Sunderland film studios credit-claiming take one: action!

It's the Echo wot won it.

If the example of Nissan is a reliable barometer, credit-claiming for the news about Crown Works Studios in Pallion will be endured for a minimum 40 years.

So we thought we'd hornswoggle plaudits immediately, regardless of whether we deserve it or not. Why not? Everyone else is.

Joking aside, there are people who should genuinely be lauded for this; and others who must rely on a quite spectacular feat of mental gymnastics to snaffle any credit.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and smugness an unattractive trait. But it's hard to resist looking at social media comments from recent months without smirking.

Turns out that the sky was not populated by pie. It would happen after all. Analogies with Shergar, Lord Lucan etc were every bit as accurate as they were funny - or *positive.

There is no need for the face-twisters to apologise. Everyone is wrong at some point. However, the occasional admission of wrongness can feed the soul; just don't expect one.

Football fans can confirm that anyone wrongly predicting great success for their team is ripe for ridicule; whereas those who wrongly predicted relegation are subjected to no such derision. We're not sure why.

If the bandied figures are to be believed - and no one seems to have expressed doubt - Crown Works means 8,500 new jobs, £334million annually for the local economy and the creation of one of Europe's biggest studios.

But credit for this?

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was asked for £200million of public money and has found £120million. We would be interested to read more small print. Nevertheless, inhabitants of the real world would have settled for that beforehand.

Mr Hunt did the right thing, even though it appears unlikely to help his party at the next general election. Although the one after next...

Well done to other politicians, councils, media and the public who banged the drum for this to happen.

But most of the praise belongs to FulwellCain; easily the main motivators. Congratulations and well done to them. Let's hope the reality meets the optimism.

*pŏsiti'vitў n. state of not whinging about everything