I went to visit the Design Museum in Kensington as a fan of great design. I had hoped to see many iconic UK designs,as well as great American and continental European ones, as we have offered much innovation and elegance to the world. The collection was disappointing.
The vehicle selection centred on the chassis of a Model T Ford , a huge picture of a VW Beetle, commentary on Porsche and a picture and comment on a large Citroen saloon of the 1960s. I did not see any images of the amazing Mini which revolutionised and popularised small cars, nor any hint of the beauty of an E type Jaguar. There were no Rolls Royces or Morris Minors. There seemed to be some kind of block on UK vehicles. There was a Vespa scooter but no Triumph or Norton motorcycle.
Also missing were famous designs from JCB, Dyson, the makers of the stylish steam locomotives of the inter war years, the hovercraft and many other UK greats. There was little attempt to set out Art Nouveau or Deco with some of their many UK manifeststions.
There was a whole floor of the Gallery given over to Peter Barber, the architect who used it to display prominently a couple of large posters asserting a version of Labour’s housing policy with no right of reply for those who are equally concerned about providing enough decent housing but who think the route proposed would be damaging. I will deal with this in a future blog.
January 2, 2019
Oh how I relish the notion of a red faced cross John Redwood fuming at the absence of the TR 7 but there is a sliver of a point here. I feel there is an English style that can be be found in the ideas of the elegant line. I see it in the Spitfire, Gainsborough , the Jardin Anglaise or the line of Beau Brummell`s coat, the Cavalier poets with their cultivated carelessness, the laconic acting style of Robert Donat Sir Clive Woodward’s sinuous running line even .
England is not just fat little Brexit barbarians .From Chaucer onward it has enjoyed a creative exchange of ideas with the Continent and not only taken European ideas but created them, created Europe itself
January 2, 2019
You appear confused. Europe is not the EU and the EU is not Europe though I appreciate it’s an easy mistake to make when one’s so utterly indoctrinated. One’s critical faculties can become somewhat jaded through years of EU propaganda
January 2, 2019
Duncan
“Europe is not the EU and the EU is not Europe”
Switzerland, Norway, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Iceland, Belarus, Russia and Turkey are not in the EU.
Of these, the Balkan states are not in the EU due to not being allowed to join yet. Switzerland and Norway could probably join the EU if they wanted to, but don’t.
Russia doesn’t want to and wouldn’t be allowed. Turkey want to join, but as only 3% of Turkey is in Europe and they have restricted press freedom and appear to be moving towards dictatorship as criticism of the President is banned.
So we can safely say that to all intents and purposes Europe IS the EU
January 2, 2019
Hahahaha…. ‘Switzerland and Norway could probably join the EU if they wanted to, but don’t…. So we can safely say that to all intents and purposes Europe IS the EU’
What searing, incisive logic Margaret, are you sure that you are not Sherlock Holmes brought to life in feminine form?
zorro
January 2, 2019
@margaret howard; You make no sense what so ever, as usual!
You list 13 countries, and of course by April the UK will make it 14, then there is Andorra, the Channels Isles, Isle of Man [1] and Monaco (have I missed any others?), meaning well over half of the Sovereign countries of continental Europe are not or will not be in the political EU by April – it is clear then – we can safely say that to all intents and purposes Europe is NOT the EU, even by your your own admission, never mind the countries you missed…
[1] whilst both the CI and IoM are notional a part of the UK they have their own govts.
January 3, 2019
jerry
Could you just give us the combined population numbers of the ‘countries’ you mention?
January 3, 2019
@margaret howard; Tell you what Margaret, I tell you the combined figures of the countries you ask about if you care to give us the combined population figures of the USA, China, Canada, India and Brazil…
Stop thinking that our world is the EU, or the UK can not possibly conduct trade with the RotW unless it is with the permission of the EU.
You’re also refusing to accept that nation states are based on geography NOT population size. Why did Luxenbourg become so important to the EEC/EU, it has nothing to do with its population size but the fact that the country was at the centre (Italy excepted) of the old ECSC and was carried over to the EEC when created.
January 5, 2019
Margaret Howard
The combined population of the European countries not in the EU is approx 350 million the population of the EU is approx 400 million so its almost half. Therefore on what ever dimension you chose its fair to say the the EU at best covers just half of Europe
January 2, 2019
No, it’s not safe to say that the EU and Europe are the same. That sort of sloppy thinking leads Remainers to conclude that Leavers are xenophobes because they believe the UK should make its own laws and not be forced to obey the Brussels bureaucrats.
January 3, 2019
Completely wrong.
It started with six big nations of virtually equal economies and far too quickly expanded to 28 nations of vastly different requirements.
The EU is very different to Europe
January 3, 2019
Edward2
“It started with six big nations of virtually equal economies”
What? Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany equal economies?
January 3, 2019
Similar in outlook culture and standards of living, pretty much yes.
January 2, 2019
Twit, that “creative exchange of ideas” did not start when we signed up to the EEC treaty and it will not cease when we withdraw from the EU treaties. You really do say the most stupid things at times, not just very insulting but very stupid.
January 2, 2019
@Newmania; Your comment about the TR7 tells us much about your age, if that is the only Triumph sports car you can cite, what of the six other TR’s that went before – anyway the TR7 styling was designed designed to appeal to the US market, not so much the home market were the MGB was still selling like hotcakes.
Also, was that the Supermarine or the Triumph Spitfire, one kept our country free, the other gave freedom (read cheap motoring) to a whole generation, both are design icons for very different reasons…
That said, I do sympathise with our host, but then the Design Museum hasn’t hasn’t ever been about British design, but are we getting confused between the Design Museum and the “Design Council” (at 407 St John Street, EC1V 4AB), a much older (1944) organisation that largely does showcase British design?
January 2, 2019
And the UK is not just effete intellectuals who obsess over 200 designs for a chair and an elegant line.
The more practical types involved themselves in creating products and solution that effect everyone, everywhere from ARM processors, LCD displays in your mobile phone to the optical fibres forming the basis of the networks that enable them.
Though you wouldn’t know it from the media and the “design” establishment.
A singular development in design and manufacturing has been the low cost, desktop 3D printer, it is revolutionising how things are designed, developed and made and offers a route to democratizing manufacture. The person responsible was an Englishman, Adrian Boyer and he received an MBE in the NY honours though you won’t find any mention in the “design” rags and certainly not on the BBC, actresses and models are so much more important.
January 2, 2019
And there we have it. Never a comment without an insult, or several. Thank you, Sir John, for allowing these people to make fools of themselves. They typify the saying ”It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt”. You are enabling them to remove all doubt.
It is remarkable how remainers show such disrespect for their country, always ready with a sneer and words of denigration if they can possibly be squeezed in. And a great show of glee at the idea of any difficulty our country may face.
Disloyalty is unattractive at any level. But remainers have raised the bar.
January 2, 2019
Well said, LJ.
January 2, 2019
Au contraire , I was making the point that style elegance and design is an aspect of life that the English have played a strong part in. From English Tailoring to design of Gardens, the Cavalier pursuit of simple beauty et alk
. Clearly Art Deco is one of a long line of French imports but I think the English had an affinity with it .
You see Brexit is really about insecurity, ethnic insecurity, National insecurity, class insecurity. If , like me , you were confident and proud of your country you would feel less need to try to stop it changing and be less to hate everyone who is foreign.
January 3, 2019
Newmaina
Your ignorance and insulting language is astounding!
Which person has ever mentioned/suggested “hating foreigners” on this forum? You are lucky that you can make such a dispicable comment here, for if you were in my world I would take this highly derogatory comment personally and seek some form of legal redress for your puerile unsubstantiated libel?
John, I appreciate this is your forum/your rules and you allow such insulting nonsense to be spoken. However, calling subscribers to your forum “foreign haters” is beyond decent behaviour and should not be tolerated, in any situation.
I am rather disappointed and take severe umbrage that individuals, such as Newmaina, are allowed to get away with such abusive language. He should be requested to withdraw his comment immediately.
January 3, 2019
If anything reassures me that Brexit is on the right side, it’s the sneering unpleasantness of some, but not all, defenders of the EU.
January 5, 2019
Newmania
Er its YOU who are scared of change and wish to live in the past. Brexit is about the future in a digital global world. The EU is about agriculture and smokestack industries. Laughably because the EU and its supporters all fear change the EU is falling far behind in agriculture too.
January 2, 2019
Indeed – very well said. And Ms Howard’s comment that to all intents and purposes Europe IS the EU is nonsense, too, and contributes to the current divisions on leaving Europe and leaving the EU.
January 2, 2019
Penny
“And Ms Howard’s comment that to all intents and purposes Europe IS the EU is nonsense, too, and contributes to the current divisions on leaving Europe and leaving the EU.”
HOW?
January 2, 2019
Newmania
You ought to try reading a history book
January 2, 2019
Was this contribution meant for pseuds corner?!
January 2, 2019
It says on the label that the Design Museum is ” … devoted to contemporary design …”. If you want mid-twentieth-century exhibits, you should look for a Museum of modern design. Modern design refers to an era that has passed; contemporary refers to now and the future. Says Cynthia Bowman.
Reply The items I mentioned are mid century
January 2, 2019
Strictly speaking, of course, contemporary means ‘at the same time’ (from the Latin – ‘con’ with and ‘tempus’ time. Unfortunately, the artists have managed to lose the meaning of a perfectly good word, modern by applying it to a particular ‘artistic’ period and so people like Cynthia Bowman oblige us to misuse another word to describe what follows modern which is something of an oxymoron in my opinion.
January 2, 2019
Apologies. Please note that the bracket should be ended after ‘time’ in the first sentence and a comma after ‘modern’ in the second.
January 2, 2019
Mr Redwood,
Museums of this kind (and this is a private not a public sector Museum) rely on gifts and sponsorships. I guess you should ask Tata Motors, BMW, Volkswagen and maybe Honda, to put some of their historical models of responses Jaguar/Rover, Rolls Royce/Mini and Bentley on display. Maybe the patriotic Motgan and Aston Martin could spare a few specimens too. There are of course plenty of car museums/collections in the UK.. I wonder if you ever visited the Neue Sammlung in Munich or the Kunstgewerbe Museum in Berlin. Both cover a much longer strectch of history, But both also contain many foreign items (especially contemporary stuff) and the smaller Angewandte Kunst Museum in Cologne (mainly contemporary) has a lot of foreign items too, especially from Italy and Scandinavia. I guess the British “Arts and Crafts” movement in not represented in your design museum either (not contemporary) and would have been included in any of the continental collections (as is Bauhaus in Germany).
Dyson: British design but not made in Britain. Contemporary Mini: German/British design, made in England/Holland. Bentley: British/German design, made in Britain from mainly German components. Very confusing this nationalist stuff.
January 2, 2019
Yes it is.
VW Beetle: designed and made in Czechoslovakia, stolen and promoted by the Nazis, continued by the VAG.
January 3, 2019
CR
“In June 1934, Porsche received a contract from Hitler to design a “people’s car” (or Volkswagen), following on from his previous designs such as the 1931 Type 12 car designed for Zündapp. The first two prototypes were completed in 1935.
These were followed by several further pre-production batches during 1936 to 1939.
The car was similar to the contemporary designs of Hans Ledwinka of Tatra, in particular the Tatra V570 and Tatra 97. This resulted in a lawsuit against Porsche claiming infringement of Tatra’s patents regarding air-cooling of the rear engine. The suit was interrupted by the German invasion of Czechoslovakia: several years after World War II Volkswagen paid a settlement.”
So the so-called stolen bits were the ‘air-cooling of the rear engine’ and nothing else?
Hmm! Not much of a claim.
January 3, 2019
You’ve discovered Wikipedia, well done.
You need to research Josef Ganz & explain why he was arrested by the Gestapo for trying to protect his patent claim.
January 2, 2019
The Labour approach to housing would be a disaster, essentially moving towards another state monopoly in housing for the poor and confiscating assets off private landlords by increased taxation, controlling rents and tenancy terms to kill the private rented sector dead.
The Tory (Hammond’s) policy of absurdly high stamp duty rates, over taxing landlords and thus tenants, restrictive planning, bank lending restrictions and over the top greencrap building regulations has not been remotely sensible either.
I have been reading an excellent book, The Great University Con: How we broke our universities and betrayed a generation. Putting our youth into £50k of debt plus interest for largely worthless degrees in largely dubious subjects clearly makes it far harder for them to afford a home. Many universities and many subject have students who on average earn less after graduation (even after 10 years) than non graduates. It is, on balance, a colossal misdirection of public and the students money and time, perhaps for as many as 70% of subjects and students anyway.
Train more people to build and repair houses instead. Make the student loan scheme restricted (or at least slanted towards) STEM subjects or practical skill where jobs are actually available. Restrict it to people with decent A levels about half have 3D or lower at A level. You are not helping these people by adding a worthless degree and a £50k debt to their 3 Ds or lower qualifications.
January 2, 2019
Extraordinary. At least you can rest content in the knowledge that the Jaguar E Type was evidently good enough to be displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and provoked Enzo Ferrari to declare it the most beautiful car ever made. And shortly after its initial launch the Range Rover was displayed at the Louvre in Paris as an exemplar of classic proportions; its overall design, by Spen King the engineer, was consciously based on the proportions 3:5:8 reflected in classical architecture and later revealed in the Fibonacci sequence.
January 2, 2019
Plenty of other places to see these British designs. I see that Dyson even felt he had to set up his own Dyson Institute of Engineering and Technology to train people. Good luck to him, though I am rather too frugal to buy his rather expensive products.
The constant attacks on him (by remainers) for being pro Brexit and putting some of his manufacturing activities in Singapore are pathetic. He should do what is best for the company. We should be copying much of Singapore’s taxation and other policies to attract business – as Jeremy Hunt is almost saying today.
January 2, 2019
Maybe you would like to read a dissertation on Singapore’s system for economic growth? I have one available. Mr Hunt must know very well that Sngapore cannot be copied by a country with a large population, very few state assets (land, investment grant capacity) and negative net financial assets (ie debt). Too bad. Just lowering taxes does not do the trick (and would be unaffordable if done on a scale that would make a difference) and just took at future election results for what lowering labour cost (apart from taxation) would do – meaning reducing workers’ living standards as a policy. Of course Sterling could be depreciated but places like Singapore rely on very strong monetary stability. Sorry, there is hardly anything that the government could consider that is also practicable. And for instance nearby Holland is on track for a corporate tax rate of 15-20% (whiile still preserving budget balance) which will inspire similarly endowed NW European countries to follow. So UK rates in that region would not be very special.
BTW I thought Mr Hunt was against the UK leaving the Union originally. What made him change his mind?
January 2, 2019
“BTW I thought Mr Hunt was against the UK leaving the Union originally. What made him change his mind?”
Probably his chances at the next General Election.
January 2, 2019
Just lowering taxes (or rather lowering the vast government expenditure and vast government waste & corruption) always works, it is hardly rocket science to see why.
January 3, 2019
The contemporary view among got finance ministers (whatever formal title) is that you lower taxes if and only if you have the fiscal space. My point was that a country like The Netherlands has fiscal space while I suspect the UK has not or may not have in the near future. Of course fiscal space is determined by expenditure too. Spend less on NHS, defense etc and you can lower taxes. The few shakels saved from the EU will not do the trick (from my less than well informed perspective).
January 3, 2019
lower revenue or lower tax rates?
January 3, 2019
Rien
“BTW I thought Mr Hunt was against the UK leaving the Union originally. What made him change his mind?”
Perhaps a promise to his (Chinese) wife that she might soon call herself Lady Hunt?
January 6, 2019
margaret howard
Really? Thats your analysis ? Really? Wow no wonder you are easily fooled by the EU
Hunt sees himself as PM in waiting, I’m pretty sure a seat in the Lords is way out of his thinking. Why has he changed his language on Brexit? Well because he is politically aware and realises if he wants to stand any chance of being PM he needs to sound pro Brexit
January 3, 2019
I have one available
Got a link? I’ll take a gander. I don’t think it is the way forward but such an interesting approach I will gladly read more.
Fantastic food available too.
January 2, 2019
Good you have raised this. I suggest asking questions in Parliament as to who has controlled this. It sounds like another Olympic opening ceremony – surreptitiously leftist political indoctrination using the platform and resources of the State.
January 2, 2019
A bit like the BBC then.
Perhaps it would be a suitable resting place for the BBC, to serve as a warning to future generations.
January 2, 2019
If you want to see real joined up thinking about national self-promotion in the cultural sphere look at Russia’s “Russian Seasons” project.Italy(which under it’s new government is rapidly-and willingly-becoming a Russian client state)was the destination in 2017.An intense programme of highbrow events-from the Bolshoi ballet and opera to concert performances to an exhibition of icons and religious art in the Vatican.Resolutely Russian,it received a total of 6million visitors.Apparently CNN described it as “cultural brainwashing”;a re-jigged show moves onto Germany this new year.
January 2, 2019
“2017” should read 2018;Japan was the destination in 2017.
January 2, 2019
I like this post even more. Turns out Lord Mandelson is a trustee and the Design Museum was named European Museum of the Year, 2018.
It is like the museum is trolling you all. Brilliant. Still it’s in ghastly remain backinf London – which dares to have blue and yellow fireworks.
2019 has got off to a cracking start.
January 2, 2019
Oh, is it funded by European subsidy to promote Europe to the British and our vacationers?
January 2, 2019
Dares, no – submits, yes
January 2, 2019
I find blue and yellow rather an attractive colour combination. I didn’t bother with watching this display but could understand such a choice on aesthetic grounds. The 1.5m or so Londoners who voted leave however (that’s more than voted for Mr Khan) may well decide it’s a good reason to give that useless little weasel a kick when the next mayoral election comes.
January 2, 2019
The “Long march through the institutions” continues unabated. Perhaps the government would like to expend some energy removing a lot of the placemen responsible. A “Bonfire of the Quango’s” would be a good place to start.
January 2, 2019
It may be my imagination but is seems to me whoever wins the General Election the left is always in charge.
Every Quango, Charity, BBC, Sky, ITV, Channel 4, Church of England is run by the left, for the left and spouts constant left wing and Remain propoganda.
January 2, 2019
Stephen. Yes, it’s sickening.
January 2, 2019
Stephen
So how and why did Leave win?
January 2, 2019
because the majority voted leave.
January 2, 2019
Independent thinkers who, for the most part, love their country and wish to see it prosper.
January 2, 2019
“but at the length, truth will out” – The Merchant of Venice
January 6, 2019
margaret howard
How did leave win? Well because they asked the people and for the first time we got to say how we felt. They are now closing ranks and trying to undo the democratic vote with the help of some useful fools on the ultra remain side .
Genie is out of the bottle though. The establishment is exposed for the sham it is. Politicians of all sides have mostly been exposed as ignorant, devious weasels who lack awareness of the modern world and are almost devoid of any practical talents .
We await someone with leadership talent to take the stage
January 2, 2019
Well the current Tories are very left wing (in the over regulate, tax, borrow and piss down the drain mode and the Libdims are even worse and Labour appalling. Not a great choice.
January 2, 2019
Sky and the BBC should be merged into the BSBC.
January 2, 2019
The Olympic opening ceremony was appalling, leftist, political indoctrination with all the “isn’t the dire NHS wonderful” and aren’t factories foul & dirty drivel. But then schools, the BBC, exam syllabuses, many university courses, many charities, most of the state sector and the EU all push this lefty, bloated state knows best, global warming, fake “equality”, PC and other such propaganda.
The reality is for every £1 in tax we pay the public are lucky of get back even 40p in any value at best – and that will probably be delivered as something we did not really want anyway.
The system (with a state sector approaching nearly 50% of GDP) can only persist with endless “big state” propaganda paid for by the tax payer. You pay for your own indoctrination.
January 2, 2019
Lifelogic
“The reality is for every £1 in tax we pay the public are lucky of get back even 40p in any value at best”
===
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde
January 2, 2019
Well we can all see that value of the bloated and inept state sector. Very little indeed. A state sector at 25% of GPD is more than enough. It would be 25% of a much larger cake!
January 3, 2019
So a waste of more than half is ok for you.
January 6, 2019
margaret howard
and what exactly IS the value of a an unelected, oligarchy , superstate of old white men?
January 2, 2019
Good morning.
Maybe they never had enough space ? Or maybe the theme was on foreign design only exhibition ? Who knows ? But I will concede that leaving out the TYPE – E Jag’ was indeed unforgivable. A looker in anyone’s eyes 🙂
But one thing about this country, and London in particular, is that we are not short of history. Sadly, that is a history some seem to be ashamed of and want to either denigrate or, rather not talk about. A bit like MP’s not mentioning England in the HoC.
New Years resolution for all MP’s. Must refer to England as England and not the Home Counties or such.
Thanks.
January 2, 2019
Good luck with that one Mark B. England is a word which must never be uttered from their lips despite the fact more and more of what 650 UK MPs talk about nowadays only refers to England. They deliberately refer to ‘the country’ or more insultingly the nations and the regions instead and that way we stupid English won’t realise England is now the only nation in the UK and western world without a voice and absolutely zero self representation which allows them to constantly and blatantly discriminate against us on a regular basis . Who can forget May standing behind a placard ‘Future fit for Britain’ when talking (kicking another can down the road) about £9,250 tuition fees knowing full well these punitive and discriminatory fees only apply to England’s young?
The media and retailers are no better. No doubt any UK icons on display at John’s exhibition would have been labelled as either Scottish, Welsh, NI or British in the same way supermarkets are allowed to label their products. Produce is either Scottish, Welsh, NI or from the UK but never English. England is not recognised and our duplicitous politicians want it to stay that way except when they want to use us as a ca$hcow for the benefit of the rest of the UK.
Day after day, 650 UK politicians from across the whole UK decide on policies which only affect England and not once is the word England ever uttered. Could their contempt for England and their no. 1 reason of self preservation be any more telling?
No doubt this comment will stay indefinitely in moderation because although our host purports to speak for England, he too doesn’t believe in equality for England, ie. an English Parliament, an English First Minister, a Secretary of State for England and equal funding for England.
Until we get these, no more, no less than the ruk has enjoyed for over two decades now, they will carry on ignoring England and refusing to speak it’s name.
January 2, 2019
So true Jools. I live in Scotland (not for much longer ) and goods in the shops all have Scotland written all over them. Scottish this and Scottish that but things made in England have made in the UK on them. I think this is shameful. England has much to be proud of. We are producing wines, cheeses and grow good quality fruit and meat. I would like to be able to buy English wines as easily as I can foreign wines from my local supermarket. I am also totally hissed off with the fact that the devolved parliaments have a say in what happens in England. For example, England does not enjoy the shopping hours that Scotland does. SNP voted it down. What’s it got to do with them? If Ishow how proud I am of being English in Scotland it’s frowned upon and I am amazed how many Scots will not support England in sport or anything else.
January 2, 2019
Fedup – Just to cheer you, I don’t think we should pander to small-mindedness. I don’t want to be a ‘little Englander’. Someone once said, if men were gentlemen, there’d be no need for ‘Womens’ Lib’ (I suppose now it would be ‘Me Too’!) I’d like to see a United Kingdom based on England, yes, but in which all nations felt honoured to be a part. Our postage stamps are, I think, the only ones in the world that simply have the monarch’s head. But, ‘how are the mighty fallen!’ Meanwhile, when you come to this part of the world, I hope you find it agreeable and soon feel at home (to the extent you’ll no longer be ‘fed-up’, and need a new name!) This is how historian Rev Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) described the terrain in his ‘Worthies of England’: ‘A large and lovely county, generally fair and fruitful, affording grass, grain and all things necessary for man’s sustenance’. I’m sure Owen Patterson would agree, that its still a lovely place to live. 🙂
January 3, 2019
Norman, I really don’t understand your reasoning. Why are we known as Little Englanders because we are proud of our heritage? I am English. Born in a country called England and I will always be proud to be so. Just as Scots are proud, Welsh and Irish too. The difference is, they are allowed to promote their culture and proud to be born into their countries. We are made to feel ashamed in many cases. Our country is hardly ever mentioned. The Uk as a whole is a great place but we must all feel free to be individual and be proud of who we are. So yes, I am looking forward to moving back to my country of birth. I never felt at home in Spain and I don’t in Scotland either. That’s my choice and if I’m a Little Englander then so be it. Tough!
January 2, 2019
JoolsB
When the SNP started out campaigning for an independent Scotland no one gave them a snowflake’s chance in hell that they would get anywhere near their dream. Give it time, give it time. 😉
January 2, 2019
MarkB
Wasn’t that before the referendum when Scotland voted overwhelmingly to Remain?
January 3, 2019
The independence referendum was held before the EU referendum. Scots voted to stay in the union. Even after Brexit I would be surprised if they voted to leave the union. They know where their bread is buttered and they would lose a lot of the freebies they have come to enjoy. Believe me, it’s a lot!
January 3, 2019
fedup
“They know where their bread is buttered and they would lose a lot of the freebies they have come to enjoy.”
And we the enormous whisky tax and oil revenues?
January 2, 2019
During the staged Brexit debates Amber Rudd and Sadiq Khan called us ‘Little Englanders’ , if I had made a similar derogatory comment about Mr Khan’s ethnicity I would probably be in prison by now, but a derogatory bit of name calling about English people goes by without comment. I have also noticed that Sadiq Khan has a problem referring to London as Britain or England’s capital city, he calls it a European or global city never ever England’s capital city. The British and English contribution to the creation of London is being erased from public discourse, as could be seen by Mr Khan paying tribute to the one million EU nationals in London, but no mention of the half million people who commute into London on a daily basis. You wonder where he thinks those people come from, a non people from nowhere land may be.
January 3, 2019
@ Iain Moore
as could be seen by Mr Khan paying tribute to the one million EU nationals in London, but no mention of the half million people who commute into London on a daily basis.
The man is a total disgrace to his position and the capital. He should be stripped of his office.
January 2, 2019
‘Regions’ is one I particularly detest for it encapsulates the British establishment’s desire to dismember England , at least with Home Counties there is some nod to our culture of counties.
January 2, 2019
Is an Englishman’s Home his County?
January 2, 2019
JR do not worry. Your government’s “deficits do not matter’ economic policy will soon explode in its face. One positive side effect of that will be that lefty ‘charities’ like the Design Council that survive on public handouts will cease to exist.
January 2, 2019
We have too many ‘charities’ on the public teat and ‘think tanks’ that get commissions from government to tell us what government wants. But we have covered this sometime ago.
January 2, 2019
That of course is the problem, the Left hold disproportional posts in charities, museums etc. etc. and are rabidly anti British. They feel they should demonstrate their internationalism by embracing all things foreign = good and all things British = bad.
Nothing is more apparent than May, Hammond and Robins together with the Civil Service in the handling of Brexit.
Serving a foreign master is second nature to them and they see us a plebs.
January 2, 2019
Perhaps we should know who is sponsoring this museum.
January 2, 2019
The chairman is Lord Mandelson
January 2, 2019
Enough said!
I assume it is “free” to enter? Or rather paid for by others.
Anything that is “free” or subsidised makes it hard for other providers (even with better and more efficient services) to compete. So you get dire state virtual monopolies and kill competition. We see it with the NHS, dentistry, state education, state housing, the BBC ……
January 2, 2019
Seriously – who of adult age gets free dentistry? I’ve always paid for the dentist.
The older ‘something for nothing’ generation really is a drain on the state.
January 2, 2019
It is subsidised as I free only for some!
January 3, 2019
Older people pay for dentistry too.
January 3, 2019
Pensioners pay the same as other age groups Andy. In Scotland it’s another thing they get free. Free checks ups for all and free eye tests too.
January 3, 2019
Lots of people get free dentistry
Under 18’s and anyone on low income benefits for example.
There is a long list if you look at the link on the NHS website
January 2, 2019
Or simply visit the correct museum(s)…. 🙂
January 2, 2019
Many museums are badly designed, as are the outputs of architects.
January 2, 2019
If a design museum has a political motivation in it’s presentations then it becomes propaganda. Criteria for choice of exhibit should be based on innovation, function, and shear beauty, if possible a combination
of all three. In the case of Concorde or the E Type this criteria is fulfilled.
January 2, 2019
Why are you surprised John.
The Socialist, Anti Colonial, Anti Business, Anti Fossil Fuel, Pro EU, Climate change promotors only ever want to denigrate our past.
They have infiltrated our Schools, Universities, Local Councils and dare I say it Parliament, to such a degree over the past few decades, that rewriting history and wanting to remove the odd statue, is simply par for the course.
No wonder many of our younger generation know nothing much of our real history, our huge influence in the World of years past, of the industrial revolution, of world wide shipping and trade, and of course the start of democracy.
January 2, 2019
They have infiltrated numbers 10 and 11 Downing St too, and they are still there.
January 2, 2019
@ Alan Jutson
Very well said Alan. Totally agree
January 3, 2019
Alan Jutson
“and of course the start of democracy.”
I bet the ancient Greeks would be surprised to hear that.
We didn’t even have our own word for it and had to borrow one of theirs.
In fact we have never had a democracy. Oligarchy describes our system much more accurately with an unelected house of lords, head of state, civil service, judiciary – in other words rule by establishment.
We plebs are just thrown a few crumbs to make us believe that democracy is what we’ve got.
January 6, 2019
margaret howard
What you say is true
Which makes your antagonism towards the first democratic vote we’ve had in 40 years ( the referendum) most odd.
Anyway first we will clear out the EU oligarchs , then we can start on the Lords and Parliament
January 2, 2019
That’s one museum off the list then. I’m surprised Concorde wasn’t featured. Designed by Sir James Hamilton. If they wanted to focus on Europe at least this was a joint venture by the British and French. The engine was Siddley/Rolls Royce, a great British company with more Brigish companies providing a lot of the design materials used to build the plane. We have made a fantastic contribution to the modern world.
January 2, 2019
Concord may have been a good design, but it was another economically idiotic government funded project by France and UK (like HS2, the climate change act, Hinkley C). About the same time, the Boing 747 was produced and profitably sold over 1500 aircraft. Only 14 of 20 Concords ever entered service!
The tax payer subsidising the rich to fly to New York slightly more quickly while drinking champagne. All thanks to Tory Benn not cancelling it I think! Now it can take nearly 3 hours just to get through the airport to get on the plane.
January 2, 2019
L/L Yes, but the museum is about great design and not whether something was financially viable. We all know Concorde was expensive and only used by the rich but what a fantastic sight when seen in the skies. Everyone stopped to watch it.
January 2, 2019
As one who flew Concorde and drank the Champagne, I still have the 10-inch model they gave me in, the office. Those were the days.
It is good that BA brought back the Concorde flight number BA1 for the A318 version with bigger engines; that can do a five-degree glide slope into London City’s short runway. Good thinking Mr Walsh.
January 2, 2019
It was a great way to fly between Washington and Paris. Was it a partially British design? I had no idea. It felt solid and reliable.
January 2, 2019
Rien, that comment is worthy of the gutter.
January 2, 2019
Big issue today because FO charge victims to return them to the uk. Parents of victims are culpable, charge them. They could afford the outgoing fare so why not. This is of course after they have been charged with facilitating a false marriege. In bad cases deport the parents. Their behaviour is not conducive of the British way of life.
January 2, 2019
And to think that much of the funding for this came out of the public purse. Over £4m from the Heritage lottery and more from the arts council. Why do we bother when they find it so difficult to acknowledge great works in their own country?
January 2, 2019
The Heritage Lottery Fund ‘s purpose is the quiet repair and maintenance of the private estates and property of the Gentry, done under the radar for the most part and certainly unseen by the poor and hopeless that queue at the terminals and purchase the scratch cards prominently on offer at the tills.
January 2, 2019
Off-topic, I read here:
https://www.ft.com/content/ad549baa-0d10-11e9-acdc-4d9976f1533b
“Ministers have been locked in talks for months with the shipping industry to try to secure freight services to bring in sensitive medical supplies and food in the event of no-deal Brexit — using less congested sea routes.
In those circumstances it is expected that increased border checks by the EU could lead to big delays between Dover and Calais, causing wider disruption to the road network in Kent. Ministers believe that under a no-deal Brexit the Dover route could run at just 12 to 25 per cent of normal capacity for up to six months.”
It might be a good idea if those “ministers” came out and gave details to justify such dire expectations rather than just leaking them to the press, but then that would not serve the Prime Minister’s purpose of terrifying the population into submission.
Presumably nobody on the continent will be bothered when French customs officials are ordered to introduce entirely unnecessary checks on our exports passing through Calais, and thereby virtually bring to halt their exports to the UK …
I am sick of this deceitful government and in particular its deceitful head.
January 2, 2019
After your average freight forwarder, shipping agent, shipping company, and transport operator etc has decided to call in the receivers when confronted with a queue of lorries on the M20, it will be the can-do attitude of the multi-talented Tory government, who you wrongly imagined were all useless eaters, which will save our bacon (Danish).
January 2, 2019
The EU will introduce the same customs checks at Calais and the Irish border, as it currently does for imports from all other “third countries” it trades with; without preferential agreements (yet). That includes the USA, with which, the EU-USA have gradually built over a hundred mutual recognition agreements of each other’s regulatory systems. A no-deal Brexit will have to do the same; but, it will take time.
Come to think of it, what exactly is the consolidated position of the “no-dealers” on the Irish border. The Brexiteers I encountered on New Year’s Eve, think there will still be a transition period, with a no-deal Brexit. As usual, it proved impossible to explain reality to them.
January 2, 2019
We’ve had a 2-year transition period following the referendum. Heaven help the Tories if they screw up a WTO deal Brexit.
January 3, 2019
“The EU will introduce the same customs checks at Calais and the Irish border, as it currently does for imports from all other “third countries” it trades with”
If the EU operates the same customs checks for all “third countries” then the EU is not only stupid it is disregarding its obligations under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, which lays down that countries should operate such checks at an intensity proportionate to the risk level, as assessed taking into account a wide range of factors including the country of origin.
And only today the Irish government has said that there will be no checks on agricultural products at the land border with the north:
https://www.independent.ie/business/brexit/emergency-eu-aid-to-be-sought-for-brexit-fallout-37676966.html
“He …”, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, “… added that there will be no checks on farm produce along the Border with the North”.
January 2, 2019
The UK exports £12bn/year to the EU of pharmaceutical products.
Will the EU be holding up these medical supplies too ?
January 2, 2019
Labour’s housing policy?
Does it include restricting arrivals and their access to subsidised housing? If not it will not work for the many.
January 2, 2019
Was there room in the museum for the Conservative Party?
January 2, 2019
It was a museum of design, not history. Good barb though 🙂
January 2, 2019
Please do write further on this. A regular moan is why a brilliant and popular design is discarded. With cars only the 911 seems to have been kept roughly close. The last real Jag was the S type. There is a thriving business in classic car renovation, just too expensive. Clothes and furniture are also subject to perceived fashion demands, which usually go full circle. Try to duplicate a pullover/jacket/shoes two years after purchase, forget it.
January 2, 2019
@A.Sedgwick
Top tip: If you find a pair of shoes which you like and which are a perfect fit, buy two or three pairs, otherwise you’ll never be able to replace them when they’re worn out.
January 2, 2019
“Top tip: If you find a pair of shoes which you like and which are a perfect fit, buy two or three pairs, otherwise you’ll never be able to replace them when they’re worn out.”
Good advice – oh, how I wish I’d bought two pairs of every shoes I wore in the 1980s!
January 2, 2019
At last a whinge that I share. Great. Although there are still quite a few UK companies that make stuff that looks like you already had it twenty years ago (and may last that long too), at least for men.
January 2, 2019
Museums in general seem to have been infiltrated and sacrificed to The Project. The Design Museum won the European Museum of the Year Award in 2018. This award was founded by The Council of Europe and the winning of the prize was said by the curator to celebrate its “ common European future”!
I prefer my museums to be non political ..which I fear very few are now!!
January 2, 2019
Shocking omission of the mini – a British icon designed by an immigrant who most responders on here would have barred from entry.
January 2, 2019
Most here support a points-based immigration system like most sensible mature democracies. Suggest you take your prejudices elsewhere.
January 2, 2019
You have a very low opinion of your countrymen.
January 3, 2019
If you want to play what if … Apparently Alec Issigonis and his parents were British subjects via his Grandfather so highly unlikely they would have been barred. He came here with his family in 1922 because Turkey expelled all British subjects so they would have been true refugees anyway. Further, his father was a very successful engineer so would likely have been welcomed even in a points based system.
Keep your bigotry to yourself.
January 3, 2019
Richard
Sir Alex Issigonis would not have been “barred from entry ” into the UK because he inherited British citizenship from his father.
I suggest you check your facts before making nonsensical racist slurs towards “most responders on here”.
January 2, 2019
Doesn’t this reflect the defeatist culture that so dominates everything here, including Brexit, where foreign is best, and nothing we have achieved is worth a mention, and if we dare mention something you will be shouted down as a racist, bigot, populist or a nationalist. The negative propaganda has got to such a point that our politicians think we need to shelter in the EEA behind little Lichtenstein population 37k.
January 2, 2019
No mention of Concorde, the most beautiful plane ever built?
January 2, 2019
Beautiful perhaps, but noisy, very fuel inefficient and a complete waste of tax payers money.
January 2, 2019
Interesting – but not surprising as there are few great British designs.
The Model T and Beetle had a worldwide impact. Mini is popular here but not beyond.
Likewise Vespa – a cool global brand. Triump is not.
I know JCB and Dyson both backer Brexit but ultimately they are little British companies.
One museum I would like to recommend to you all is Brooklands.
You would all like it. It has a Concorde, famous old British cars, planes, bikes and buses.
It is like a walk back into an era you are trying to recreate with Brexit.
I enjoyed it – for a few hours. But it makes you realise how much the world has moved on.
January 2, 2019
Oh, you mean that era when people were self-sufficient, didn’t expect everything to be given to them on a plate, worked and financed their own retirement, didn’t obtain everything on credit because they want it all and they want it now?
Sound familiar? Sound like a Baby Boomer philosophy? Because it is – and why would even the selfish and greedy knock such a noble ethic?
However, Brexit isn’t about recreating that era – or hasn’t that sunk in yet, Andy? Those of us Brexiteers who are sensible enough to listen to respected seniors can admire their fortitude and determination in providing for themselves, and creating a successful country, which your ilk are trying to give away. Brexit will move us on from this, not back – most of us know we can stand on the shoulders of giants.
January 2, 2019
Andy
How do you manage to get so many things factually wrong?
The original mini was sold globally and ( still is ) was incredibly popular
Vespa sales are almost entirely in Italy and UK
Triumph motorcycles sell globally
The Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle is a global icon which is why it wasn’t a Vespa used by Steve Macqueen in the Great Escape
The Triumph Bonneville was and is one of the worlds most popular motorcycles
JCB has 18 factories in the UK, Germany, North and South America, Australia, India, China, and the CIS.
Museums tend to have old things in them, thats the point of museums
You Andy are ignorant , you sum up most remainers with your total lack of knowledge about almost everything you comment on.
Your pretend business must have been really good.
January 2, 2019
Libertarian
“Andy how do you manage to get so many things factually wrong?”
Cos he’s a remainer, and that’s what remainers are like.
They live in their little fantasy world of multicoloured wool and turquoise hair. To them, brexit means they won’t be getting a free ride off our backs because the EU says so, and they might have to do some graft for once.
It terrifies ’em to think they might have to get up at 4 am and clean bogs for minimum wage, like many of their European friends in this country do without baulk.
To be honest, I’d rather see Andy and his lefty like replaced by eastern Europeans, they work bloody hard and in some sectors they show us how it’s done. They are the people we need to accommodate.
January 3, 2019
Steve, indeed, if some of the lazy benefit grabbers who could work but choose not to found their benefits cut to the bone they might get off their backsides and actually go out and do the menial jobs that alot of them are only qualified to do in the first place because they are the types that didn’t bother to benefit from their free education.
January 3, 2019
Steve
“They live in their little fantasy world of multicoloured wool and turquoise hair. To them, brexit means they won’t be getting a free ride off our backs because the EU says so”
Not fantasy but one gained after over 40 years of EU membership which turned us from the ‘sick man of Europe’ with collapsing industry, rampant inflation, power shortages, balance of payment deficits into the world’s fifth largest economy – since Brexit alas already dropped to 7th place
The only criteria for this referendum should have been the benefits EU membership gave us.
January 5, 2019
margaret Howard
I love it when you repost your easily debunked fake stuff. It just proves the point about how out of touch remainers are
For the fifth time
All the things you cite as UK problems in the 1970’s happened AFTER we joined the EC
Oh and wrong the World Bank and Investopia both still list the UK as 5th largest, they do acknowledge that India has overtaken France though who are now in 7th place
“The only criteria for this referendum should have been the benefits EU membership gave us.”
You would still have lost because there aren’t any benefits
January 2, 2019
.Our Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is speaking as I write at a Press conference.
He is speaking of Russia annexing 10,000 square miles of the territory of Ukraine.
Standing in Singapore, his words lose their keen.
Also of the wisdom of Singapore’s ex- Leader Mr Lee Kuan Yew. I can recall Mr Lee saying on a BBC documentary around 2005 that Mainland China, because of internal contradictions, would inevitably fall apart into separate entities within ten years. A tad out.
Mr Hunt sees, according to an agreeing Grant Shapps MP, that Singapore provides a great economic model for post Brexit UK.
This is the first time I have considered John McDonnell Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer having a better economic plan than not one but two Conservative Party politicians.
The New Year has taken on a darker aspect. The storm was close, now is over everyone’s heads
January 2, 2019
So he goes to Singapore and criticizes Russia for stealing what was theirs in the first place. All the while ignoring China who invaded a peaceful country and absorbed it into itself and oppresses the people.
The less we here from such people the better.
January 2, 2019
I’ve no time for Hunt but I think it right not to mention Tibet(?),not so as not to offend China but because it is a complicated issue.
As it happens I was brushing up on my my history of China only yesterday-specifically the fallout from the collapse of the Qing Empire after the revolution of 1911 and ( I actually read!)the 1913 Proclamation of Independence by the then Dalai Lama-which no Chinese government has ever accepted.
January 2, 2019
MarkB
“So he goes to Singapore and criticizes Russia for stealing what was theirs in the first place”
Spot on Mark.
January 2, 2019
What a bore for them – and,furthermore,he’s wasting his time.Singapore and Russia are cosying up.There’s been a huge increase in the number of Russian expats and companies setting up there over the past few years.Russian capital not wanted in London?Singapore say yeah!Fits in very nicely with their Asian pivot too.
Their PM said in an interview last year that he was really looking forward to the day the Singapore skyline was graced by the golden onion domes of a Russian Orthodox church.Lo and behold,one is to be built this year.
Our host really ought to have a word with some of his colleagues,the Russia obsession is starting to make foreigners think we’ve gone mad.We’ve lost the Great Game..Deal with it,move on!
January 2, 2019
As well as how to look to the past, we also need to look to the future, even when this means using traditional methods such as in education https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/01/brexit-is-about-renewal-not-just-leaving-the-eu-and-theres-no-time-to-waste/
January 2, 2019
Who is paying for this museum to be open and managed? Who is in charge, what is their background? Were they born in the United Kingdom?
Could you write to them asking why British design isn’t exhibited to a large % of the space available but also promoted? Which of our Universities teach design to the highest standards, are they clearly represented, are they asked about their famous alumni or don’t they have any?
It’s always a good idea to have the rest of the world’s best design exhibits on a rotating, loaned basis, with agreements to loan them a floor of our best exhibits on a reciprocal basis. Then the vehicle that delivers their exhibit to us takes our exhibit back to them saving costs.
January 2, 2019
I’m fairly certain that tower blocks are equally unsuitable as Museum venues.
January 2, 2019
Was there a Japanese ARM SoC? Early ARM chips were designed by Roger Wilson an English engineering genius (later to become Sophie Wilson) which was a British company before being flogged off to the Japs by the Tories. What is it about Europe that produces such great engineers, all men, and what is the point of importing millions of people from areas of the world not noted for their capacity for producing engineers (apart from IED manufacture) which are essential to a high added value economy?
January 2, 2019
Replacement
January 2, 2019
I would ask who funds the Design Museum and who pays the Curator ?
January 2, 2019
From your Museum article it would suggest that this country had no design talent at all. And has never had.
What is it with these people that they want to put OUR Country down? Britain is the foundation of the modern World. Who knows where we would be, had innovation in 18th century British created the Industrial Ages? Victorians kept up the pace. We were the World’s Super-Power up to WW1 when the costs started to badly affect our growth. WW2 made it worse and when the Socialist Government was elected in 1945, it decided to enlarge the Public Sector and set “targets” accruing much bureaucracy rather than promote and support Private innovations. Unlike Britain, Germany, cut bureaucracy and removed crippling rules and regulation and became a Power House run by the Private Sector. They ended up much better than post-war Britain.
Therefore, it truly is a wonder that we still retain such talent and so very offensive for the Museum to choose to ignore it, in favour of Foreign contributions. Why?
January 2, 2019
The description is quite saddening really. It sounds like a political statement and a shoestring budget – photos of cars? That feels rather like riding the ghost train with the lights on where you can see that it’s just a piece of low-budget dirty sacking that brushes your face.
January 2, 2019
I’ll speculate that Knights of the realm rarely sally forth from brutalist architecture these days, i’m still in favour of cyclopean architecture with gambrel features.
As the sort of providence New New England could aspire to be it’s plurality that defines GB and the Commonwealth.
January 2, 2019
Dear John, if you want to see the worst example of a museum being destroyed by political correctness, you should see the Maritime Museum at Greenwich. 15 years ago it was a fantastic experience with dozens of anchors and cannons on the front lawn, and the museum was choc-a-bloc with interesting historical stories and models, detailing Britain’s role in the world of martitime travel, trade and warfare.
The museum has been entirely destroyed in my opinion, there is almost nothing of any interest or benefit, all history of both world wars has been almost entirely removed, and the only effort that has been expended was an area called “Britain’s history regarding the slave trade”.
January 2, 2019
@ lojolondon
Your opinion is not on its own. Totally agree with your comments.
Back in the early 70s you could go there spending all day, and still have so much more to see. Every room with a different theme and so informative which were changed around on a regular basis to cover the full history of our great maritime nation.
January 2, 2019
Sorry but a lot of these products you mention were dead ends.
The steam locomotives were a pursuit of the past rather than looking at electric and diesel designs for the future.
As for the Morris Minor – going nowhere very slowly. The Mini was redesigned by BMW. I once had the misfortune to have an Austin-Morris as a hire car for a day. Big mistake.
Dindn’t Triumph make a car known as the “trash seven”?
January 2, 2019
@Martin. Where have you been? The Mini was an icon back in the 60’s and the British invented it. What BMW have done to it is make it bigger so the name Mini means nothing now. Steam locomotion changed the world. There’s nothing better than seeing a steam locomotive in action.
January 2, 2019
The Mini starred in The Italian Job.
January 2, 2019
fedup
“What BMW have done to it is make it bigger so the name Mini means nothing now.”
No, not just bigger. They remade it and turned it from a housewife/student runaround into a proper car for adults. Without BMW ownership the mini would be history by now.
January 3, 2019
Margaret, I happen to think that the same would have happened if it had stayed in the UK. You don’t have to be German to design something brilliant. Our friends drove BMW 4×4’s and thought they were great and then changed to Land Rover and have never gone back to BMW. Can I ask why you hate your country so much and why you dont’ just move out?
January 3, 2019
fedup
” Our friends drove BMW 4×4’s and thought they were great and then changed to Land Rover and have never gone back to BMW.”
Land Rover – a subsidiary of Indian automotive company Tata Motors headed by their German CEO Dr Ralph Speth, former head of BMW.
January 3, 2019
margaret howard this is why it is so important to have British design museums representing the best of British to stop people like you badmouthing our Country every day.
The new mini is no longer a mini car and is an ugly big box of a car, i guess the Germans perhaps didn’t want a competitor to their smart cars.
January 3, 2019
a-tracy
“The new mini is no longer a mini car and is an ugly big box of a car”
Seems very popular though.
January 2, 2019
What? Oh what a sad and bitter man you must be. It is a “MUSEUM”, which means (Thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary)….
“A building in which objects of historical, scientific, artistic, or cultural interest are stored and exhibited”.
So, do you really think the original designs for the Steam Engine, the Morris Minor and the Internationally acclaimed “Mini”, were completed last week?
You appear to be ignorant of the meaning of such words as “History, “Culture”, “Science ” and “Artistic” so I guess it must be the fault of “Brexit”, again.
Or is it more, “Despite Brexit, Britain, as a fully independent Nation, once ruled most of the World and set a fine example for future democracies?
January 2, 2019
We did produce some very innovative diesel and electric locomotives.
One of my favourites is the inspirational English Electric Class 55 ‘Deltic’, so named because of the design of each of its twin power-plants producing a total of 3,300 horse power, and at the time, it was the most powerful single unit diesel in the world. Although not an export success, the class gave many years of prodigious service on the ECML, and some sixty years later, would still give a modern locomotive a run for its money.
There was (and still is) one prototype, and twenty-two production locomotives were manufactured of which no fewer than six have been preserved, such is their following. For the record, I drove 55 019 Royal Highland Fusilier on the Nene Valley Railway. It’s like driving your house looking out from your upstairs bedroom window, and starting it up is the closest anyone will ever get to an explosion without killing themselves!
Aircraft are another of my many interests, and the iconic English Electric Lightning interceptor stands proud. That too would give many a modern fighter a run for its money, and the least said about Labour’s decision to cancel the fantastic TSR 2 the better.
Britain had a world-wide reputation for being innovative, yet the name Roy Chadwick seems not to be mentioned these days outside of aviation circles, almost as if to do so is somehow not quite politically correct because it was he who designed the Avro Lancaster that took the war to the enemy, and it was his team that designed the Avro Vulcan – one of a triad of V-bombers – which would have done the same thing had the need arisen.
We can look at so many different equally innovative and iconic British designs, and trust me when I say we can be just as inventive today – the talent still exists. We just need to nurture it, and not be ashamed to promote the United Kingdom.
We have let ourselves and much of our history be airbrushed out. Time to take back control me thinks. Our destiny can once again be in our own hands, so let us grasp this opportunity, rather than be shrinking violets and ridden over by those who seek to be our eternal masters.
Tad Davison
January 2, 2019
Museum pieces that are still being made to the original pattern could be interesting, cyclists could name at least one brand but there must be others..
January 2, 2019
I went to the Design Museum in 2018 to see the absolutely brilliant Ferrari exhibition they had assembled. I must say that I found the rest of the museum exceedingly disappointing – there was nothing of real significance that was British. It was a good job that it was well worth going just to see the history of Ferrari. Having been to the exceedingly poor exhibition in Maranello it was a revelation, although, understandably, it could not possibly compare with the Enzo Ferrari museum in Modena.
As for Malcolm Sayer’s peerless Jaguar E Type, Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has one on permanent display.
Enzo Ferrari rated it as the most beautiful car ever designed and he knew a thing or two about good looking cars !
January 2, 2019
Where is this UK place , isn’t it that dinosaur which in 1984 and so on they tried to Do Do?
January 2, 2019
Hey they openly try to ridicule me for being trained by our one and only state and examined by the public sector. The badge I wear daily they say is an artefact from the past . Ignorant bar stewards .
January 2, 2019
Also off-topic, from the Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt today:
http://www.cityam.com/271002/theresa-may-find-way-get-her-brexit-deal-through-parliament
“When Theresa May comes back with those reassurances that she has been seeking from the EU that the deal that is on the table is not going to lead to us being permanently trapped in the customs union … she will find a way to get this deal through parliament”
How can the EU possibly give any such reassurances when the Irish government will have a veto on whatever alternative legal arrangements either make the ‘backstop’ unnecessary before it comes into effect, or render it superfluous after it has come into effect?
It should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that the Irish government will NEVER willingly allow the UK to escape from whatever rules of the EU customs union and single market that Theresa May agrees to accept on a ‘temporary’ basis.
I repeat, unless it was placed under severe duress neither this Irish government nor any future Irish government would ever permit the UK to free itself from those shackles that Theresa May proposes to place upon us; and she knows perfectly well that it would not be ‘temporary’, it would be in perpetuity just as she wants.
January 2, 2019
There are a lot of MP’s who, should we actually Leave the EU, are going to be found rather wanting. The First Among Equals being the primary example.
January 2, 2019
You must understand that this is simply payback for centuries of occupation. Imagine the Poles in the same situation vs the Russians or Germans. The Irish do not forgive, well , many of them.
January 2, 2019
The Irish are not in any position to threaten the UK. Back in your box Eurotroll.
January 2, 2019
CR
The Irish not threaten the UK? They overwhelmingly voted Remain and along with Scotland will break up the UK leaving us just a rump England.
What a disaster after centuries of wars and sacrifice to forge a UK.
January 3, 2019
That “rump” England is where over 80% of the population of the UK lives and where the vast majority of wealth of the UK is created.
And the vast majority of tax revenue is raised in England,
with large amounts being transferred to N Ireland Wales and Scotland from “rump” England.
January 2, 2019
Huizer
What qualifies you to talk such rubbish concerning our colonial past ?
January 2, 2019
Which version of it do you prefer? Jan Morris, J. Paxman, A. Jackson, P. Brendon, … ? You know, Steve, there are very different views on the British Empire, and various episodes over the two centuries and its huge expanse, some brilliant, some better forgotten. Unfortunately, for people of a certain age, only the brilliant ones seem to be remembered. Which Churchill do you like, the South African one, the Dardanelles one, the Iraq one or the Blitz one?
January 3, 2019
Knowledge
January 3, 2019
Payback which will probably bounce back on them …
January 2, 2019
I have seen more Union Jacks and boasting of British Products during my 3 years in China. Shopping malls are full of shops with Union Jacks in the windows. Anything with the slightest link to the UK is highlighted as UK is seen as one of the best brands in the world. A problem with UK belonging to EU is EU extracts money from UK and returns a portion of it to museum, exhibitions, BBC, education establishments on the condition it is biased towards EU and talks down UK. It was noticeable in China without these conditions that the Chinese value our products more than EU and those treacherous remainers. It was great being British in China as unlike in EU we are really valued. Soon we will be able to talk ourselves up in our own land.
January 2, 2019
Highgate could loan Marx, to the London Dungeon!
January 2, 2019
Well a lot of people fed up with that museum.
What we should be fed up with is the 3 main Political parties in Westminster.
The real dissgrace is the Tory party, namely the head of this pathetic mess and her Cabinet
So this is the head of the Establishment party, that sees fit to offer us a Manifesto which got them into power, we may conclude then that they knew just exactly what we wanted.
Yet they have seen fit to offer us The W A, which is about as far away from what they promised us as it is possible to get.
Why not look hard at just what is happening to this once Great Britain.
We have been hi jacked by the very people who promised us our Freedom from 40 years of total control by a foreign state.
This Treacherous bunch operate in broad daylight, they have huge help from all forms of media .
The deck has been rigged for some decades, the Civil Service is of coarse totally on board.
This Nanny knows best, well it is high time we all sat up and look just where we are.
We can now see clearly that we no longer reside in what we thought was a Democricy , well do we ?
Given then that the Establishment knows best , just how far away from our last election are we?
Indeed have we had it already.
Just what point would it be to bother voting again.
Well those Brexiteer s amongst us , there is supposed to be no chance of getting rid of the PM for another year, and with a probable 200 Tory MPS ready and willing to vote for the WA Deal she says is a great deal .
All I can say is , this Nation owes Nigel Farage a huge debt of gratitude, but does he get the slightest acknowledgment, of coarse not !
I will not ever again vote for the 3 main parties, I will only support him.
Those in power now deserve to be thrown into the wilderness for 30 years.
My God I can not wait for the voters to get There reward.
The Voters Know Best, Westminster it is time you were all taken to task
January 2, 2019
What you say raises questions about the people running the museum. They have clearly made a calculated decision to brazenly snub British designs – an insult to the nation they are in. The degree of their anti-Britishness is well indicated by their having a picture of the VW Beetle, a car originally promoted by Hitler whilst they ignore the Mini, Jaguar and Roll Royce. Such people need to be called to account and surely dismissed. Anti-Britishness should not be tolerated in Britian.
January 2, 2019
Perhaps this country has become far too liberal for its own good. Complacency and apathy rule supremely in the UK and is reinforced by self induced “Normalcy Bias”.
It is because of this modern British overly ‘soft’ approach that the likes of Argentine Generals, Russian hit squads and the Brussels elite have taken advantage of us. They have all perceived we are WEAKLINGS.
And the root cause starts right here, at home, in OUR country where senior positions have been infiltrated and taken over by those with Communist tendencies, which seek to devalue proud Nationalism and dilute the indigenous population. All because as a divide Nation, we fall! right into their trap and into the anti-democratic nightmare of the USSR Mk II
January 2, 2019
Edwardm, to be slightly fair Major Ivan Hirst put VW back together after WW2, (sadly?) VW is a Great British success.
January 2, 2019
The Design Museum was founded by Sir Terence Conran in 1989 and is a private Charitable Trust maintained by its’ Members, Customers and Volunteers.
So it’s up to it what it exhibits. In any case, it varies its’ exhibits from exhibition to exhibition.
If Sir John Redwood wants to celebrate Sir James Dyson’s vacuum cleaner design, he can open his own museum.
Were the Design Museum to try to put everything of interest to every single visitor in, it would be many times the size of the o2 Arena, and look like a junk shop.
January 3, 2019
So your party in government can train 1000 police for trouble on the Irish non-border which they are now PROVOKING???
Yet you can’t find a company which owns boats to go from Ramsgate????
It’s a crazy world with the Tories in charge!!!