I LOVE daft pictures me. In my regular bizarre images feature, the one above is was sent to promote a well known local home furnishings business. The recumbent figure on the bed reminded me of the poster comedian Ricky Gervais used to advertise his Animals tour and DVD.
THE latest export figures showed that the North-East's number one trading partner is the Netherlands, which jumped ahead of the US as the biggest importer of our goods.
Our region shipped goods worth £1.551bn to Holland in the 12 months to March, driven by exports of chemicals, pharmaceuticals and steel products.
Nissan shipping its Sunderland-built cars through Europort in Rotterdam was also a major factor.
The US dropped to second place as a destination for North-East goods at £1.45bn, followed by France, Russia and Spain.
It was another reminder of the region's heavy reliance on trade with Europe and the huge penalty we would pay - in jobs and investment - if the UK pulled out of the EU, an economic bloc larger than that of the US and Japan combined, with 500 million people and total GDP of about £11 trillion.
Nearly half of the region's export business is done with members of the EU, supporting an estimated 170,000 North-East jobs.
If we became a non-member, Nissan Sunderland would be expected to pay a ten per cent tariff on exports to the EU and a five per cent tariff on components.
Redcar steelmaker SSI is developing strong links with a client in Turkey, which is keen to buy Teesside steel because it is more cost-effective than being hit with import duties from suppliers in Russia.
And Hitachi is building a train factory in Newton Aycliffe to give it a bridgehead into European markets such as Germany.
Forging even closer ties with Europe is the best way forward for North-East business.
THANKS to everyone at Darlington Business Club for making me feel so welcome at its monthly meeting held at Hallgarth Hotel and Country Club.
I left with a fistful of business cards and an appreciation that there are a lot of very determined entrepreneurs in the town.
If you are interested in joining visit darlingtonbusinessclub. co. uk LAST week a mate told me he'd been on a training course where one of the sessions was entitled "The hamburger of communication".
Send me your examples of meaningless tosh from your workplace.
Twitter @bizecho or email andy.richardson@nne.co.uk
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