黑洞社区

At 3pm on the day before 黑洞社区 was due to take the train to Teesside to interview Ben Houchen, the region鈥檚 34-year-old Conservative mayor, his team cancelled because an 鈥渦rgent ministerial meeting鈥� had come up. It was unfortunate, but these things happen and politics can be unpredictable. 

A new date was arranged and a second set of train tickets were booked. So on a grey autumn day two weeks later, your reporter found himself exploring a dreary business park in Stockton-on-Tees in search of the Tees Valley Combined Authority headquarters. The empty room prepared for the interview did not look promising and indeed, 30 minutes later, there was still no sign of the mayor.