the financial capital strength of China, Germany and Japan is not that strong, and Germany has always been very cautious about the financial industry.

In Germany, finance and real estate are not doing much, and the only way out is through entities and scientific research - at least that's the case so far.

And the trend of sluggish manufacturing in the UK continues. In Barron's previous life, by 2018, the added value of the British manufacturing industry accounted for only 8.83% of GDP...

Among the major powers in the world, it ranks last...

It can be said that John Bull is quite weak.

After all, Brown has been the finance minister for nine years. In the position of prime minister, he also hopes to make a difference, so he also hopes to change the current situation to a certain extent.