Tourism "vital" for the UK economy

In his recent speech, the prime minister said tourism is vital to help the UK get back on track, that it's "fundamental to the rebuilding and rebalancing of our economy". He stated the industry contributes £115bn to the British economy every year, and would provide "one of the best and fastest ways" of generating jobs and income.

Listen to the speech here

Concrete cows

On that sixth-form geography field trip,
we hadn’t got that far
before the coach stopped,
pulled over in a lay-by on the Great North Road.
I wrote an essay on new town developments.
Houses happened behind revêtements,
the last of these fields to go.

You could just about see
the concrete cows along peripheral horizons.
On Saturdays, I traded in some unwanted records
at stalls spilling out from the shopping mall.
Under rain-scaped skies, we walked back,
paid the ticket, got into the car, went home.

  Copyright Tom Phillips 2011