Derry: We could do with a dose of self-belief – we live in a special place

​The Derry weather this summer has been mostly miserable but at least you could get a half decent night’s sleep, so it’s great to be home.

It has been a scorching summer on the shores of the Mediterranean. Even the locals found it tough. What was a constant surprise was how many would love to have our weather, one of the many things which attract them to our island.

This made me think, perhaps we’re all too close to see it, too quick to put ourselves down.

Years ago, the US Government took a number of us from Derry to Boston College and then on to Baltimore, the backdrop for the huge TV show, The Wire.

Baltimore was regarded as one of the most dangerous cities in the US. Plagued by crime mostly driven by poverty. We were hosted by Mayor at the time, Martin O’Malley, who saw something else. He saw a beautiful, historic place, an important seaport, birthplace of “The Star Spangled Banner”.

As part of his campaign for election and throughout his time in City Hall, he put up posters, painted gable ends, got pin badges made up with a simple, one word message… “Believe”.

He had belief that Baltimore ills could be resolved. That their best days were in the future, not in its notorious present nor its important historic past.

We could do with a good dose of that belief ourselves. As my new Spanish amigos can see, where we call home is not just a liveable but an interesting place, an attractive place full of culture, character and, of course, craic.

The Prime Minister said when he came to agreement with the EU on the Windsor Framework that we are “in the unbelievably special position - unique position… access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous... but also the European Union single market. When I go round the world and talk to businesses, they’re like, that’s interesting…that’s like the world’s most exciting economic zone”.

A few weeks later, President Biden predicted “if things continue to move in the right direction, foreign direct investment will more than triple. There are scores of major American corporations wanting to come here, wanting to invest”.

And it was great to read, from a report in the Sunday Times, that Derry was cited as “the most affordable City in the UK”.

We’ve got all the right ingredients. We’re interesting and investible.

As we welcome the business world here later this month for the NI Investment Conference, despite our tricky politics (spoiler… politics is tricky everywhere including where these potential investors will be travelling from!), they all see there’s a real opportunity here. We need to grasp it. We need to show we believe in this place and in ourselves. With that, the money and jobs will quickly follow.