I'm curious - can anyone name a high quality industry product made by brits ?

[Dinner]

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/47376,news-comment,news-politics,british-manufacturing-a-success-story

Manufacturing has been slaughtered in Britain just like in America while Germany and France have held up fairly well due to their national manufacturing policies. In the early 1970's 31% of the UK's GDP came from manufacturing and now it's just 13%. It's been nose diving for decades and sadly the US has been following them mainly do to free trade. I do support the idea of free trade but think there should be some restrictions to create an even playing field. It goes well beyond just cheap labor; for instance child labor and legal restrictions on unionization, no worker safety protections, along with a complete lack of environmental laws are extremely common in much of Asia. I'd be all for stiff tariffs on countries which allow such practices and I believe we'll do more good and stimulate more real reform by forcing countries to adopt ethical business practices.

Have NAFTA and the EU slap 100% tariffs on countries which allow those practices and you'll suddenly see most of the rest of the world adopt these basic protections. That simply has to be good for workers, for the environment, and for the long term health of businesses as it will prevent unethical practices. It's still free trade but free trade with basic laws of the road in place.

[Japher]

stilton cheese

[Dinner]

Interestingly, (according to the article) one of the big problems prospective new domestic manufacturing companies in the US and UK have is with access to capital. It seems like government investment funds to provide access to capital for new factories or to retool existing factories could lead to increases in manufacturing and thus increases in manufacturing employment. Funds like the 3i Fund created in post WW2 UK to help retool industries and allow financing of the construction of new factories have been used for years but have been largely ignored in recent years. Stuff like this would be a large part of a real national industrial policy to promote domestic manufacturing and employment.

[C0ckney]

that's not free trade though is it oredin, and the problem with such ideas is that they end up being protectionism by another name. it's very easy for politicians to say that countries x, y and z do not have high enough standards and therefore 'we' must impose big tariffs on their products.

also thatcher won in 1979 because the labour government had lost control and the country was on its knees. read up on the IMF loan of 1976 and the winter of discontent in '78-'79 to get some idea of why. even jim callaghan (the labour prime minister) famously wrote in his memoirs "our place ...[when] i go to bed at night i think that if i were a young man i would emigrate..."

[The Mad Monk]

Not for years now. It's owned by the Indians of all people at Tata, same with Jag.

What do you mean, Indians "of all people"?

It's not like they're Californians, after all.

[Saras]

Which brands?

Monitor Audio speakers, everything else Myriad.

[Saras]

This industry fetish is very reminiscent of late 18th - early 19th century fears of the falling share of agriculture in UK, due to the rise of, gasp, industry

[Dauphin]

Britain has always been about finance, manufacturing was nothing more than a hobby.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

What do you mean, Indians "of all people"?

Instance umpteeen billion of O's tolerance and racial harmony.

[duke o' york]

We have a decent production line producing university graduates.

Then very few jobs to give them...

[Dinner]

What do you mean, Indians "of all people"?

It's not like they're Californians, after all.

India is not exactly known as a car manufacturer of high repute so, yes, it is a bit astonishing that Tata (known mainly for making the cheapest crappiest car on Earth) has bought into the luxury car business.

[Dinner]

Instance umpteeen billion of O's tolerance and racial harmony.

Big yawn to you.

[Dinner]

We have a decent production line producing university graduates.

Then very few jobs to give them...

They could always move over seas.

That does seem a poor return on investment for the British taxpayer who paid for so much schooling though.

[duke o' york]

They could always move back over seas.

Fixed - our universities are mostly run by rich students paying well over the odds for degrees: especially from the Indian subcontinent, but we have a good number of East and Southeast Asians enrolling too.

[Krill]

Most F1 teams are run from Britain, with an industry worth over a billion pounds/year IIRC.