Lockdown - has it totally failed?

[Big J]

I was chatting with a colleague this afternoon about the economic fallout of the covid crisis, and with the UK heading towards suffering the worst in the developed world, he quite astutely pointed out that it might be because the UK is more dependent on the service sector than just about any other developed nation. Perhaps it'll come full circle and we'll develop our manufacturing base again. I certainly hope so. 

[Johnsond]

9 hours ago, Big J said:

I was chatting with a colleague this afternoon about the economic fallout of the covid crisis, and with the UK heading towards suffering the worst in the developed world, he quite astutely pointed out that it might be because the UK is more dependent on the service sector than just about any other developed nation. Perhaps it'll come full circle and we'll develop our manufacturing base again. I certainly hope so. 

I’d love to think so J but I fear not.As an example  If you look at the latest round of wind farm licences and the ones already nearing completion you will sadly see that very little of this UK tax payer funded gold rush is actually benefiting the average UK worker. Yes some people get work in the wind farms but the real money that’s made is in the manufacturing and installation phases. Very rarely if ever does any of that come to these shores. That’s before you even look at the astronomical profits to be made by selling the electricity back to the UK. Most of the Jackets and foundation set ups are made in either the Gulf or China. Shipped here thousands of miles in the quest for net zero ?‍♂️. Now just think for a minute how much communities and the country as a whole would benefit if this was done in house. Real jobs, apprenticeships and skills for young people and money plowed back into the UK economy. How hard would it be to put a condition on the licence agreements that stipulated  50% had to UK owned, supplied and run !!! Why are we selling off a natural resource to other nations then forcing the taxpayers to buy it back. I know that we as a country whilst part of the EU could not do half of what I’m talking about but surely a blind man can see the current system ain’t working that well. Not just under the tories but for the last 30 years etc 

UK manufacturing and the skilled jobs that go with it has been devastated. We speak of net zero yet care nothing of the conditions and life of many of the people whom manufacture much of the essential infrastructure involved or of the long term decline of our skills base. I saw something the other day where someone commented on the new forth crossing and how wonderful a bit of Scottish engineering it is. Really ??? I worked on that and know fine well where the bridge sections were made and how many of the welds were being failed by UK ndt guys. Subsequently to be gouged out and rewelded in situ by teams of Romanian welders. One of the main contractors on the bridge Dragados a Spanish firm has just walked away from the multi million pound Aberdeen harbour project. No doubt the Scottish tax payer will be inline for a further humping. Having a bit of a rant but unfortunately people neither seem to see it or care. People’s attention is more focused on the hysteria surrounding little Britain sketches or Baden Powell’s possible homophobia ???

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by Johnsond

[Khriss]

19 hours ago, Mr. Squirrel said:

What's Brexit again? ?

The Sweet you can eat between meals and not ruin yr appetite  ... oH no...that's a fudge  ?  K

[Sutton]

12 hours ago, Mark J said:

I'm inclined to believe the scientists.
They tend to provide sources for their reasoning.

Doesn't that only take us so far?

Science/Engineering/Tech measure material/physical processes just as economics measures the productivity of workers.

You say you're "inclined/tend", what else do we need together with the language of Numbers to match or overtake the current political agendas?

 

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, Sutton said:

Doesn't that only take us so far?

Science/Engineering/Tech measure material/physical processes just as economics measures the productivity of workers.

You say you're "inclined/tend", what else do we need together with the language of Numbers to match or overtake the current political agendas?

 

Clarity and consistency in Government would help.

[Sutton]

36 minutes ago, Mark J said:

Clarity and consistency in Government would help.

You're asking for logic.

14 hours ago, Mark J said:

While they play us against ourselves we'll always be subject to divide and conquer.
I think now is as good a time as any to get to the bottom of things.

Divide-and-rule can't be explicitly logical.

14 hours ago, Mark J said:

And aye, I do believe in science because it's easy to prove or disprove things by applying the same models and seeing if the results tally.

What models do you subscribe to? ?

[breffni]

13 hours ago, Big J said:

I was chatting with a colleague this afternoon about the economic fallout of the covid crisis, and with the UK heading towards suffering the worst in the developed world, he quite astutely pointed out that it might be because the UK is more dependent on the service sector than just about any other developed nation. Perhaps it'll come full circle and we'll develop our manufacturing base again. I certainly hope so. 

I hope that the UK will try and rebuild the manufacturing sector but I don't think it will happen. The obsession with short term gain and shareholder profits over anything else is the reason why. Unlike Germany or even the much maligned Italians manufacturing is just not respected in the UK. Private Equity groups are a massive part of the problem. Rather than buying companies to invest in long term they only care about short term profit. 

[breffni]

11 hours ago, Johnsond said:

I’d love to think so J but I fear not.As an example  If you look at the latest round of wind farm licences and the ones already nearing completion you will sadly see that very little of this UK tax payer funded gold rush is actually benefiting the average UK worker. Yes some people get work in the wind farms but the real money that’s made is in the manufacturing and installation phases. Very rarely if ever does any of that come to these shores. That’s before you even look at the astronomical profits to be made by selling the electricity back to the UK. Most of the Jackets and foundation set ups are made in either the Gulf or China. Shipped here thousands of miles in the quest for net zero ?‍♂️. Now just think for a minute how much communities and the country as a whole would benefit if this was done in house. Real jobs, apprenticeships and skills for young people and money plowed back into the UK economy. How hard would it be to put a condition on the licence agreements that stipulated  50% had to UK owned, supplied and run !!! Why are we selling off a natural resource to other nations then forcing the taxpayers to buy it back. I know that we as a country whilst part of the EU could not do half of what I’m talking about but surely a blind man can see the current system ain’t working that well. Not just under the tories but for the last 30 years etc 

UK manufacturing and the skilled jobs that go with it has been devastated. We speak of net zero yet care nothing of the conditions and life of many of the people whom manufacture much of the essential infrastructure involved or of the long term decline of our skills base. I saw something the other day where someone commented on the new forth crossing and how wonderful a bit of Scottish engineering it is. Really ??? I worked on that and know fine well where the bridge sections were made and how many of the welds were being failed by UK ndt guys. Subsequently to be gouged out and rewelded in situ by teams of Romanian welders. One of the main contractors on the bridge Dragados a Spanish firm has just walked away from the multi million pound Aberdeen harbour project. No doubt the Scottish tax payer will be inline for a further humping. Having a bit of a rant but unfortunately people neither seem to see it or care. People’s attention is more focused on the hysteria surrounding little Britain sketches or Baden Powell’s possible homophobia ???

 

Look at the Swiss watch industry. Unless 60% or more of the parts used in a watch are locally made you can't sell it as a Swiss watch.

[Stubby]

9 minutes ago, breffni said:

Look at the Swiss watch industry. Unless 60% or more of the parts used in a watch are locally made you can't sell it as a Swiss watch.

You will be telling me they use Chinese Cuckoos next !

[Mark J]

1 hour ago, Sutton said:

You're asking for logic.

Divide-and-rule can't be explicitly logical.

What models do you subscribe to? ?

That would depend on the dataset(s). I had to trawl through statistics when I did my degree, it wasn't much fun.
What would you change in terms of the way the government has handled things?