Comment: Fundamentals are back in vogue

For too long those living off manufacturing and commerce have held sway but there's nothing like a crisis to bring reality back into sharp focus. Yet again it is the normal hard-working taxpayer who has been left to bail out the selfish excesses of the politicians and bankers, but the failure of the financial system has had far reaching ramifications for wider manufacturing.

Optics enjoys the benefit of being a necessity and as such has suffered a less catastrophic downturn than some industries. But that is not to say a rethink isn't in order.

One firm making massive investment over the last few months has been Norville. Speaking at the opening of its Training and Heritage centre Frank Norville pleaded with local politicians to supply the right people and create the right environment for industry to prosper. He cautioned against the kind of developments that took business away from city centres such as the Gloucester dock scheme, while worrying that a council that couldn't even rid its city of seagulls may struggle with such concepts.