COUNCIL Leader Dave Jackson (Labour) writes exclusively for the Wirral Globe.

I've got a question for you: "What links a sod, a Tasmanian Devil, Royalty, Bugs Bunny and signing the pledge together?"

Here's a clue. You can find it in my desk. And no, I do not keep cans of beer in my desk drawer . . . but I do keep my diary there. We've had a really cheering time on Wirral recently (and I mean the good news type of cheer!)

I cut the first sod at a ground-breaking ceremony in Conway Park, Birkenhead, to mark the start of building a new state-of-the-art multiplex cinema. The mayor and I were greeted by a number of cartoon characters, including the Tasmanian Devil and Bugs Bunny, because these new Citiplexes are being pioneered by Warner Village Cinemas. This particular one is the result of co-operation between WVC, developers Chapelgate Ltd and the council.

I get a real kick out of that moment when all the plans on paper start to take a real physical shape. Of course, it's not just about having a good cinema to go to, but it's about bringing life back into the centre of Birkenhead, about creating new jobs, directly and indirectly, about fitting another piece into the re-generation jigsaw, about attracting further investors and encouraging the growth of restaurants, bars and perhaps a new hotel round the growing leisure developments.

Then Royalty came in the shape of the Duke of Kent who last week officially opened the Laird Foundation. I've talked to you about the Foundation before when we've been looking at what was going on in another re-generation initiative on Lairdside. It's an industrial training centre, currently with over 200 apprentices, where the apprentices can learn a range of skills in the workshops and then transfer those skills to working on real projects in the dockyard, ranging from historic boat restoration to ship repair and servicing, as well as other engineering and manufacturing projects. Real training. Real jobs.

The visit was followed by a wonderful lunch at Birkenhead Priory, which takes me on to signing the pledge. (Don't ask why) You know me, I'm always willing to help, and if there's anything the government wants, I'm only too happy to do what I can to oblige. But I have to confess that when Wirral South MP Ben Chapman asked me if I would formally sign the pledge on behalf of the council, I did feel this might be overstepping the mark just a little.

Fortunately for me, and Wirral's landlords, it turned out that we were talking about Pledge 2000, which is part of the government's campaign to make sure we beat the Millennium bug. A number of other big organisations have signed up to it too. What it means is that we promise, as a council, to do everything that needs to be done to make sure as the date changes to 2000 that our computers work properly and services are not affected, that we are prepared for emergencies in the event of another service's computers failing, that we do everything possible to help local businesses to understand what they need to do, and that we're happy to share any useful information we may have with anyone who needs it. Watch out for Wirral Now at the end of March to tell you what to do with home equipment, too.

So that's the good news in my diary over the past couple of weeks. Next week I guarantee I'll have more for you, but for now, I've run out of time, space and cartoon characters. That's all folks!

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.