EVERY year in January the Centre for Cities publishes a report on how the UK's cities are performing.
As usual the headlines this year emphasised the gaps that persist between the South and the North.
There is nothing new in this, and at Glasgow Chamber we generally support the growing momentum behind policies which shift powers and resources closer to the local community.
The City Deal for Glasgow is one good example, but there is a long way to go if UK cities are to reach anything like the OECD averages for local control. An average city in the OECD raises over 50% of its own revenues, whilst an average UK city barely reaches 20%.
That we are over-centralised in London is a given, and the impact is magnified because London is itself an unusual case. No longer simply the UK's capital, it vies every year with New York to be the world's leading city not by size but by economic influence. It is a truly global city, attracting highly skilled people from all across the world in a way similar to only a handful of other cities like Tokyo and Singapore.
To understand better therefore what's happening to your city it's worth digging into the detail that sits behind the Centre for Cities work. Looking at the Glasgow performance - and like several other large cities, Glasgow is defined to include much of its surrounding region - I tend to look closely and compare how we are doing against the other Top 10 cities outside London, especially Manchester and Birmingham. These are the cities that have shared Glasgow's experience of industrial transformation.
For sure our population is growing again but the London effect means many other large UK cities are growing that bit faster. The nearer you are to London the more likely your population will be growing. Glasgow's population grew by around 3% between 2004 and 2013, but Manchester and Birmingham grew by nearer to 7%.
On the other side of that coin though is one very promising indicator. Glasgow people - along with those of the other three Scottish cities in the report - are very highly skilled. Over four out of every 10 have a degree level qualification. In Manchester it is 3.4 and in Birmingham 2.5.
So whilst our population may not be growing quite as fast, we are holding on better to our new talent - and it is skills which in the long run will attract investment and jobs.
Stuart Patrick is chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
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