Do They Live In The Real World?

[blazey]

I don't care enough for politics to waste time on political spin. I wasn't defending either party and I'm pretty fed up of standing for either of them. I've not been accepted into Labour at University because our Labour Club is full of Commies whinging on about 'fighting the BNP' instead of things of any real value so we lock horns all the time. The party itself doesn't accept me as one of them because I made a proper judgement call when it comes to politics and looking at both sides instead of following blindly.

As for trying to be a conservative at university. Well if you like wine and cheese then you're going to have a fantastic time, but beyond that you might as well just not bother.

So when it comes to politics for me I generally just say whatever I think.There is nothing for me to gain in defending either side. So please don't think anything I say is 'spin' because I couldn't care enough about either of themto put that sort of effort in.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Gordie

.Hopefully todays leaders in Britain are taking a leaf out of other western industrial nations books who realise that some of these major industries with the jobs that they create need help at times.Better to pump a few million into some struggling company`s with future prospects than let it go to the wall and pay long term unemployment benefits with all its knock on effects.

Don't you think it's ironic that "Quality" British companies such as Wedgewood-Waterford-Royal Doulton employ more production people in Indonesia than they do in the UK/Ireland
BBC NEWS | Business | Wedgwood goes into administration

Not wanting to sound elitist , but its been my habit and lots of other Brit exiles/expats I know that whenever friends kids have got engaged they allways get at least one pair of Waterford champagne flutes and when the wedding happened they usually got a bit of Wedgewood or Royal Doulton , (all BIG sellers in the US). The news that the stuff is just another cheap/tat import from the far-east will destroy any credibility these 'quality British names' had.

[Boeing Guy]

We are on to our second Dyson Vacuum cleaner, brilliant machine, designed in Britain and was made in Britain, then James Dyson found out he could save money by building the stuff abroad.

Before we all lament the Great British manufacturing base as being down to Heath/ Wilson/ Callahan/ Thatcher/ Major/ Blair/ Brown, maybe we should have a look at ourselves in the 1970's, we, the working people were very unionised and decided that we wanted more money, the Far East started making the same stuff for less, in some cases better, BL against the Japanese.

I remember the Buy British stickers and campaigns, but at the end of the day the British consumer bought foreign goods over his own.
I read an article a while ago regarding the loss of British Leyland, one of the workers said, at the time, that he would not buy one of their own cars as they were shoddy built and his Japanese car, (A Datsun 120Y if I remember rightly) was better built, started first time and was better equipped.

To be fair it is not just the worker and consumer at fault, successive governments and companies management have not helped, we allow imports without question and treat staff in a bad manner then wonder what has happened to our business's

We are very happy to buy Sony/ Samsung/ Toshiba etc, but then wonder why we have no manufacturing left here.


Just for Steeljack here, Apple don't manufacture in the US, but in the Far East, bit like most of the top name companies do.

Sorry for a bit of a drift, but politicians harping after the good old days will not get any of this back.
We have a proud history, The First Passenger Jet, Shipbuilding, Car Manufacturing, the Cotton Mills, the First Computer (not open for debate, Alan Turning and Tommy Flower were first), Concorde, I could go on. But we have all but lost it.

[jaysay]

I think the problem today is that we have a load of socialist politicians( who sold their principles long ago to become electable) running round Britain like headless chickens playing at trying to run a capitalist system. This is tantamount to taking a bus drive from the Hyndburn Circular, taking it to Manchester Airport, sticking him in a Jumbo Jet and telling him to fly to New York, both cases is a mitigated disaster

[garinda]

According to latest statistics Cameron could have lessened his carbon footprint, which he says he's very keen on, by staying in London to give his little press conference.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by garinda

According to latest statistics Cameron could have lessened his carbon footprint, which he says he's very keen on, by staying in London to give his little press conference.

How many Trains Boat and Plans did it take to get Gorgeous Gordon and his premos to Liverpool yesterday

[Studio25]

Originally Posted by jaysay

How many Trains Boat and Plans did it take to get Gorgeous Gordon and his premos to Liverpool yesterday

An awful lot more than you might think. It's a remarkably bad idea to put all the key figures of an entity such as a government into the same vehicle, in case something bad happens and you lose them all simultaneously. You'll note I'm not venturing into the idea that it might be no great loss, or the journey itself might not be worth the resulting environmental damage- that's been covered already.

I used to work for a company whose managers and directors were all sent on a teambuilding p*ss up once a year (I briefly held the "most guinnesses before vomiting" record- it gained far more peer respect than these outward bound courses where you argue abour how to build a bridge out of barrels and string). They were quite pleased to be able to get the number of planes down to three, by working out how they'd allocate the responsibilities of each person if they were lost, then making sure those who got that allocation weren't on the same plane.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Studio25

An awful lot more than you might think. It's a remarkably bad idea to put all the key figures of an entity such as a government into the same vehicle, in case something bad happens and you lose them all simultaneously. You'll note I'm not venturing into the idea that it might be no great loss, or the journey itself might not be worth the resulting environmental damage- that's been covered already.

I used to work for a company whose managers and directors were all sent on a teambuilding p*ss up once a year (I briefly held the "most guinnesses before vomiting" record- it gained far more peer respect than these outward bound courses where you argue abour how to build a bridge out of barrels and string). They were quite pleased to be able to get the number of planes down to three, by working out how they'd allocate the responsibilities of each person if they were lost, then making sure those who got that allocation weren't on the same plane.

You haven't been on here long have you Studio!!! my post was just my usuall playful tit for tat with Rindi. I'm quite aware that even this Govenment wouldn't be so thick as to move the whole shooting match together (but there again they did think two and a half percent of VAT would be wonderful, when most retail outlets had already reduced prices by up to 50%) but why did they need to do it at all. You can bet your bottom dollar that if a major bank had have arranged a meeting in Liverpool at a cost of £200,000, World War three would have broke out.

[MargaretR]

Originally Posted by jaysay

....., World War three would have broke out.

It may well have done ....seers have always said the middle east would be the start

[garinda]

Originally Posted by MargaretR

....seers have always said the middle east would be the start

I always presumed they meant Norwich, and it would be connected to Sale of the Century (the quiz of the week) being brought back, with Nicholas Parsons as the Prince of Darkness.

[Gordie]

Originally Posted by steeljack

Don't you think it's ironic that "Quality" British companies such as Wedgewood-Waterford-Royal Doulton employ more production people in Indonesia than they do in the UK/Ireland
BBC NEWS | Business | Wedgwood goes into administration

Not wanting to sound elitist , but its been my habit and lots of other Brit exiles/expats I know that whenever friends kids have got engaged they allways get at least one pair of Waterford champagne flutes and when the wedding happened they usually got a bit of Wedgewood or Royal Doulton , (all BIG sellers in the US). The news that the stuff is just another cheap/tat import from the far-east will destroy any credibility these 'quality British names' had.

I agree with you, the made in the far-east label on quality crystal and ceramics will lose it`s appeal as a quality gift.I have many items myself of Galway crystal which is a arm of Waterford.I believe the O reilly family are the major shareholders of Waterford Wedgwood and have recently pumped several hundred million euros into the company to keep it trading strongly believing that there is massive future potential only to resign their directorships due to the present situation with 400 million euro debt.I believe a New York based consortium have just recently showed interest in a possible buy but believe if this fails Goverments should temporarily bail this company out due to its forecast future potential.I also believe some of our great shipyards should have been given more help to ride the recessions,the Italians are now building large ships with similar wage structures to the Brits