A FIRST-WEEK leak at the £46m Baltic Centre is embarrassing and clearly shouldn't have happened. But it is only a teething problem and it should not be allowed to inundate all that is positive about the centre.

It certainly should not be used as a stick to beat the brave visionaries who have spent a decade trying to turn a derelict industrial leftover into a vibrant, living, wealth-generating building.

At least Gateshead, and its partner in culture Newcastle, knows where it is trying to go. It has the big idea which is so necessary these days if "alternative revenue streams" of hard cash are to be tapped to help re-generate a depressed area.

And these big ideas are in short supply elsewhere in the North-East.

Hartlepool also once had a big idea which revolved around its excellent historic quay, but it has run out of steam in recent years. Although Durham City's Gala Theatre has had its fair share of critics, at least it is at the centre of the £30m Millennium City project which is trying to take a formerly derelict area into the future. And maybe Stockton's recent riverside revival plans suggest is on the verge of finding its big idea.

The disappointing thing about the Baltic Centre is not that it leaks and has an eccentric fire alarm; it is that there are not more big ideas like it, sucking in cash from all sorts of funds, to drive the region forward.

And anyway, as one of the Baltic's prize exhibits is 18 gongs suspended from the ceiling, surely 118 buckets collecting drips from the ceiling can be arranged in a sufficiently appealing way to be labeled as modern art.

AS usual, there is much to moan about in the British summer weather. But the rain and the wind does have at least one redeeming feature.

All those American golfers brought up on their artificially manicured courses - where even the water hazards are dyed the perfect shade of blue - were quite literally blown away by a typical Scottish summer's day. It's just a shame there weren't any Britons good enough to take full advantage.