Interview: BBC CWR Newspaper Review

I was honoured to be asked to be a guest on BBC CWR with Lorna Bailey this week to review the daily newspapers.

The first story I chose was from the Financial Times on quantum computing. As many of you will know, technology is something I am hugely passionate about and the story was predicting extensive use of quantum processing across the financial sector in the next five years.

I can’t profess to be a quantum expert, but I think of it as solving a maze. If you have asked a computer to solve a maze, it will go down every pathway one by one in a sequence until it finds the correct path when it will stop. In contrast, quantum processing will look at all the paths at the same time meaning it is quicker and more efficient when dealing with multiple options.

My next story was from the Daily Telegraph covering Menna Rawlings and her recent appointment as the first female UK ambassador to France. This now means the key G7 ambassadorial postings for the UK are all held by women. This resonates strongly with me as I became Chair of the Coventry & Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) in April – making me one of ten female LEP Board Chairs. This is a huge step as only a few years ago there were hardly any women involved and I was the first female to have a formal Non-Executive role on the Coventry & Warwickshire LEP Board in 2016.

Whilst this is great from a female point of view, it isn’t just about gender for me – it’s also about individuality and the confidence to voice and value your own opinion even if others don’t agree. This is often quite discomforting if others do not support your views especially when you look and sound different to those around the table. But it is important for us to remember all opinions are important and uniqueness makes the world a brighter place.

So be courageous!

I also gave a special shoutout to Sandra Garlick from the Woman Who movement and the many more trailblazers who have led the way for myself and other women to follow.

The next article I chose was from the Coventry Telegraph and it talked about the £380 million investment for City Centre South approved for outline planning. This is a brilliant opportunity to continue to transform Coventry and it includes leisure facilities and residential homes giving a chance for residents to enjoy the city they love and live in.

The final article was a celebration of local recognition from the Warwick Courier. It was the story of the Kenilworth Mayor’s Awards – one of which was given to Derek Price, a geography teacher from Kenilworth school for over 35 years, who sadly passed away last November. He was a deserving winner for the wonderful contribution he made to the future of our young people throughout his career. It was lovely to see this recognition for a great teacher as we all remember a special teacher who helped shape our future. I could name a few amazing teachers that I have had but one significantly stands out for me as he helped me choose my next pathway which I am forever grateful for.

Another award was given to two members of the Kenilworth Covid support group, delivering over 7000 prescriptions over lockdown and operating the helpline supporting thousands of people struggling with the uncertainty of the pandemic. I truly love these recognition awards which highlight amazing people who selflessly work in our community putting others first out of the generosity of their hearts. We are incredibly lucky to have these people supporting us and the world definitely needs more of them making the world a better place.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time time chatting to Lorna and would be delighted to do it again! Thank you to BBC CWR for having me come on and talk about my chosen topics from the day’s news.

Listen to the full interview here:

Written by Ellie Wiltshire