We’ve always provided arms

THE sponsorship, now withdrawn, of the Great Exhibition of the North offered by BAe Systems, a major northern manufacturer and employer of thousands of local people, had, when it became widely known, excited concern amongst some luminaries labouring in arcane artistic endeavours.

They were anxious to maintain personal moral purity, and disgusted that a major exposition of northern creativity should be sullied by support from organisations that engage in manufacture of weapons.

Let’s be clear, the North East and the North in general has always been a leader in these activities. To deny or reject that reality is posturing and ignores the purpose of the exhibition.

It is not devoted purely to the creative arts of the kind we are to be treated to from June to September.

As the booklet issued at the launch event on February 27 states: “The exhibition is a three-month celebration of the North’s pioneering spirit and the impact of our inventors, artists and designers.” I do not believe if you exclude the heavier side of our science, engineering and manufacturing heritage and our current centres of excellence in such fields that you accurately showcase the strengths of the North today.

I was at the launch event and heard no murmurs around me in a crowded hall when a senior manager of BAe Systems was part of a panel of contributors on the stage alongside the representative from the failed rail franchisee Virgin Trains EastCoast and Accenture, the management consultants who doubtless have interests in many aspects of Government activity.

Without the support of many major private-sector businesses and the taxes of ordinary working people the delights of Sagacity - Periodic table of emotions by Aidan Moesby might not see the light of day and allow me to tweet my feelings and watch how they affect his display showing the “emotional state of the North”.

ALAN FIDLER, North Shields