| Topic: | Re:No longer Great Britain manufacturing wise | |
| Posted by: | Thomas Barry | |
| Date/Time: | 25/03/12 22:46:00 |
| "We read in our daily newspapers about economics" I don't, except to find out what's not actually true about economics. Anyway, we do make things, often high value stuff like jet engines and wings for Airbuses (let's not mention the wing cracks on the A380, mind). Pharmaceuticals obviously, but we're also IIRC exporting more cars than for a long time, particularly companies like Jaguar which (thanks to the falling pound) can offer an extremely good product at a surprisingly low price. Where we *do* fall down is in stuff that will work when the oil runs out - it's noticeable that all of the above doesn't. We could thus usefully use a programme of green retrofitting for more energy efficient homes, which is the kind of thing where a long term secure programme could easily generate worthwhile employment for young people. We desperately need new house building, preferably along sustainable Scandinavian lines rather than cheaply built brick mock-Georgian boxes. So, to sum up, we've got a reasonable industrial base and absolutely no leadership or industrial strategy emanating from government that would give companies the confidence to invest and create jobs in areas that have long term state backing. It's ideology trumping common sense, since it's blatantly obvious that other countries that have no such squeamishness turn out to have better economies. At present we're exporting our economic idiocy to them - I humbly suggest we reverse that process. |