<b>It&amp;’s no surprise that Pete the Plumber and Bob the Builder flourish in the building industry, since they seem to live in the friendliest town around. How would they fare somewhere more challenging - Middle Earth, perhaps....</b><br><b>The distant rumble of bandwagon-jumping caused a small disturbance during a quiet few days at the office last week, in the wake of news that the trade association for plumbers has thrown its weight behind Pete The Plumber as a sure-fire way of attracting new recruits into the industry. Pete&amp;’s mission is to follow in the footsteps of Bob The Builder, seeking to plug an unhealthy and ever-growing, 27,000-person wide, skills gap affecting that particular sector. </b><br> My view, for what it&amp;‘s worth, is that Bob and Pete are fine for potential pre-school age recruits, but that they are hardly likely to appeal to the next intake of industry trainees. What would be better for us, in the short term, would be some positive fictional role models that would stir the hearts of secondary school students - perhaps a housebuilding Harry Potter or even a Site-Safe Spiderman.<p></p><p> Indeed, having given this some thought, it might be that the recent and phenomenally popular transfer of …