Stuck in the Suez !

[AlDaviz]

I kept meaning to write this for a few days.
But seeing the news a few days ago and again today, the size of the container ships and the amount of good coming from the east. Isn’t it time we started to produce more in the uk again.
I remember when I started my apprenticeship in late 80’s the company was taken over by the Chinese, a couple of years later closed and the product was being made in China and closed the company which had been around for 50-60 years !!
this is when I remember things starting to change as I also remember other Production type companies also doing the same !
poor state of affairs.

 

[Alastair70]

It’s ok, I’ve worked it out.

 

[AlDaviz]

It’s ok, I’ve worked it out.
View attachment 44048

:hat:

 

[Random Badger]

The UK has become a mostly tertiary economy and seems focused on short term profits and the full on capitalism in embracing globalism to drive costs down. Recreating large scale manufacturing would require serious investment to increase efficiency and taking a long term economic view, as was done by Germany to keep their manufacturing industries viable. Also, anyone looking to set up a new competitive manufacturing industry in the UK (i.e. one that won't go broke) is probably going to use a lot of technology (robots and AI software) and employ comparatively few people, so the chances of you getting your old job back are negligible.

 

[AlDaviz]

The UK has become a mostly tertiary economy and seems focused on short term profits and the full on capitalism in embracing globalism to drive costs down. Recreating large scale manufacturing would require serious investment to increase efficiency and taking a long term economic view, as was done by Germany to keep their manufacturing industries viable. Also, anyone looking to set up a new competitive manufacturing industry in the UK (i.e. one that won't go broke) is probably going to use a lot of technology (robots and AI software) and employ comparatively few people, so the chances of you getting your old job back are negligible.

So China and the East etc have had huge economic growth, why do people still flock to Europe ! And the huge number of illegal immigrants heading here.
maybe they should be heading in the opposite direction !

 

[Random Badger]

So China and the East etc have had huge economic growth, why do people still flock to Europe ! And the huge number of illegal immigrants heading here.
maybe they should be heading in the opposite direction !

People generally flock to Europe to escape persecution and for opportunities and the higher standard of living including better wages. Why flock to somewhere that is globally competitive for (say) manufacturing largely because workers there are paid peanuts for doing long, hard hours?

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

So China and the East etc have had huge economic growth, why do people still flock to Europe ! And the huge number of illegal immigrants heading here.
maybe they should be heading in the opposite direction !

Many countries in East Asia have human rights records not much better than those they are fleeing. Also, how many people in the world speak an east Asian language as their second language?

There are two more reasons right there.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Isn’t it time we started to produce more in the uk again.

You'll either need to persuade British workers to work longer hours for a lot less money or companies to lower their prices, which probably means them demanding they pay less taxes.

Their are small, independent producers on the UK making fantastic products. The reason they're small and independent? Mostly because compared to goods produced overseas they're terribly expensive.

A quick look at the Primark website shows them offering a mens tshirt for £3.50. I doubt very much whether the same tshirt could be made for the same price in the UK. A quick search on Google shows a tshirt made in the UK costing £15 and another from a company that supplies work and promotional clothes at £8.00 ex VAT (admittedly made from Fair Trade, organic cotton), but the minimum order is 150.

People vote with their wallets and most people are unaware of, can't afford to be or simply don't care about the true cost of everything we buy (issues around the environment, human rights, animal welfare, tax avoidance, corruption).

A good indication of this is to look at your local high street or equivalent. Does it have a baker? A butcher? A greengrocer? A fishmonger? I bet it doesn't have a complete set. Why? It takes less time and is cheaper to shop at one massive store than at five or six smaller ones. And who cares about quality when it's so cheap?

 

[An Ankoù]

So China and the East etc have had huge economic growth, why do people still flock to Europe ! And the huge number of illegal immigrants heading here.
maybe they should be heading in the opposite direction !

I think you're mistaken about the number of illegals. Here's some interesting information:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/...opean-way-life/statistics-migration-europe_enYou'll see that the number of illegal border crossings are mainly from non-EU countries and Africa and that most of the genuinely illegals are sent packing. Developed countries usually welcome young immigrants as they work, pay taxes, buy stuff and generally prop up the pensions and services of ageing western populations.
Here's an interesting article from the Express about "illegals" being sent home from Spain:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/poli...ock-astrazeneca-uk-john-redwood-boris-johnson

 

[chopps]

Well said Binkei. I’m lucky to live in a small town that does have all of these, plus an outdoor market weekly, and regular ‘artisan’ market where local producers sell direct to the public. This is in spite of two supermarkets in town, one high end and one discounter.

It IS possible for them to co-exist but it’s a delicate balance and I think the level of affluence and employment in any locality has a large bearing.

I do make a conscious effort to buy local and looking at the queues outside the butchers and bakers this weekend I think others are similarly minded where I live. But there’s no doubt it costs more. I went back to an old school milkman a few years ago too and they source milk and dairy products all from within 20 miles or so. Costs me 77p a pint, in glass bottles and I’m happy with that rather than using Tesco and driving dairy farmers into the ground.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

Here's an interesting article from the Express about "illegals" being sent home from Spain:
https://www.express.co.uk/news/poli...ock-astrazeneca-uk-john-redwood-boris-johnson

A case of "I am British and therefore an expat and not an immigrant. This being so the rules cannot possibly apply to me as I am not a foreigner" and still implying Spain should be grateful for their presence.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

A good indication of this is to look at your local high street or equivalent. Does it have a baker? A butcher? A greengrocer? A fishmonger? I bet it doesn't have a complete set. Why? It takes less time and is cheaper to shop at one massive store than at five or six smaller ones. And who cares about quality when it's so cheap?

I am probably one of the only ones here who can answer yes to the above, we have 1 butcher, 3 bakers, 1 greengrocer and 1 fishmonger, we also have a small CO-OP and small Tesco in the main town centre we also have a M&S food hall and ALDI which opened a few months ago on the outskirts of the town, we also have an outdoor market on thursdays and saturdays but they are not as big as they used to be back in the day.

Tesco took over the Woolworths store you can see in the second picture.

 

[An Ankoù]

I am probably one of the only ones here who can answer yes to the above, we have 1 butcher, 3 bakers, 1 greengrocer and 1 fishmonger, we also have a small CO-OP and small Tesco in the main town centre we also have a M&S food hall and ALDI which opened a few months ago on the outskirts of the town, we also have an outdoor market on thursdays and saturdays but they are not as big as they used to be back in the day.

Tesco took over the Woolworths store you can see in the second picture.


View attachment 44072 View attachment 44073

View attachment 44074

It looks lovely.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

It looks lovely.

It was back then but there's hardly any stalls left now Thursday is quite busy but for some reason Saturday is a lot quieter.

 

[trummy]

The technique to shift that ship has been known for a couple of hundred years in this country, and its one I have used myself - it just requires someone on the bow with a pole and you simply push it off (as any narrow boat pilot will demonstrate.) Guess that boat would require a pretty long pole though and perhaps a couple more bodies than just the skippers mate!

 

[AlDaviz]

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The technique to shift that ship has been known for a couple of hundred years in this country, and its one I have used myself - it just requires someone on the bow with a pole

Someone suggested all the crew should go to the back and jumped up an down to rock the ship off the bank.

 

[The Baron]

Someone suggested all the crew should go to the back and jumped up an down to rock the ship off the bank.

Can you remember used to be on Grandstand/World of Sport the hill climbing in the cars when the passenger used to jump up and down on the back of the seat to bump the car uphill

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Can you remember used to be on Grandstand/World of Sport the hill climbing in the cars when the passenger used to jump up and down on the back of the seat to bump the car uphill

A bit of bouncing -

 

[The Baron]

Thats the ones Chippy maybe ship some of those blokes across to bump the ship off