Recently in MAPIC Category

It was a classic chaotic start to MIPIM this morning as I rocked up to the UK Mission stand to be presented with a cloth and a bottle of Jif and told to wipe down the window ledges. Ross Sturley even took a picture of me as "Mrs Miggins." But, notwithstanding the odd bit of dust, the stand looks great (very lilac carpet, and Ross in matching shirt and tie - how very corporate!) and the partners were out in force.

The Edinburgh whisky tasting had just got under way when we were visited by not one, not two, but three politicians. It was an embarrassment of riches and quite wonderful to watch the three entourages snaking around the exhibition to converge by the UKR's and partners' logos. The mayor of London, the prime minister of Rwanda and the mayor of Cannes were all in jovial form (I think Boris had got quite pally with the prime minister of Rwanda, actually: they were virtually cuddling) and all partook of a wee dram.

I told Boris off for spending too long with the frogs (we'd timed him in the Paris tent) but he said there was a lot going on over there. "How disloyal," I retorted! He was unfazed. The mayor of Cannes (lovely red scarf) was sweet enough to pretend he remembered me from when we did an event at MAPIC together; he's a very nice man, devoted to town and his people, and they're lucky to have him.

Alex King and I did a bit of a double act on the UKR Place Live stand on the subject of Local Enterprise Partnerships and how the story is emerging nationally, with Kent, Essex & East Sussex LEP as a case study. It's always a joy to do a gig with Alex - we spark off one another and I was only rude about him once this morning, so he got off lightly.

Last day at MAPIC and a quick whirl around the Palais to scoop up any last minute bits of gossip or goodie bags.

I am rather notorious for being something of a cheapskate on the freebie front.

Indeed for a couple of years in the aftermath of the last recession (when 'imself was out of work and I was barely hanging on in there) I did the kids' Christmas stockings out of nick-nacks picked up at MIPIM (and kept under my bed for the rest of the year).

I had a veritable gang of folk who would liberate three of everything from obscure Eastern European stands for me. Some of it was quite good kit! Indeed, some of it we've still got!

And - at least at the time - the kids never complained about Crest Nicholson jigsaws or Hammerson stress balls, although of course in recent years the kidult has been darkly threatening to retrospectively report me to the NSPCC for parenting-under-false- pretences.

It's raining in Cannes this morning (I tell you this to cheer you up) which strikes me as a severe contravention of the Service Level Agreement.

I've got a good mind to drop into "Protocol" (next to Registration) - whatever that is - and Have A Word.

Mooched along the Croissette trying to dodge the raindrops and, first up, bump into dear old Mike Prentice, CBRE retail guru to the stars.

He seemed in the pink (despite suffering from a rotten cold), which he attributed to sticking to wine only, "yes yes yes I stuck to the wine" he assured me, but suddenly his face fell: "oh no! I've just remembered, I went onto beers later". Love him.

We were chatting away when suddenly he shouted "Crag Martin! Down from the mountains" pointing up at some nondescript bird hovering above the beach. I love old Mike. But I would never have had him down as a twitcher. It certainly is a funny old world.

Up at the crack of dawn, grumbling for Britain naturally, to take the plane down to Cannes and MAPIC.

Took a punt that I wouldn't know anyone on the plane and hadn't bothered with any lippy or anything.

Blow me down, if the first person I bump into isn't Susan Freeman of Mishcon de Reya looking totally immaculate as ever! Honestly, how very embarrassing!

Felt quite naked in comparison. (But then, always feel dishevelled in Madam's presence. And fat! And poor, come to that!)

Normal tiresome flight down. Full to the gills of course, and nothing much to report other than the usual fracas with property types bringing so much hand luggage into the plane that the girls couldn't fit it all in the lockers (so it had to go in the hold after all, which rather defeats the object!).

But blow me down if it aint the case that, after a long arduous journey, when you emerge into the crystal sunshine of a sparkly day in Cannes, all grumbles don't melt away.

The sun shimmers on the blue blue Riviera; the beautiful stick thin elderly French broads walk their daft little dogs in their non-PC fur coats; rich men amble up and down the Croisette sporting strangely coloured cashmere jackets and sun glasses; and thin rangy haggard-but-curiously-handsome men in silk suits sport lanyards bearing MAPIC badges. It is like MIPIM but it is not MIPIM. But all is right in the world!

I was rather thrilled to be asked to participate in MAPIC this year, as I've never been before (17-19 November, Cannes).

Reed Midem is launching the Retail in the City;summit, an event at MAPIC for private and public sectors where participants will "share experiences and best practices" and examine how to "develop sustainable urban retail" together. So this is right up my street (no pun intended) as you may imagine!

In laying the foundations for growth in our economy, creating and regenerating sustainable urban retail in city centres and what Retail in the City terms "outlying areas" (but I would call "local centres") is vital.

I have been blogging-on as much, ever since I started. And, as the international dimension is central to the work of UKR, we are living proof that there is much to learn from other local authorities from around the world.

Various financing models for public-private collaboration exist in Belgium, France and the United States. To give you just one example, we imported Business Improvement Districts from the States in the early noughties, we need some new ideas now; so what else is there on offer?