If we want to rebuild industry that we have lost and attract modern industry to make the new materials and products the world is discovering there are some basics government needs to do.
It needs to ensure good transport and communications in industrial locations. As monopoly provider of roads and railway lines it needs to ensure sufficient accessible capacity. It needs to allow or encourage high quality high capacity broadband.
It needs to continue to strive for excellence in school and College education. It needs to work with schools and Colleges over how they help people gain qualifications and interests that can lead on to well paid jobs in industry.
It should pump prime good ideas for new technologies, working with Universities and company labs. It should provide a market for innovations, buying them for use in the public sector. New drugs are a good example, bought into the NHS, or new vehicles bought into the MOD.
It needs to use its planning and licence granting powers well so industry can establish and expand in suitable places and can tap local sources of raw material and energy as appropriate.
It needs to avoid rushing to nationalise. There has been a long history of nationalised industries in the UK underĀ governments of all persuasions sacking employees, overcharging customers and losing large sums for taxpayers to reimburse.
It needs to avoid imposing unduly complex controls and interventions, which invariably lead to worse outcomes and demands for yet more offsetting interventions.
October 15, 2021
If we want to rebuild industry
Do you want to rebuild or are these just words until the run up to the next General Election, industry are crying out for people to employ, hereās a simple idea why not get the bone idle work shy off there backsides and into the jobs and if they refuse stop all benefits itās not rocket science
October 15, 2021
You’d have to ask Carrie, her strategy of de industrialisation appears to be working fine.
Just like the wider strategy of Importing millions of low skilled possibly hostile people via the channel taxi service.
We are being treated like fools and can look forward to blackouts due to government energy(non) policy.
Where is the power coming from for this renaissance of industry.
October 15, 2021
+millions.
Utter common senseā¦so we know it wonāt be done!
October 15, 2021
@EH; Why can’t it be done? Perhaps the people are in one location whilst the work is in another, without the ability to move people around the country (housing), or the will to move the work to the people (planning), how do you suggest the circle is squared?
October 15, 2021
No, we just know that cynics will loudly declare that it can’t be done.
October 15, 2021
Nobody wants to employ the feckless, they’re unemployable.
October 15, 2021
@Dave Andrews; Do you speak from personal expiration….I mean as an employer?
I helped train a lad into a life long career, he was approaching school leaving age but considered a drop-out, people called him “feckless”, but what he really needed was for someone to give him a chance, something he could not achieve by himself, the lad wasn’t academic so could never have produces exams certs etc to prove his ‘worth’. We gave him that chance, every time he was give that little bit more responsibility, often just simple tasks, he was so happy! The day he was given his own small set of tools, bought for him by those he called his co-workers (he wasn’t actually being paid, he was on official placement from school) he became quite emotional.
Don’t write off those who you do not know but call “feckless”, they might just need a chance in life.
October 16, 2021
I agree sometimes this can work, but the minimum wage law makes it illegal for them to work (as initially it is not worth the minimum wage (plus NI costs, insurance and the other costs and risks of employment). So the government have made it illegal for them to work or even learn how to work.
October 16, 2021
@LL; Nonsense. All govt has done is ban exploitation!
October 15, 2021
@ Dave Andrews – exactly so.
And were they denied benefits, how will they meet basic needs other than by turning to crime and otherwise causing disruption?
October 15, 2021
The Government makes them unemployable by giving them too generous benefits, often way more than they would get doing an honest days work.
October 15, 2021
Too right Jools. If working at all most are content to do 16 hours and receive more money than someone working next to them on full time hours. Maybe some do need a helping hand but I have personally known many over the years who don’t even bother to truly look for work. My next door neighbour is very intelligent and has won major televised quizzes but told me he isn’t looking very hard for a job. He prefers to study quiz books. Nice work if you can get it.
October 15, 2021
The feckless are only unemployable because there is a benefits fallback. Without that safety net they might be more inclined to pay attention and turn up on time.
The other cohort that many people consider unemployable are disabled job seekers. Most of whom can contribute as much or more than anyone else. Employers just need to get into the mindset of providing simple adjustments to remove the barrier presented by the disability.
Employers are giving more and more adjustments to parents and to millennials so making adjustments for disabled job seekers should be easy and open vast swathes of talent.
October 15, 2021
Yet you made one of the feckless prime minister.
October 15, 2021
One what, Andy? And who is ‘you’?
October 15, 2021
Mick,
Yes they are ājust wordsā. No great detail here, so when you pause to think it raises more questions.
No politicians will stop benefits though. That is outside the Overton Window, although it might be popular with many voters.
October 15, 2021
Mick. Well put Mick. There are over a million unskilled jobs going so why have we got long term unemployed? Refuse 3 jobs, lose benefits. It’s about time some of these people had a taste of reality. Getting up in the morning is beyond some of them. I have one each side of me. Bed really late keeping others up and in bed til lunchtime. They get everything for free and still pick up their pensions on ‘retirement’. Then they have the cheek to always moan how hard life is. They manage holidays and cars though.
October 15, 2021
@Mick,
I support the gist of your approach. But there are big problems in what you suggest. There would be riots / civil unrest / increased crime etc if you just withdraw benefits that quickly.
Benefits is an addiction. And people need support coming off addictions.
I think one of the first and best things we can do is reinstate National Service (for a few months). That would introduce young men to discipline, camaraderie and self-respect. Many of them, too, just need a bit of TLC (this is something The Church of England need to get more involved in along with therapists / councillors / and just older men initiating younger men into manhood like men in previous generations did far more than now).
A lack of Tender Loving Care and the strong discipline of army life are two of the HUGE reasons why young men, at least, are so often they way they are today. And similar for young women.
Men throughout history have always been initiated into manhood and adult life through some form of military training. This generation and the last are the first not to experience this. Things would change dramatically if we re-introduced National Training accompanied by a bit of TLC.
October 15, 2021
Ed M : āI think one of the first and best things we can do is reinstate National Service (for a few months)ā
I think to bring back National Service would be a very good idea. Not military service but services to the community wherever help is needed.
Skills training could be included.
October 15, 2021
I agree.
I did Army Cadet (CCF) at school and it was such fun (especially laughing at the equivalent of the Captain Mainwarings! – there’s always one or two ..).
Boys don’t mind physical challenge and discipline. In fact, most love it. As long as it is accompanied by some good fun. And boys have to be initiated into manhood. There is a deep psychological desire for this – and tradition of this throughout history.
National Service would benefit so many young men. And other services to the community for those who don’t want to do military.
Yes, skills training would be great. Free skills training i.e. coding, basic plumbing and electrical, and accountancy and things like that. And the more free skills training based on how well boys perform in National Service. So an element of healthy competition too. (And should be supported by lots of sport too).
This would, in long-term, save country billions and billions as young men become more responsible for themselves. And we’d also be helping them to become much happier, fulfilled individuals as well. Win – win.
October 15, 2021
I agree Ed in your comments about national service.
October 16, 2021
There are also terrifying stats about how so many young men are addicted to pornography. This isn’t just a moral issue but also psychological. Porn leads to deep depression (the science is all there). And tied with that are all the other problems young men facing today.
National Service would meet so many of the needs of young men. It would initiate into manhood and responsibility (and the joy of that – not just duty).
Things like this would save the country billions and billions.
Yes, we need economic policy but we need government looking far more into all the complicated psychological issues that costs the country trillions … Really. I am not exaggerating. Nor am I suggesting stuffing religion down people (I admit I am religious). But all young men whether religious or not, really need help in this increasingly fast-paced and complicated world we live in. Not to spend lots of money on them. But to give them things like National Service (and all the good things that go with that).
October 15, 2021
And in response to what looks like heat pump grants would you please explain why they are only talking about the cost of the pump when new radiators, underfloor heating and new piping plus the cost of redecoration that goes with it could triple/quadruple that cost.
October 15, 2021
Indeed plus you are likely to need an expensive higher power electricity supply (and vast investment in better electricity distribution) and once finished it will be less efficient, more tepid and cost more to run and maintain than gas or oil would. This as electricity cost so much more than gas anyway. Also as we have no zero carbon sources of electricity it will not even save significant CO2 anyway. Also as it is slow to heat up the house you may well need to leave in on while out costing even more!
Can only assume this is being driven by vested interests or corruption in the heat pump and related industries. Certainly not by science or logic. Plus who pay the grants – the same tax payers who will receive them anyway so just money going in a loop with government creaming of and wasting loads on this loop journey.
October 15, 2021
@Nig l +1, the smoke and mirrors nonsense of the ‘virtue signal’ from a Government that doesn’t use its ‘brain to think before they open their mouth. You are right, and 30K would be the best estimate, but with probably the same in years if you are lucky for payback – heat pumps still require electricity and lots of it.
October 15, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
Going green is going to cost a lot.
Not going green will cost even more.
So buy a heat pump.
October 15, 2021
Can you lend us the Ā£30,000 please young andy
October 15, 2021
A terrible waste and not ‘green’ at all.
October 15, 2021
Andy: “Going green is going to cost a lot.”
It is already costing a lot.
Andy: “So buy a heat pump.”
What do you think is the advantage of a heat pump?
Other than being the latest techy energy fad, that you’ve latched on to?
October 15, 2021
@Andy; Correct, wrong, no!
Not going green will not cost a penny, nor will it cause the world to end.
October 15, 2021
I agree with your first line
Ā£40k for EV, Ā£15k for heat pump, Ā£5k council tax, Ā£5k electric bill….
October 15, 2021
Given the way things are going, wood-burners and woodland look like a better investment.
October 15, 2021
and tell your flat dwellers below you that the floor/ceiling drilling for pipes won’t go on forever.
October 15, 2021
Iāve spent the summer viewing caves and mud-huts but none of them have off road parking for my EV…how am I to plug it in
October 15, 2021
Nonsense. Even if we did have to reduces the world’s temperature controlling CO2 is not even the best way to do so.
October 15, 2021
I would say that, having worked with the lower income, most of them don’t have Ā£5,000 to make up the shortfall in the grant. Some are multi-generational households, living in accomodation purchased by older generations that at today’s prices they could never afford or rent. Very few are able to qualify for loans to pay for that amount (that would also drive them further into debt) or pay back a remortgage.
If they cannot afford the change, will they then be fined more money they cannot afford? Or are they simply expected to go without heat? Or should they be forced to sell the property (probably to a landlord, who may even then rent it back to them) to pay higher rents and deal with the family being split with the implications of childcare issues etc.?
If the government wishes to force this, then they should cover the cost.
October 15, 2021
AL
The Government have no money, the taxpayer would pay the cost.
Why subsidise the heat pump industry, surely they should be looking to develop commercially workable products should they not ?
Typical Heat pump life expectancy is 20 years that’s a Ā£1,000 per year in depreciation if its a cheap one, (I have been quoted Ā£25,000 – 35,000 just for the pump without all of the other work) then you have to buy a new one !
October 21, 2021
“The Government have no money, the taxpayer would pay the cost.”
Which is exactly why they should not go ahead with it. Heatpumps often cannot be installed in crowded cities due to cables, tube lines etc. As powerstations at specific locations geothermal energy works, but for individual residences, this is nonsense.
How will they manage this for terraces, or semis? One pump for the row, or does every single house put a seperate one in? For blocks of flats, is it one grant per residence or per building, who gets the grant and who takes liability if the pump breaks? Even the heat pump industry themselves admits the system is a problem in flats due to the requirement for circulating insulated pipes which lose heat.
A few answers would be very welcome as at the moment it seems these issues have not been considered.
October 15, 2021
Can’t afford it. Just like I can’t afford a Tesla.
A clue that they’re not green is the price.
October 15, 2021
Does more fossil fuel go into making a new EV and battery than the car will ever use? Rough calculations suggest they almost certainly do. To do 100,000 miles on electric might use only about Ā£7,000 of electricity. Yet the battery for the car alone might cost Ā£15,000 and only last a few years.
October 15, 2021
Better still get rid of the Green Nonsense. Real pollution is an entirely different matter. Maybe some government ministers and civil servants have an interest in boosting the profits of air conditioner manufacturers.
October 15, 2021
Indeed DavidJ. What we could do with though is determined attack on plastic packaging.
October 15, 2021
Andy : “So buy a heat pump.”
Not the answer as heat pumps are expensive, inefficient in heating terms – especially when the outside termperatures are low – and would require all roads to be dug up to upgrade the electrical supply network.
A better solution is to use the existing gas boilers and distribution and convert to biogas (green methane).
October 15, 2021
A Government grant is required for at least half the 29m homes.
Which party will agree? The Greens?
October 15, 2021
And I’m sure the feckless will be offered it for free.
October 15, 2021
Nig 1
Totally correct.
Heat pumps to replace combination boilers will require hot water storage facilities which require space to accommodate mains pressure cylinders with all the associated equipment and extra electric capabilities for electric immersion heaters. New properties have a dearth of cupboard space and nearly suspended floors are sheeted.
Add the reconfiguring of the existing heating system, removal of mini and micropore pipework lifting and refiting carpets the costs just go on and on.
It’s all a load of ######## and for what?
October 15, 2021
Indeed and large tanks too.
October 15, 2021
Correct Turbo. It’s all crap and Joe Public have had enough.
October 15, 2021
@Nig l – there is just one UK manufacturer of heat pumps the majority being supplied in the UK come from the nastiest polluting countries in the World. The same countries that wont be going along with the Boris/COP26/UN rubbish.
So yet again the UK Government’s plan is to invest UK taxpayer money in the most polluting parts of the World – so not reducing World Pollution but increasing it. Going for the ‘virtue signal’ not thinking things through, brain not engaged – the headline is more important to the ego.
The poor will get poorer and most likely freeze to death ( which please some )
October 15, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
Good morning.
And
I disagree, Sir John. But only slightly. As you quite rightly identify, good transport and communications are indeed vital. Our early canals, bridges and railways were all built to move raw materials to factories and then on to the markets to be sold. But alas, as you point out, government have got their noses in on the act and have displaced what was once run quite well by private business and messed it up.
You can help people by generally leaving well alone. We can look after ourselves and have little or no need for government to decide what it considers to be best outcomes. Too much government involvement results in more bureaucracy and equality of outcome nonsense. None of which helps anybody.
Your last two paragraphs state things that can be best avoided by having less government. On one hand you advocate more government intervention then point out what government should not be doing whilst avoiding the obvious fact that, the government has to account to parliament what it spends and that comes at a price. That price being more red tape etc.
Whilst I understand you want a better world you are trying to balance between various shades of grey of government involvement. Trouble is, there is never a maximum or minimum, just endless mission creep until it it self becomes, as you rightly pointed out with transport, the sole monopoly. And as we know with government monopolies, especially heavily unionised ones, they end up existing to serve themselves rather than the consumer.
October 15, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
All very simply we just need cheaper on demand energy, relaxed planning, a bonfire or red tape, cut government in half, cull soft loans for worthless degrees (about 75% are), easy hire and fire, far lower & much simpler taxes and kill the idiotic net zero religion.
Stop blocking the road, stop subsidies for EVs, wind, trains, solar. Fair competition between state and private provision – in energy, healthcare, education, broadcasting, housing …
October 15, 2021
I just listened to the Life Scientific with the Chief Scientific Officer Sir Patrick Vallance:-
All rather depressing (he is a medical man by background).
Not my job to sugarcoat advice he says – Patrick you and the Government were surely doing the complete opposite – who on earth was accusing you of sugar coating you advice?
He still wears face coverings in crowded places – why mate they don’t work as it very clear?
He actually thinks climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity – the climate has always changed for billions of years and will continue to do so. Please get real. Atmospheric CO2 concentration is not some kind of World thermostat (and anyway without China, India, USA… joining in seriously (they clearly will not) we cannot even control world C02 concentrations anyway and it is rather clear a little more does rather more good than harm on balance.
He thinks we need to get science better understood in government as economics now is! Well yes but the government and civil servants do not have a clue about real economics they just like to bleed the productive sector dry. For example they almost all all wanted to join the ERM and the EURO, we had tax rates and 97% under Dennis Healey and taxes at over 100% in many areas now under Osborne/Hammond/Sunak. The current economic policies of expensive unreliable energy, tax borrow, over regulate and piss down the drain are economic lunacy.
He tells us only 10% of “fast track” civil servants are scientists (and I suspect most of these are fairly second rate or not real scientists).
Worst of all he thinks scientist should just advise and not make final decisions. It seems he wants the decision makers to be Classics, Law, PPE… graduates. Who would want to fly on an aircraft designed by politician or rely on their mad energy and economic policies?
It is very clear that is was almost certainly a lab leak after lab “processing” yet he seems not to want to admit this. He was not ask about the failure to adjust vaccination priority for the higher male risk from Covid which killed many people. Nor on the dumping of Covid patients into care homes that killed far more. Nor on the vast collateral damage caused by the long extended lockdown which we will see for years to come – why not asked on this ā¦ā¦..?
Given me a Richard Feynman type every time over the Boris/May/Cameron/Major/Blair/Brown misguided socialist dopes. You would have far better policies in energy, economics, education, R&D, healthcare, defence, transport and very much else. We need good sensible non group think scientists.
The problem we have is dopes in government select (& then listen to) the wrong scientists. Government and these scientists all seem to suffer from deluded group think. Not the Sir Patrick types.
October 15, 2021
@LifeLogic
You should remember that Margaret Thatcher had a Chemistry degree (a 4 year highly regarded Oxford University course). I suggest you read some of her speeches on the subject of climate change.
You could never accuse Margaret Thatcher of group think!!!
October 15, 2021
Well she got this wrong, I blame the dire John Gummer. She also appointed the foolish dope John Major as chancellor and even let him take us into the ERM and she closed many excellent grammar schools. She also failed to get real competition into healthcare and education. She got a lot very wrong indeed!
October 15, 2021
Wonderful post L/L
October 15, 2021
A useless wish list
October 15, 2021
Frazer Nelson today in the Telegraph:-
āBoris Johnsonās eco-Micawberism will not pay the bills of net zero
The country has been told precious little about how reaching carbon neutrality is going to be deliveredā
Carbon neutrality cannot be delivered. The solutions proposed wind, EVs, solar, heat pumps, public transport, walking, cyclngā¦ do not really even work in CO2 terms to any significant degree – even with the governmentās idiotic letās export all the energy intensive jobs and industries overseas – so CO2 production, jobs and much of the economy goes abroad agenda it will not happen.
Net zero can only be āachievedā by accounting con tricks. Things such burning wood at Drax and pretending it does not emit CO2 or by exporting whole industries, importing their produce and then not counting that CO2 as being the UKs. Oh and CO2 is not really a serious problem anyway a net benefit on balance in fact.
October 15, 2021
Frazer point out:- āThe United States, flush with the shale gas it has fracked, has still seen gas prices treble. So no one is immune. But not many are harder hit than Britain: our gas prices are five times that of Americaās and we have just four days of gas supplies in reserve.ā
Well the owners of the fracking plants are doing rather well and doubtless pay lots of tax too.
When will this scientifically and economically illiterate government lift the UK fracking ban and encourage investment is gas (and coal) production and storage instead of discouraging or banning it at every turn?
October 15, 2021
China are it seems (very sensibly) not coming to COP26. Too busy building many coal fired power stations, buying up gas, oil & coal, covering up all the Wuhan lab processing & leak evidence and planning the take over of Taiwan & Hong Kong one assumes.
Still it saves some aviation fuel I suppose, unlike the rest of COP26 attendees. Probably India, Brazil, Russia will sensibly not come either. What a sick joke COP26 and this deluded net zero government is!
October 15, 2021
+1 +1
October 15, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
Lifelogic : “China are it seems (very sensibly) not coming to COP26…..Probably India, Brazil, Russia will sensibly not come either.”
Ironically, it could be China and Russia who save us from the economic and social catastrophe that will befall us in our unilateral and religious pursuit of “net zero”.
October 15, 2021
Exactly ! But for the new rail links, forget the horrific expense of electric overhead catenary and go to Hydrogen fuel cell power. Hugely cheaper and already proved to work very effectively in Germany.
October 15, 2021
@Lifelogic +1 – for the most part planning is a ‘red herring’ it is already is in place for the 10years of landbanks that most builder hold. Builders are trying to get the taxpayer(Government doesn’t have money) to subsidies house purchases so Builders can maximise profit and drive up prices. A case of getting subsidies for those that can afford something being paid by those that cant.
October 15, 2021
Our economic outlook could be really positive if only some brains and common sense were used.
October 15, 2021
FUS – agreed
everyone happy?
October 15, 2021
Fedupsoutherner the biggest problem we have in parliament is that common sense is in very short supply.
October 15, 2021
+1; Sadly those attributes are missing in many.
October 15, 2021
All very sensible. Unfortunately governments, including the current one, have their own agendas which get in the way of sensible ideas like yours and usually only serve to screw things up. The Climate Change Act is a notorious example
October 15, 2021
Ed Miliband’s insane “Climate Change Act” that nearly every MP voted for (not JR note). Similar for Boris/Carrie/May’s net zero insanity.
October 15, 2021
This is part of the speech Margaret Thatcher gave to the UN in November 1989:
“What we are now doing to the world, by degrading the land surfaces, by polluting the waters and by adding greenhouse gases to the air at an unprecedented rate – all this is new in the experience of the earth. It is mankind and his activities that are changing the environment of our planet in damaging and dangerous ways.”
I would suggest, in fact, it was Margaret Thatcher that started the ball rolling. And uniquely for a British PM was suitably qualified to talk on the subject!
October 15, 2021
Peter. I’ve said this for years. It’s us wrecking the planet not climate change or nature
October 15, 2021
But she was clearly wrong, I blame history grad. John Gummer!
October 15, 2021
Margaret Thatcher was a Chemistry graduate not a Physics graduate. Her views on climate will have been that of a layman. She was obviously used to promote this unscientific nonsense about a trace gas in the atmosphere. She was also used to facilitate the take over of the City by Wall Street with concomitant demise of the Englishman’s ‘My word is my bond’.
October 16, 2021
You cannot graduate in a central science without a proper grasp of the Scientific Method. Nor can you do degree-level chemistry without understanding the physics behind chemical reactions and properties – which is rather complex.
So no, her views on the science of the atmosphere would be very well-grounded and informed.
October 17, 2021
Her post-graduate work consisted of designing comestibles. What has that to do with the Physics of climate which is actually about the interaction of solar radiation and the atmosphere?
October 15, 2021
The State just cannot leave the private alone. Its thirst to assert control over all business is fascist in nature. Under both main parties this sinister development is utterly depressing
We need total and absolute liberalisation of our economy and the removal of all political infection from private sector companies. No diversity fascism. No climate change fascism. No racial bias ideology
You don’t need a strategy for industry, you just need to get out of the way
October 15, 2021
Exactly – and no gender bias ideology either. Free and fair competition in healthcare, education, housing, transport, energy, banking… not state monopolies and absurdly state rigged markets.
October 15, 2021
Fascism is defined as the acquisition of power by the violent overthrow of democracy.
That was what we saw attempted in the storming of the Capitol in the US.
It is not the protection of minorities from abuse, victimisation, injustice, and persecution, which is its complete opposite.
You stand the dictionary on its head.
October 15, 2021
If the motive for the horrific knife attack on David Amess MP were political, then that is the latest appalling manifestation of fascism in this country.
I sincerely hope that his injuries are not life-threatening, and wish the medical professionals caring for him the very best.
October 15, 2021
It will be interesting to see who carried out the monstrous attack. If he was a recent cultural enhancer then we may get some tangible action from the Home office and priti useless Patel.
October 15, 2021
The police have not released his name or details, so I think we can draw the obvious conclusions.
October 15, 2021
Fascism was when the state allied with corporate interests and suppressed opposition. It fits the Green agenda fairly well. Corporate interests also like ‘diversity’ because the encouragement of mass migration gives them a bigger labour pool to work with, so keeping down wage costs. Still, I wouldn’t myself call that fascism, which was strongly nationalist in ideology. In any case, fascism has nothing to do with a bunch of unarmed demonstrators being allowed by the police to take a stroll through the US Capitol building, and then being escorted out of it again, as was shown in various videos. ‘Storming’?
October 15, 2021
It is not the fact of allied interests which defines fascism.
It is the *means* by which they suppress opposition.
If they allow free and fair elections, and an open media, then the electorate can make their choice.
If, on the other hand, they ban protest, control the media, and rig elections, then they are well on the way.
They leave no legal means of effective opposition, and when they use violence to suppress its manifestations then the job is done.
October 15, 2021
You old conspiracy theorist you NLH
Who does what you list in the UK?
As MiC used to say…come on eh
October 15, 2021
I will spend all morning completing a “sourcing event” so we can become a supplier for a large company. This compliance exercise is not to find out if our supply is guaranteed but more to find out whether we have climate, diversity and ant slavery policies and delves deep into our data protection approach. We are likely to fail as the legislation and considerations do not apply to us. So it is sunk cost.
A jobsworth has been charged with compiling this “event” and no account has been taken for the product or service that is being supplied, the size of company doing the supplying or other factors of relevance. Someone has decided that this is the compliance exercise, is probably getting paid well for gatekeeping and making the larger company “safe”.
Large companies will employ staff to complete these events, for our small enterprise it is an extra, unwanted and fairly irrelevant task to measure if we are complying to the statutes created for large business that do not apply to us.
Ridiculous and unneeded (the statutes and the “sourcing event”).
October 15, 2021
DOM, +1
October 15, 2021
+1
Absolutely.
October 15, 2021
+1
Sadly Sir John is on the fringe with his ideas. An outsider.
Allegra Stratton and Insulate Britain has more influence in this government than he does.
October 15, 2021
I fear you are correct with your last paragraph. That’s pretty frightening really.
October 15, 2021
NLA: “Allegra Stratton and Insulate Britain has more influence in this government than he does.”
Insulate Britain is a front. The Police stand around and chat while its activists disrupt business and commerce in the country. If that doesn’t tell you they are acting with the tacit approval of the government, I don’t know what does.
Anyway, there have been government grants for insulation for at least 40 years, if someone owns a house and hasn’t applied for a grant or insulated it at his/her own cost, then he/she isn’t going to.
All new builds meet minimun standards for domestic accomodation insulation.
Insulate Britain is a front.
October 15, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
@DOM +1 – deaf ear syndrome the country being sacrificed on the back of ‘ego’
October 15, 2021
Agree Dom ā allow market forces to dictate to organic development and economic pace NOT government interventions
October 15, 2021
@DOM; The state has by and large been leaving private business alone for the last 40 years oddyears (apart from taxation and a few woke New labour ideas), and that has been the trouble, this country often lead the world in the 1950s when we had a planned economy of sorts, since the 198os we have expected more jobs than we exported finished products back in the 1950s!
October 15, 2021
+1. But then if weāre governed by a socialist Government as we are now, thatās what we get. Interfering, nanny knows best, big state, high taxing, high spending, anti business policies.
October 16, 2021
Dom
Private makes money. The State consumes it. It is a symbiotic relationship that, when in balance, works. Alas the State, or more to the point, vainglorious PM’s and Chancellors, cannot help themselves taking more and more of other peoples money. There is no useful means to stop this. When we were ruled by Kings and said Kings wanted more money, they has to go to Parliament to grant it. Parliament back then could serve as a useful break to excessive demands for more money. Today we have a PM that is King in all but name but, we do not have separation between the Legislature and the Executive. This means that the PM (King) can spend and do all he wants and we, the peasants, have to just suck it up !
October 15, 2021
Plus;
It needs to facilitate an environment that supports life long education and learning. Learning doesn’t stop when you leave school or college and a company is not going to help employees switch specialty or skills.
New ideas don’t only come from companies and academia, you need to facilitate access to premises, services and like-minded communities independent of those institutions. Our local university stopped adult education years ago and provides no support for community engagement or activities, they are too focused on attracting foreign students and money.
– Look to change and expand the role of libraries beyond books and being internet cafes to supporting adult learning, skill sharing, makerspaces and workshops for crafts and engineering.
– Catapult is focused on mainstream companies and goals. Encourage smaller groups and ideas by launching regular small to X prize competitions with categories for experimental, pre-product and smaller scale endeavours, as well as large scale, in robotics, space, energy, transport, medicine, disability support etc.
If you want STEM to be a driver for the economy, prosperity and growth you need to help increase the drumbeat of ideas and innovation while finding ways to keep the IP and economic activity here to grow and maintain critical mass. If I design and prototype an IoT device it’s production will be in China because the cost and attitude of local PCB fabs is not suited to my needs – the China fabs have invested in pcb and assembly line robotics to offer lower cost and timely solutions and are hungry for business.
October 15, 2021
Your purported wish for a highly-educated population – to support a more knowledge-based economy – is at odds with the widespread stultification and ignorance, which has been necessary to get sufficient of the electorate to believe the myths and propaganda needed for them to vote Tory, Sir John.
It is now well-documented that among employed people their tendency to have voted Leave – and latterly Tory – is inversely proportional to their educational attainment.
So I’m unconvinced.
October 15, 2021
So you can cite the thoroughly peer reviewed documented proof … that hasn’t been debunked.
October 15, 2021
Prof. Danny Dorling introduces them in his excellent analysis of the Leave vote.
Have a look – you’d find it interesting, I think.
October 16, 2021
So you are not able to cite thoroughly peer reviewed documentary evidence, merely a partial analysis of Lord Ashcroft’s poll data. From their LSE blog (“Brexit, inequality and the demographic divide” Dec 22, 2016) Dorling et al do not indicate what proportion of Leave voters were in each level of education (available in the base data) and even then doesn’t address the “quality” of different degrees or establishments.
Even then you misrepresent what the authors say;
“But as we say above, average levels of educational attainment are so strongly confounded with age that it is very hard to compare qualifications over time. A masterās degree in 2016 may be the equivalent of gaining good A levels in 1946!”
October 15, 2021
What an amazing and at the same time ridiculous assertion NLH
You claim the Tories want to keep people uneducated so they vote Tory.
Perhaps the most hilarious post ever seen on here in years.
October 15, 2021
You say:- āIt needs to avoid rushing to nationalise. There has been a long history of nationalised industries in the UK under governments of all persuasions sacking employees, overcharging customers and losing large sums for taxpayers to reimburse.
It needs to avoid imposing unduly complex controls and interventions, which invariably lead to worse outcomes and demands for yet more offsetting interventions.ā
Indeed look at the appalling virtual state monopolies at the NHS and in Education, track and trace, the failing energy systems, public transport, uncompetitive and slow banking systemsā¦
October 15, 2021
Here’s another great idea, approved by every economist. Stop putting up huge new barriers and red tape on our trade. Did you know the biggest free trade zone in human history is on our doorstep? No need for border checks or form-filling in it!
October 15, 2021
Gary
It”s not free trade, you have to pay a membership fee of Ā£Billions a year, did you forget, or simply not know.
Likewise you have to accept lots of other EU Rules, Regulations etc on all home produced goods, at some financial cost, which perhaps ate only sold in the UK and will never go to the EU.
They all cost money one way or another, and only two pay, taxpayers and customers .
October 15, 2021
It’s not free Gazza.
It coat us 12 billion a year and huge amounts of complex rules regulations directives and laws to comply with to sell into Europe.
And we ended with a 85 billion trade deficit per year.
What a deal.
October 15, 2021
If you want a strategy, best call in the Army.
We won’t get one from the PPE Grads/Green Lunatics who are busily destroying our manufacturing base and driving millions into fuel poverty so Johnson and the current Mrs can posture on the world stage.
October 15, 2021
anyone who has spent any time on big MOD sites would laugh at the idea that senior military officers are the solution to anything
October 15, 2021
@Donna; I hope that was sarcasm… As someone who has worked for a MOD supplier your comment makes me laugh, the company once had to a spend considerable sum (chargeable, as per contact, to the MOD) because someone in the Army insisted that a delivery be brought forward by months, special arrangements were made not only to manufacture but provide out of course installation. When 20 men, 3 articulated lorries, plus other vehicles turned up at the site the gate guard knew nothing of us arriving, explaining why were were there his reply was, but the builders have yet to start their work!
October 15, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
Knowing the Conservative party has one sensible MP who puts the UK first is very welcome. Unfortunately, I have no knowledge whatsoever of what the Conservative Party (as a whole) cares for, apart from virtue signalling.
October 15, 2021
Correct Shirley M, who knows the industrial vision of any party apart from their agreement towards a green revolution
October 15, 2021
whatever bee Carrie has in her bonnet today
follow Dom Cummings on twitter, its a fairly accurate if arrogant analysis
October 15, 2021
Which MP is this?
October 15, 2021
WHY were the factories closed in the first place?
Come to thatā¦WHY were all those animals killed in the early 2000s?
And WHY is IDS so upset about being cancelled on YouTube when politicians have sat on their hands and watched all these atrocities happen??
October 15, 2021
@EH; You missed one rant out. Why do voters get so upset when politicos they voted for mess up?…
October 15, 2021
If only they did, Jerry.
October 15, 2021
Because, I suppose, they are disappointed?
Not me though.
I use the blindfold and pin method.
And just expect things to get worse.
They are all bloody useless.
October 15, 2021
Everhopeful, when it is people they don’t like getting cancelled – well that’s ok they can turn a blind eye and not deal with it. However, when it is eventually them and people like them that get cancelled well that’s another issue and it suddenly needs dealing with!
October 15, 2021
+1
Very true!
October 15, 2021
Ooopsā¦sorry!
That should NOT be IDS but DD!
October 15, 2021
Unfortunately for the country – and your point of view – there is now no alternative to completing the nationalisation of the UK energy industry. The tremendous quadrupling of the wholesale gas price – now being followed by this week’s stonking rise in the price of oil – will mean that whole swathes of what is left of the UK industrial base will rapidy collapse, unless further humungous amounts of fossil fuel subsidy are provided PDQ.
The only solution that might help (apart from the excellent Rolls-Royce SMR solution) is to invest in utility-scale electricity storage plant and to rapidly expand wind, tidal, wave and solar generation.
Tax breaks and grants to build full-scale demonstration plant, followed by a competition between the various gridscale storage contenders to estabish which has the best Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE), is a sound idea. See link below on how to calculate LCOE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levelized_cost_of_energy
Failing that, Wokingham does sit on an area of shale. Quadrillion should be esked to establish where any gas is commercially frackable.
October 15, 2021
Sakara Gold : Fossil subsidy and LCOE :
There is no way of calculating the LCOE of renewables because the technology, and hence the costs, of gridscale storage do not yet exist and without gridscale storage renewables cannot be said to provide a workable supply of energy.
The āsubsidiesā for fossil fuel only exist because of the need to keep fossil fuelled generators available as backup for when renewables fail to provide sufficient energy for our needs.
Or is the ānet zeroā plan to have rationing and intermittent blackouts?
October 15, 2021
@Original Richard
Wrong. There are numerous grid-scale electricity storage solutions under development and pilot plant have been built and succesfuly tested. These have been debated on this blog for weeks. The purpose of building full-scale plant is to establish LCOE for each of them. Renewables on most days are providing up to 45% of our energy demand i.e. ~15GW. Which is a phenomenal amount of energy. Do check your facts before you post fossil fuel industry bullshit and propaganda.
October 15, 2021
Sakara Gold
Go to the net zero watch site and read the cost of providing electrical storage for 100% renewable. The figures are in Ā£ trillion. Based upon the basic principles of power into battery storage.
Written by two professors and one doctor I assume with electrical engineering qualifications. Hardly bull shit methinks
October 16, 2021
@SG, you are exaggerating the scale and readiness of these storage solutions. They are nowhere near the cost and scale necessary to avoid HC fuelled generation plants as backup. The full level of solar generation isn’t even tracked accurately but only estimated.
IMHO any large scale intermittent generation facility should have local storage and be engineered to offer a guaranteed level of despatchable power as and when required – and no payments to not generate.
October 16, 2021
“Up to 45% of our energy needs”….wrong SG
It is up to 45% of just our electricity.
October 16, 2021
SG : āThere are numerous grid-scale electricity storage solutions under development and pilot plant have been built and succesfuly tested.ā¦ā¦ The purpose of building full-scale plant is to establish LCOE for each of them.ā
So which grid-scale electricity storage solutions have been tested please and where can we see the longevity of supply and LCOE results?
Without a storage solution renewables are not a fully functioning method of supplying power unless it becomes the norm to accept rationing and intermittent supplies.
Electricity accounts for about 15% of our total energy use so renewables are providing at best, taking your figure of 45% (of electricity only) about 8% and therefore we would need to build 12 x more renewable power plus the storage necessary to act as backup.
These costs do not take into account the costs of converting our whole vehicle fleet to EVs, our homes to electric boilers or heat pumps and the digging up of every residential road in the country to upgrade the electrical power supply network.
With regard to the last item we canāt even achieve connecting every home to fibre optic cable!
October 17, 2021
@Original Richard
I seem to spend my life posting corrections on this blog from the fossil fuel lobby – outright lies, obfuscation, pure bullshit and propaganda. The fossil fuel industry has a problem with the disruptive clean, green renewable energy industry because it poses an existential threat to it’s business model.
For the record:-
The front runners are Highview Power Plc with its CRYOBattery compressed liquid air product which delivers clean, reliable, and cost-efficient long-duration utility scale energy storage. This system is probably the most advanced in development, pilot plant have been built and successfully tested
https://highviewpower.com/
Next up is the Danish entrepreneur Stiesdal’s simple and cheap thermal crushed rock system, prototypes are now being installed in several countries by it’s Gridscale project
https://www.rechargenews.com/energy-transition/stiesdal-hot-rocks-energy-storage-flagship-to-power-up-on-danish-island-of-lolland/2-1-1061093
The large-mass pumped storage system recently proposed here is now being developed in Germany by Heindl Energy GmbH. This one looks by far the cheapest to install and can potentially store phenomenal quantities of renewable energy
https://heindl-energy.com/technical-concept/basic-concept/
https://heindl-energy.com/economic-concept/
Do check your facts before you pontificate on subjects with which you are unfamiliar
October 15, 2021
Sakara. It’s wind, tidal, solar and unsuccessful wave that gave got us in this mess anyway. We do not need more. We need some reliable forms of energy.
October 17, 2021
@fedupsoutherner
Absolute crap. The fossil fuel industry has imposed the recent, highly destabilising quadrupling of their prices and not the renewables industry. Most days renewables are providing about 45% of our electricity requirements. The energy that they harvest is FREE – and we do not have to import it.
What we don’t need is more fossil fuel industry propaganda and bullshit. I take it that the dividends from the oil majors have been paying your credit card bills?
October 17, 2021
Wrong up to 45% and not most days. SG
Some days it is a single figure
Which is why our increasing reliance on wind and solar will lead to power cuts in the near future
October 17, 2021
SG :
I am also keen to implement our own CO2-free energy but I donāt believe wind/solar power and the electrification of everything is the right way forward :
1) We firstly need to install at least 20x more wind capacity than currently exists to cover all our energy requirements and because of windās unreliability/intermittency.
2) We then need to install non-fossil fuel backups. I had already viewed your suggestions but none of these are actually installed in a fully working grid-scale system, for very good reasons.
Note : It would be a good idea if the Government insisted that all new wind farms should come with a backup, a guaranteed minimum power output level and a fixed price for the electricity produced. We would then see the true costs of electricity from wind farms and the power expected.
BTW, you describe elsewhere that wind energy is āfreeā. But this is also true of fossil fuels. In all cases the costs are in capture, storage, distribution and use.
3) The costs in the energy, manpower, time and money to convert all our vehicles to EVs, all our heating to heat pumps and to upgrade the electrical supply network in every single road in the country is simply colossal and impossible in the legislated time scale. Plus it requires an enormous scrappage scheme and the massive production of valuable minerals.
BTW, battery power is insufficient for large vehicles such as trucks and buses and heat pumps are not only very expensive but also require larger radiators/underfloor heating to be fitted quadrupling the cost.
I believe a better way forward, at least initially, is to use methane for heating and transport. Methane can be used in existing ic engines and heating boilers and can be distributed using the existing gas pipe network. Methane also has much reduced CO2 emissions over other fossil fuels.
Green (bio-)methane can be produced by anaerobic digesters using waste products and vegetation such as grass and also from excess wind energy via hydrogen and the Sabatier process.
October 15, 2021
Industry may as well be on another planet as far as this government is concerned. All they see in industry is something to be soaked with tax, to help prop up their spending. Having beaten UK industry into the ground, they then look to foreign investment in the hope of doing the same to them.
Wrote a letter to our local MP about our business a few weeks ago. No response, showing it’s not just the government that’s oblivious to industry needs, it’s the entire Tory cohort.
October 15, 2021
Yes to all that ,but you have made one serious omission, plentiful inexpensive power. This is this governments mighty blunder in it’s myopic rush to green . Only government would contemplate and enact spending electric power for transport when it lacks the power for current needs. Six Teslas in an average street on high speed charge and you blow the fuses in the sub station. The market will dictate because people cannot afford it and most are not so stupid.
October 15, 2021
agricola : āOnly government would contemplate and enact spending electric power for transport when it lacks the power for current needs.ā
This is true and even more the case for the conversion of gas boilers to heat pumps.
I have read that the Government is already preparing legislation for EV chargers to be automatically shut down during peak hours.
The Governmentās plan for ācopingā with insufficient power is through the use of rationing and green blackouts.
October 15, 2021
… it needs low corporation tax to attract new businesses and leave them with more cash to invest in R&D and development. So, absolutely the exact opposite of what the Conservative government is doing by raising it for the first time since 1972 up to 25%. Ireland meanwhile will be at 15% even after meeting president Biden’s global minimum.
October 15, 2021
Sorryā¦but the people pushing all this madness actually believe that engine parts can be made in a garden shed along with hypodermic syringes. You know, the same people who are enabled by this government to glue themselves to tarmac and bring the country to a standstill.
Donāt ask but I have actually experienced it. They are unshakeable.
If no one stands up to them in a meaningful way we can forget factories and any transport and any food production.
Is maybe IDS waking up to these realities yet?
āDestroy capitalismā screamed the anarchist into his iPhone.
October 15, 2021
Sorry!
Same mistake.
DD not IDS.
October 15, 2021
That makes everybody this morning( so far ) in agreement. I believe we also need the politicians to grow up and facilitate rather than hinder industry. A lot of the parliamentary candidates are far too young , with no life experience. Public money these days is really badly handled as its given to failing business who cry for taxpayers money every time they are in difficulties . Steven Kinnock talking last night on GBNews was a prime example of this lack of intelligence. Boris Whats his name posing as Churchill in Spain is an other useless twit.
October 15, 2021
Itās a bit rich criticising nationalisation when you look at the countless failures caused by the rush to privatise all our natural monopolies, utilities and railways.
Most of these were far better for the consumer (cheaper, more reliable)and the employees when the state ran them. Yet the government is unwilling to admit it made mistakes. Hence the strangely complicated mess that is the current UK rail system.
At least we could supply all our own power when we had nationalised utilities and were not beholden to other countries.
October 15, 2021
Peter
Unwilling to admit to making mistakes.
All part of the trilogy that seems to plagued our governments.
Ignorance. Do not understand their subject.
Incompetence. Because of ignorance.
Arrogance. Never admit to being wrong
October 15, 2021
It is a very good strategy that our host is proposing but the fact is, that so much of the technology he is advocating is now produced outside the UK and has to be bought in.
There is a massive gap between fundamental design work and development which we are exceptionally good at, and production in which we are not. The exceptions have been BAe, Rolls Royce, Triumph Motorcycles, Jaguar and Dyson. Yet even the latter three are increasingly turning abroad for production.
Even our updated Challenger tanks are to have new German-built turrets. Why is that ?
Is it lack of investment, inefficient production or just no interest in manufacturing ? Whatever the reason, it needs to be put right.
October 15, 2021
The role of EU and other migrant workers has shown that there are gaps in the skills of the UK born workforce which need to be addressed.
I do not know what the current situation is in education but for many years the emphasis was on sending kids to university to study mainly 2nd rate arts courses.
October 15, 2021
There isn’t and has never been a ‘skills’ gap….the gap your taking about is the employability and wages eg a UK welder against a welder from Poland – the gap is the cost of wages and not skills
October 15, 2021
Maylor,
Many migrant workers just worked for less money and employers got used to it. Additionally employers found it easier to sweat the assets, so longer shifts and poor facilities became commonplace. Peter
Education is now a huge industry. Meanwhile, degrees are required for many jobs that only required āOā levels, then āAā levels in earlier times. So the degree does not really give many graduates an edge in the employment market.
October 15, 2021
If everyone has a degree in nothing worthwhile then what’s the point?
October 15, 2021
Maylor, why pay a British citizen a living wage, a decent overnight rate (the government rate allowance for overnights needs increasing), the employer’s NI obligation, the 28 days + holidays, potential sick pay and sick holiday pay for 28 weeks if you can just cabotage to lower rate sub-contractors from Europe who don’t pay UK VED, don’t contribute national insurance, don’t pay UK insurances + the insurance tax rate, the company doesn’t have to then contribute employer’s national insurance, the subbies don’t pay their taxes in the UK so will do the work a lot cheaper.
October 15, 2021
“It needs to allow or encourage high quality high capacity broadband.”
Good luck with that one, after all the market is King, the all but monopoly provider (of copper/fibre land lines) only sings for their parent company and its shareholders, not the govt or country as they did 40 years ago.
“It needs to
continue to strive forallow excellence in school and College education again.”There, corrected that for your Sir John!
A start might be the scrapping of the national curriculum, along with needless SATS type testing. Schools and Colleges need to be guided by the industries in their area, most school leavers will find first employment, training, local to were they live, education needs to be tailored to suit. The Thatcher era implemented one-size fits all reforms failed – the reluctance the her first SoS at Education should have been noted and trusted, but Mrs T had prior form for picking up and running with useless polices left on the desk by the out going Labour SoS at DfE…
Also, why is our host blind to the fact that this country will make nothing (meaning R&D will also likely off-shore, leaving just sales offices and warehouses here in the UK) unless politicos, educators and others grasp the fact that most will not have “well paid jobs”, in fact most will have at best average paid jobs, often doing boring repetitive, perhaps dirty, physical work. Some people need to stop selling dreams that can not become reality!
“It needs to avoid imposing unduly complex controls and interventions”
Yes, two of the biggest being UBR and planning, but it seems the promised reforms have been shelved by govt, so once again businesses and their employees, those actually create the wealth of the country have to play second fiddle to certain others.
October 15, 2021
When nationalised companies failed in the past it was almost always due to interference from their political masters. Where a nationalised entity succeeded, perhaps due to monopoly, the govt would take the profits and thus starve any ability for meaningful reinvestment, classic example being the GPO -especially telephones, and of course the politicos would blame the ownership model, not their oversight, for the lack of new lines or what ever!
October 16, 2021
The issue is always centred on a service being a monopoly being vulnerable to the willingness and ability of people with agendas misusing that position – politicians, empire building civil serpents, unions, greedy businessmen it doesn’t matter, the outcome for the tax payer/customer is the same.
October 16, 2021
@dixie; Many of the same issues remained after privatisation, and now being independent from direct govt oversight made things worse, hence why govt then had to set up Offices of Official Regulation etc.
October 17, 2021
Your trust in government is charming but misplaced. If government is the oversight who overseas government, who really holds the establishment to account? The answer is no-one.
And the quaint notion that civil servants and public sector workers can be trusted to do the right thing because they aren’t in it for the money (or power trip or their own agendas) is patently rubbish as exposed by their behaviour from Brexit.
If you cannot hold someone to meaningful account then you have no basis to ensure they do the right thing … and politicians and the public sector are not held to meaningful account.
October 17, 2021
@dixie; “Your trust in government is charming but misplaced.”
My bad, my wording was a tad sloppy, for govt oversight read statutory oversight.
If you read my other comment with regards Nationalisation I have often said govt involvement is part of the problem, indeed my comment (above) about the old GPO pointed to such problems. Thus I am under no illusions as to the limitations, nor advantage, State ownership creates, case by case. On the other hand I think you are being somewhat delusional if you think there are never problems with the private “Market” sector ownership model, just look at the Ofwat findings regarding certain water companies lately, just look at the failings of BLMC in the early 1970s (a period when still in private ownership, but often blamed by the right on later nationalisation…), just look at the wholly unsatisfactory ownership of many coal mines before 1939.
“If you cannot hold someone to meaningful account then you have no basis to ensure they do the right thing”
If a few million individuals, all strangely called “Sid”, were still the shareholders of our once nationalised industries I might agree but were is that ‘meaningful account’ now. Hence why successive govts have had to create, and update, Offices of Official Regulation since.
October 15, 2021
This is your Industrial Strategy John but it doesn’t seem to be your governments.
Do you have a link to the present Industrial Strategy that BEIS is pursuing?
Ask them to discover who owns these under 400 UK abattoirs, which nationality, and why they are refusing to process British grown pigs that are in the headlines every day as a crisis.
Could the government give business start-up loans to people who want to set up British abattoirs (like the student loans that need repaying at 9% based on gross profit) to process British pigs and other animals, can we have more smaller processing units so that we can get off the precipice of allowing major German supermarket chains to take over our key need (food supply) before we get absolutely no choice over what we eat, we used to have over 30,000 abattoirs so it can’t be that British people don’t want to do this work as suggested all the time. I wonder if these abattoirs are owned by companies such as those with big pig interests in Denmark so they do this to stop our farmers stealing a march. I read that Ireland also has massive pig farms and abattoirs because they have a methane problem because these have been allowed to grow so big, are their abattoirs foreign owned or are they still processing local meat in Ireland?
October 15, 2021
Good points Tracy
October 16, 2021
a-tracy
Indeed if there is a real shortage of skill or of a processing/manufacturing unit, then there is a business opportunity for someone.
Why does the government need to get involved at all, other than to encourage business with sensible policies on regulation and taxation.
October 15, 2021
Sir John – all very good Conservative ideas. Unfortunately the Government in power has shown by it actions that it will do and encourage the opposite.
The solution as with all these things is for Government to ‘butt-out’. Most rules, regulations and bureaucracy have no effect on anything other than a ‘virtue signal’. They create overload and costs were it is not needed, they drag things down instead of empowering. They do not catch or have any effect on the law breakers. In contradiction the NI protocol is criticized by Government for its over burdening costly bureaucracy, yet in the very same breathe the Government treats the UK in the same way. Government appears to wants to transplant all the bad ideas of the EU Commission on the UK but with them(the Government) the arbiter, the ones creating jobs for the chums. None of it is actually anything to do with the efficiency, safety and security of the UK, just costly exercises to keep freeloading chums employed at the taxpayers expense.
October 15, 2021
The UK owned transport companies have just been played by Grant Shapps.
October 15, 2021
Correct – the introduction of unlimited cabotage will kill the industry
October 15, 2021
a-tracy,- – not just them – – the whole country, Not seen many photos of the govt looking downbeat at having a country at a virtual standstil for 2 years. They create the world for THEM to benefit – – NOT US.
October 15, 2021
@x-tracy; You have that the wrong away around. It is Grant Shapps, who has been played by the transport companies, many of who are not UK owned either.
Funny how successive Conservative govts object to paying directly for the UK railways, airlines etc but are quite happy to pay other govts (ie their state owned transport companies) and non UK owned private companies to run what used to be nationalised UK industries.
October 15, 2021
I agree Jerry the users of EU cabotage drivers and Shapps have succeeded together to sink British transport companies who do invest in British drivers, training and good allowances for overnights. Your second point is also well made and true.
October 16, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
I think an unhealthy lesson has been learned by politicians during the pandemic. If you scare people enough, you can boss them around at will.
This can easily lead to them thinking that governments are in charge. People are in charge and only people can effect change. The government exists to enable the people to do this. This government has failed to do this in several important areas. Concentrate on those; energy supplies, law and order, QE and tax.
October 15, 2021
Well they’ve told everyone it’s too dangerous to go out because they might get infected or infect others. DVLA has got the message and are now engaging in industrial action quite reasonably because of the risk they run by being ordered back to the office. Consequently HGV tests have fallen behind and we have a driver shortage.
October 15, 2021
Dave. They won’t worry about mixing in the pub or getting on a plane I bet.
October 15, 2021
+1
October 16, 2021
John
Governments did not boss us around, unelected appointees did. “We will be lead by the science !” I seem to remember someone once saying š
October 15, 2021
The level of competence of this Government continues to surprise:
āKwarteng looks to mild UK forecast to weather energy stormā, FT, 14/10/2021.
Has he also looked at slaughtered pig entrails?
āSavid Javid brings back face-to-face appointments with GPsā, but then fails to show up to his scheduled meeting to address the Royal College of Practitionersā annual conference. 14/10/2021.
October 15, 2021
You tell us to believe experts hef, and you tell us that you believe the Met Office’s predictions on climate change yet here you criticise the Minister for accepting their forecasts.
October 15, 2021
Oh I see, so it is OK for the Minister not to even give a hint of a policy and for him to just rely on a mild winter. Was/is it how you were/are doing your six-month business planning, just expecting that things will turn well, not looking for possible negative outcomes?
And what about the courageous Health Secretary chickening out of a meeting with possible contradictors? No comment from you and your deep business experience?
October 15, 2021
Switching the argument as usual heffy.
More red herrings than a Grimsby catch.
October 16, 2021
P2, you were the one who switched first, canāt you see? And still no answers to my questions, not that I was expecting anything substantial from you. āSubstanceā and āyouā are obviously belonging to two different worlds.
When one wants to be a Cultural Warrior, as you appear to be, one has to provide arguments, not vacuous statements about this or that way of escaping a proper discussion.
Were you not, not that long ago, all in favour of decent debate? Already forgotten. Hilarious.
October 16, 2021
Look heffy you criticised a government minister for referring to and yes even relying on the advice of experts.
In this example the Met Office.
And you see no inconsistentcy that you often post on here telling us all to accept and believe on such experts.
Well hef I do.
Your rudeness and personal insults give away your weak position.
October 17, 2021
So P2 now that you have done your song and a dance about my mishandling reference to a weather forecast, are you going to tell us what you think of the matters at hand: has the BEIS Secretary a policy other than expecting that winter is mild? Was the Secretary for Health and Social Care right not to attend the annual meeting of the RCP?
Or will you find another escape route for not answering the above questions?
October 17, 2021
You still foaming heffy?
And another quiz from you.
How nice.
Let’s get back to the start….
I challenged your post specifically about a Minister who said he would rely on the Met Office’s predictions of a mild winter.
You criticised this decision yet normally you demand we all rely on various expert opinions.
In fact you even call people out for refusing to accept without question Met Office predictions regarding climate change.
I therefore find your approach totally illogical.
However I’m glad you finally recognise your original post was “mishandled”
October 19, 2021
Wonderful how you put words in my mouth: I ādemand we all rely on various expert opinionsā. I āeven call people out for refusing to accept without question Met Office predictions regarding climate changeā.
No such thing. I usually just point out that not everybody is of the same opinion and that some opinions might be much better supported than others. For example IPCC vs GWPF.
And still nothing on Kwarteng and Javid ā¦
October 15, 2021
The first UK government to have it’s own Haruspex Maximus;what have the Romans ever done for us?!
Bring back the Druids I say!
October 15, 2021
John,
A subject I am expert on, while your contemporaries were all talking I was doing.
So, from the coal face, as it were.
We already fund a lot of research etc via universities, and other mechanisms, the real problem is that the underlying intellectual property rarely stays with a UK patriotic organisation. Normally the IP ends up being given to a multi-national, and after a short period they pass the intellectual property to their plants in other countries. So stuff not just invented by academics, but also stuff invented by the foremen and workers on the shop floor themselves improving their own processes, which can be radical improvements, ends up leaking abroad to undercut us. And as much as the multi nationals actively passing it abroad, they often have their IT outsourced to an organisation using foreign labour, and anyone managing those systems can see the designs etc stored in those software systems, so its easy for IP to leak abroad.
We compete best when we compete on quality, being one step ahead of the “general and average” commands a premium price. It is silly for the UK to try and compete on generic average stuff. It is when the IP which enables us to do the higher quality leaks abroad that we are in trouble.
Our approach to anti pollution kit, and safety kit, adds a lot of crazy expense. Often as soon as a new anti pollution technique is invented within the month it is mandated here. The costs of using bleeding edge, not yet fully debugged, early adopter anti pollution approaches destroys the financial sums of doing business here. We should aim to be in the bottom quartile least polluting per unit of output per industrial process, trying to be the very least polluting prices us out of the market. We should encourage new anti pollution techniques, and make sure the debugging in real world use is done on a small scale, so that the inevitable teething problems of early use do not impact the whole industry in that sector.
We need a serious look at our multi national approach to anti pollution kit, and safety kit, if we mandate the most expensive anti pollution and safety kit here, then is it really responsible to import the output from the same processes from countries and factories using anti pollution kit & safety kit that would have been frowned upon here in the 1950’s? Those factories abroad are undercutting our safer less polluting factories in large part because their anti pollution & safety kit expense is so much smaller. This whole dynamic needs a far better approach. All we have been doing for decades is shutting down pollution here by making factories too expensive to operate here, only to see the same factories open abroad using less anti pollution kit than we ever did, from where we import their output. This is not a net good for the world, or for the UK.
Lack of incentives in the system to train and encourage local talent, its far cheaper still to import cheap grads from abroad who can work for far less than a Brit, and have them working for us virtually from abroad, or in person here as one of the hundreds of thousands brought in by the outsourcers. The businesses using such people are doing if cos its cheaper, but in its own way it reduces the quality of our output, it increases the speed of our best IP leaking, and we end up with locals who could have done those jobs displaced while we constantly bring in cheaper foreign labour. The state has manipulated the situation so that it makes sense for business to do this, it should manipulate it back the other way so that it is more cost effective to plan, hire, train, and grow local talent.
etc
October 15, 2021
@ Editor – was the etc from Iain Gill or editorial, if the latter I would have preferred to read more of what the former had to say on the subject as he is absolutely right about IP being given away to competing forces.
October 15, 2021
in this case the etc was mine, I have said most of this before in comments on this blog site. trying to balance what I am saying with the time John has to moderate it all. I have much more of this to say, but really the political process does not seem to be listening, other than John letting the comments through now and again. for me this stuff is the bloomin obvious, and should not even be party political, and yet the political class dont seem to have grasped any of these concepts. if we want to compete in the world as a wealth generating economy these basics need to be sorted out.
October 16, 2021
@IG, thanks for clarifying.
I agree this should be obvious and not party political but it seems no-one gives a rats ass as long as they get their latest iphone or whatever.
I don’t think the answer is political though as for two generations the political mindset has been to give away our wealth generation to almost anyone and to give away control to the EU.
So perhaps one answer may lie more in the areas of consumer and investor activism – since votes clearly don’t matter perhaps hitting them in the pocket will concentrate the minds more.
October 16, 2021
I think politics will have to change, especially as ordinary people communicate much more by social media and can see their politicians are not even listening to mainstream views, mostly. I think we need far more experience of the real world in senior layers of the public sector as well.
The cosy accepted wisdoms of the political classes are wrong on lots of things, and that makes them vulnerable electorally.
October 15, 2021
The government are bought, which is quite a problem.
October 15, 2021
1. Industry needs ROADS, not railways. The government is spaffing over a HUNDRED BILLION pounds up the wall on its ridiculous HS2 project, when what is really needed is a massive road widening programme.
2. Industry needs to invest in R&D and new factories. In order to do so they needs financial inducements – which means tax cuts targeted at those investments. To its credit the government is doing this now, but only for a very limited period, when instead the tax rebates should be permanent and should not be cancelled out by corporation tax increases. The ghovernment also needs to invest in basic research, but I see that the chancellor is now rowing back on previous government R&D spending commitments. This is not only idiotic in itself but another government broken promise.
3. Industry needs workers. We have a chronic shortage of workers in all sorts of areas, from butchers to HGV drivers, while at the same time unemployment stands at around 1.5 million. This is quite literally insane. The government needs to direct benefit claimants into training so that they can fill these vacancies, and should end ALL benefits to anyone who refuses.
4. Industry needs customers. The government, in all its forms (ie. national, local, agencies, etc), spends billions of pounds every year on purchasing, from ships to chips, and they should ONLY buy products and produce made or grown in the UK. If all branches of government, from the civil service to the police, from schools to hospitals, ALL bought only UK products, our industries and farmers would soon be thriving.
5. Industry needs CHEAP ENERGY. I have said this before, and I am saying it again because it is TRUE. Cheap energy is the key to a thriving industrial and even farming sector. Boris’s moronic government is, of course, doing exactly the opposite, and putting energy costs up! If anything exemplifies the government’s complete stupidity then this is it.
October 15, 2021
MUCH too sensible X Tory
October 15, 2021
I am afraid our Government is not interested in building a prosperous country, but jut in Green nonsense and useless vanity projects like HS2. I am beginning to think that even Mr Starmer could do better than this.
October 15, 2021
William. As long as it’s without the ‘help’ of Sturgeon. I say help but it would be anything but help. Since when did she put the interests of the UK first? Even though she is desperate for independence so she can dictate even more she wouldn’t pass up the chance to sit in Westminster and Lord it over all of us.
October 15, 2021
It is interested in remaining in power, utterly, absolutely, and at whatever cost to the country and its people.
That is paramount.
Everything else is so secondary in comparison as to be near-irrelevant.
October 15, 2021
99% of the political class, of all parties, in this country, are exactly the kinds of people we dont need in their roles.
the system is broken.
something dramatic will happen in the world of politics because this nonsense cannot go on forever.
October 15, 2021
An actual cucumber could do better than this. Our country is in an absolute state. And most of you vote for the party has left it in an absolute state. You are in a minority in the country. The majority of us do not vote for these people.
October 15, 2021
And still 10 points ahead of Labour.
Lol
October 17, 2021
Oh yes, indeed: Johnsonās āfantastic deal for all of the UKā, no need of convincing in Decā19, then the 80-MP majority, now still 10+points ahead of Labour, top-notch Ministers, and a wonderfully efficient Government truly loved by the whole population.
What more can one ask for? Moving Forward by Great Leaps and bounds to the sunlit uplands. We all are so full of expectations.
October 17, 2021
Hilarious nonsense heffy.
I thought you were demanding a data driven debate?
October 15, 2021
Hello Sir john,
As a regular reader you seem to have a lot of common sense & a clear vision of what the UK needs to do. So why is it not happening? Does anybody in government talk to you, listen to you or consult you?
We need less government costing a lot less so taxes can be reduced, we need government to do some serious research into the climate change situation. It is a natural happening, the Earth has warmed & cooled for thousands of years, Carbon is 0.04% of the atmosphere so why are we destroying our economy for that!
All diversity, inclusion & equality nonsense should be kicked out, together with all the costs related to it & Labour’s 2010 equality bill should be removed because that costs money to achieve nothing. The NHS is a money pit which will bankrupt the UK unless some serious reform takes place & a complete ban on immigration is needed for 3 to 5 years. If you keep letting in more people you keep having to spend more money. To someone in Africa or the middle east the free NHS is like winning the lottery. As far as picking fruit & vegetables is concerned let low risk prisoners do it & pay them so they have some money when released.
If the EU does not give way on the NIP in the next 3 or 4 weeks then activate article 16 immediately. Arrest & jail the Insulate Britain protesters now under existing law. Reform education so our young people are not being brainwashed at school & University with left/liberal nonsense. We are a great country & have given the world much, lets celebrate that & believe in ourselves!
October 15, 2021
+1
October 15, 2021
+100
October 15, 2021
We are being held back by incompetent politicians
October 15, 2021
KfL, +1
October 15, 2021
One thing contributing to the country’s industrial problems — such as shortages, especially of divers types of workers — is this ridiculous obsession with giving every-one a degree; with turning all in to white-collar workers. She now has a labour force consisting of a graduated working-class … but no class working!
Determined to turn your workers in to ‘managers’ — even supermarkets on their general-address systems refer to staff as ‘colleagues’ — you’ve devalued the working class and created a widely shared but mistaken view that there’s something inferior about manual labour. Hence the disappearance of an institution that in the past ensured the economy’s access to a skilled workforce — the apprenticeship — and with it the true working class so desperately needed.
Ī Ī
October 15, 2021
Strive for excellence.
Very nearly close to In Search of Excellence written by Tom Peters and first published in 1982. Considered by many working in Quality Management through the 90s as a handbook bordering on a bible.
How sad here we are 39 years later and in reality not much has changed and the mistakes being made then are still being repeated on a too often basis.
Start with children at primary school from day one introduce meaningful play situations. Shopping, teaches prices money, add products, where they come from, how they were delivered, dispatched, manufactured, grown , picked , sent to market all the processes we take for granted. Teach, just a minute thinking and how to cost it, right first time, team building, problem solving an so on. By the time they leave senior school those with no real academic qualifications will have skills that will benefit any future employer. There must be hundreds of retired people all qualified capable of working
in the educational department to give training sessions to staff on a train the trainer basis. If teachers don’t want to do it bring in a Quality Coordinator to serve a group of schools to teach and give workshops as the pupils progress through the system. It’s not too radical and the money spent will benefit every child regardless of academic ability.
October 15, 2021
You only need two ingredients for a successful industrial strategy
1. Zero intervention from government
2. Less tax on business
The one single thing that destroyed the UK HGV owner business was the abuse of the ācabotageā scheme by EU drivers where they could stay in the UK undercutting the UK driversā¦.and to help the UK driver storage our government is introducing unlimited cabotage i.e unlimited load pick-up and drop-offā¦.pathetic
October 15, 2021
An interesting aside:
https://www.cityam.com/exclusive-most-investors-believe-brexit-will-make-uk-more-attractive-place-to-do-business/?utm_source=izooto&utm_medium=push_notifications&utm_campaign=Brexit
“Exclusive: Most investors believe Brexit will make UK more attractive place to do business”
October 15, 2021
Surely all the ingredients of a successful industrial strategy are well-known and well-understood. The puzzle is why implementation fails.
We need a second Ludwig Erhard at the BEIS of course but I expect that name is unknown there.
October 15, 2021
At the last election Boris Johnson called his Brexit agreement the “Blue Peter deal” as it’s “one we made earlier” and ready to do. JR keeps posting his Blue Peter manifestos, knowing equally the chances of any getting implemented are near zero. He and the rest of the Conservative Party, must concentrate on convincing the electorate, that there is a big Marxist bogey man, out there, unseen; that will come and gobble us all up if we even think of not voting Conservative. So far they are doing a pretty good job, to the point of the system becoming a self perpetuating. Which is how all one party states originate.
October 16, 2021
We didn’t need any convincing at the last election acorn.
It was obvious just how hard left the opposition were.
They refer to us scum and then expect us to elect them.
October 15, 2021
If we want to rebuild industry that we have lost
What you mean mining , ship building, steel …what about canal digging , wig making or flint knapping. The UK was manufacturing record numbers cars and attracting more investment than any other European country. Pharmaceuticals was already a major success closely linked with EU US and China , Financial Services Media and the UK`s real economy were all going just fine benefittng from trade with sophisticated countries that need high end output.
What have we got now, a comic five year Tractor plan while debts lurch into terrifying territory inflation gets a grip and Christmas is cancelled.
The way for the Government to encourage Industry is to stop taking more and more money away form success and handing over to failure . It is not that complicated
PS Mind you its a mare trying to find a decent carnifex .Bring em all back , forward to a better yesterday !
October 15, 2021
I am puzzled by the fact that people on here do not understand the governmentās industrial strategy. It is obvious, and has been for years, that the strategy is to have no industry. We buy whatever we want from other countries and pay for it by gradually selling our country to people from abroad.
Meanwhile we stop ourselves from being idle by paying people to cut our grass and make us coffee. We keep the building industry going by borrowing money for home improvements. It all has a Ponzi scheme feel about it.
October 16, 2021
Mike
As I understand it, the plan was further integration within the EU. For example. The French would build the Nuclear reactors, taking on both the cost and the risk. We would just buy the energy off them. The plan was for the UK to be a fully paid up member of the EU, including membership of the EURO. So it would not matter where the food, the white goods or the cars where made, as we would be just one nation – Europe (EU).
October 15, 2021
oops twas little me
October 15, 2021
If we want to live in a country with a robust and flexible economy, then the first step would be to ditch the illogical, unfair and badly implemented IR35 legislation. The new release of HMRC enforcement corresponds DIRECTLY to the shortage of HGV drivers…
October 16, 2021
We need to do that and much, much more.
Make those on PAYE rather than salaried pay a lower rate of tax and ENIC. This would encourage people to go over to PAYE and in turn, would make business more profitable as those on salaried pay get paid whether they are at work or not. PAYE – If you do not show up for work you do not get paid. This would save companies a fortune.
October 15, 2021
And in other news
While our politicians decides which hotel to host our channel boat people, Poland has today introduced new laws allowing their border guards to immediately expel migrants who cross their border illegally, SO WHY CANT WE
October 15, 2021
If someone does cross UK borders illegally, then they can be expelled immediately that is known.
However, in most cases, finding out whether their action was indeed illegal or not takes a while with Due Process.
October 15, 2021
With visa and passport – legal
Without visa or passport – illegal
….it takes about 10 seconds to establish if a traveller is legal or illegal
October 15, 2021
With upheld claim to asylum – also legal.
Takes longer.
October 15, 2021
They are not upheld.
Just apending assessment.
October 16, 2021
Then how come some get to stay?
October 16, 2021
The process is elongated by endless appeals made by lawyers on legal aid.
October 15, 2021
I see Poland has had enough with immigrants from Belarus. They are already sending them back and want to build a wall. They are EU members. Why are we so soft?
October 16, 2021
Border security and external immigration policies are sovereign matters for European Union member countries.
As was patiently and repeatedly explained to you, voting Leave would change nothing in that regard – and it didn’t.
October 17, 2021
Wrong again NLH
Freedom of movement enshrined in treaty law means our borders were open to EU nations citizens whilst we were a member of the EU.
Surely you know this?
October 15, 2021
Perhaps we could have a return to “built to last”. There are still British cars on the road going strong, the Morris Minor for one. The railways are still running on British locos and diesel units/HSTs.
It’s a standing joke at my local plumber’s merchant that I (not a plumber) ought to have an account with them. Why don’t toilets last like they used to ? Cistern mechanisms that are continually cracking up ? Why are there a myriad of designs and why is it so often “Nope. They don’t make those anymore.” ? Why don’t seats stop wobbling ? Why do we need fancy mechanised plugs that go wrong all the time or faucets that can’t be repaired with the simple and cheap replacement of washers ?
Why do TVs pack up in no time ? Fridges, freezers…
And then the local hardware shop is happy to sell you a bag of five doorstops that don’t work when I’d be happier to buy one for a fiver that does !
If only we could go back to “Built to Last” and make a reputation on it again. Make these things repairable and servicible by the average person or at cheap cost.
October 15, 2021
Morris Minors were not built to last.
Without dedicated care and preservation by enthusiasts, they rusted to bits in about six years just like most other cars.
The steering king pins had a habit of failing catastrophically on bends too – not a happy thing to happen.
October 15, 2021
Among the worst were Fiats, Datsuns, early Vauxhalls….second grade steel.
October 15, 2021
NLA. Instead we get cheap trash from China
October 16, 2021
No, you can get good stuff from the European Union, such as the bathroom ceramics which I recently installed from Spain and from Germany, FUS.
October 15, 2021
I see that the government is now going to allow 800 foreign butchers into the country on 6-month visas. And when the visas end …??? The same pressures and problems will simply come back. This government is just too dumb to do any long-term thinking. The solution is this: Yes, OK, meat processors can be allowed to employ overseas butchers BUT ONLY on the basis that they MUST train one new butcher for every one overseas butcher employed, so that by the time the foreign butcher leaves they have a ready-trained substitute to take his place. The government must take control of events, not be constantly behind the curve. Are they too stupid or incompetent to understand this?
October 15, 2021
X – Tory
Are they too stupid?
YES
October 15, 2021
We need clear national objectives enshrined in law. Government must ensure:
– lowest possible energy prices with self-sufficiency in baseload electrical generation
– total taxation never to exceed x% of GDP (30% ?)
– state sector employment never to exceed y% of the total (20% ?)
– free market democracy as the stated national policy and strong curbs against authoritarian rule
– at least one-third of cabinet to be STEM graduates or have real experience in those fields
– no minister to be appointed without a proven track record of managing a large org, preferably outside govt.
– education must be free of ideological bias and concentrate on high academic standards with discipline (cf free schools)
There are many other ideas no doubt but my wish list would also include:
– national broadcaster funded by taxpayer must promote British values and no other (cf Denmark)
– no illegal immigrant ever to be allowed residency or citizenship
– sale of our industries and intellectual property to foreign ownership to be the unwelcome exception.
– wokery to be driven out of government and academia.
October 15, 2021
Oh Dear God.
This looks very bad.
Poor Mr Amess.
Dreadful times.
October 15, 2021
very sad news about David Amess.
very sad news indeed.
October 15, 2021
Shocking. But how many times are we gin to say this whether it’s a member of the public or an MP? We need to be more careful with who we allow to live in our country.
October 15, 2021
It would help if the Tories stopped prostituting us by saying to foreign interests they will let them buy whatever they like and the government will lie back and enjoy their abuse.
They know they will be threatened in future having handed over our sovereignty but they like it.
October 16, 2021
I personally do not mind foreign investment. What I do mind is foreign governments buying our companies, especially our utility companies, but not allowing our business to buy theirs.
October 15, 2021
God rest Sir David Amess.
We’ve got to do more to protect politicians. Not just physically but also from the huge amount of abuse they receive. Some of it / much of it encouraged by our newspapers (both left and right and everything in between).
October 15, 2021
Yes, Ed, it’s another signally terrible day in the life of the country.
My deepest sympathy goes to Sir David’s family, friends and colleagues.
October 15, 2021
They are not in danger from people like us. They are danger from imported beliefs but our country’s leaders fail us all.
October 15, 2021
I’m sorry, but another MP was murdered by a British person of British background five years ago.
If it were only as easily summed up as you suggest.
October 15, 2021
Dreadful news of the death of David Amess, Sir John. You must have known him well. The thoughts of all will be with his family, and those working closely with him. More must be done to protect MPs as they carry out these surgeries.
October 15, 2021
Sir JR,
All excellent recommendatoin on both infrastructure, educaiton , schooling and planning laws intrms of what needs to be done to support industry and entrepreneurship.
But these are all things that the present and past Conservative governments have neglected, so what is going to change?
October 15, 2021
āIt [Ingredients of an Industrial Strategy] needs to continue to strive for excellence in school and College education.ā
We need to cut the worthless degrees, or get the universities fund the loans out of their own pockets, and put the money into trade/technical colleges to teach the technical skills we have in short supply.
The old system of apprenticeships is no longer viable when labour today is so mobile.
We should have a system run along the lines of universities where trades and technical skills are taught and the students can fund their courses through loans just like the existing university system.
These courses would be designed for carpenters, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, technicians, gas and welding engineers, nurses (not degree level), care workers, catering (cooking), bricklayers/plasterers/builders etc.. And include HGV driving, butchers and curry chefs.
No PPE, humanities or law.
October 15, 2021
RIP Sir David Amess. Shocking, absolutely shocking. Poor man, poor family left behind.
We need decency and morality reasserted into the UK. Destroy racial politics that is being used to demonise some people
Open borders encouraged by both main parties is destroying our nation and leading to this horror
Poor, poor man
Keep safe John. We all argue and express our anger on this site but it’s all vacuous, harmless tosh and meaningless
October 15, 2021
To compete effectively Worldwide you have to be capable of making things that are too challenging for other economies. That is how the Victorians succeeded – by manufacturing things that other countries were making by hand, and by exporting the machinery other countries could not make.
That means concentrating on the high end of technology and manufacturing and processing that is more efficient than other economies can manage. It doesn’t mean doing more of what everyone does.
A lot of howling will come from existing companies wanting help to do more of what they already do, but that should be resisted. Government help in any form, from financing to building infrastructure, should be conditional on companies demonstrating that they are making advanced products, pursuing new processes and investing in R&D – real R&D, not just the accounting category.
The ones that want to go on as before are already doing that, so they can do it on their own resources.
October 16, 2021
Jon
Once again I am finding myself in full agreement with you. Countries like Japan, Germany, South Korea and China have a broad and basic plan. Heavy industry first with roads, ports, airports and railways built to support moving materials, goods and people. Then moving on to high end goods and technology.
October 15, 2021
Yet more common sense from JR.