The Times and Dundee's Three Js

One imagines the head honchos at the Dundee-headquartered newspaper publishers, DC Thomson, may be somewhat dischuffed at the passing reference to their eminently financially sound publishing empire in today’s Scottish edition of The Times.

The 'Thunderer' carries a lengthy news report on how the final cost of the new V&A museum to be built in Dundee could be much more than the £45 million originally envisaged.

The Times reports: “Experts …are adamant that the museum could easily double or treble in price, not least because the planned structure is almost twice as big as any building intended for the site.”

Further on, the story points out: “No-one involved in the project questions the need for regeneration. Dundee made its name on ‘the three Js’ – jute, journalism and jam – but these assets have long since dwindled away.

“Production of jute, a fibre used to make sacking and ropes, ceased in the 1970s, while DC Thomson, the publisher of The Beano, announced the closure of a print works last year. As for jam production, even at its height, it employed only a few hundred people in the city.”