tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post5447942142986102584..comments2024-03-28T22:32:50.562+00:00Comments on Liberal England: British business: Lazy and protected by governmentJonathan Calderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00730157683743989696noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-92114094583258610542011-11-25T07:53:00.512+00:002011-11-25T07:53:00.512+00:00And the article ends with "it's business ...And the article ends with "it's business that needs to be prodded into working harder". Thanks to Anon above for outlining the sector that does work harder, so that we can, after sidelining Branson and his ilk 'cos they will do what they do no matter what anyone says, ask how do we stimulate the other biggies? Not by entreaties from here today gone tomorrow politicos, but by long term hard graft by competent civil servants - except that collectively they lost the plot 45 years ago. Attempts to start a public sector regeneration were stalled in 2004 (by politicos, of course). The politicos do have to back it, and they are doing that now, so that the regeneration has got started this year. I just wish that the Filth (as Jane Griffiths calls the Grauniad) would also get its act together to help push, but today it is as fragmented as the civil service currently is.dreamingspirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00324207120279777521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6606798.post-79948762288167268222011-11-25T00:17:31.200+00:002011-11-25T00:17:31.200+00:00To be fair though, this story would be even better...To be fair though, this story would be even better if it were a little more true. The argument relies for its force on the fact that it is looking for 'household names', and perhaps more importantly names that spring to mind to a Guardian reader / columnist.<br /><br />It therefore neglects to mention our economies remaining international stars in manufacturing (Unilever and GSK), or our continue dominence of certain 'non-household name' industries, such as mining and shipping. Nothing like as sexy as Google, or even Siemens, but not worth forgetting either, if only because our countries position in both industries is hardly guarenteed.<br /><br />Further down the line it is worth remembering that the majority of chips currently being produced are UK designed (thanks to ARM) or that the second largest telecomunications company in the world (Vodafone - acording to forbes anyway) is too. Obviously we also continue to be good at making cigareets and armaments, although many of us might wish we weren't.<br /><br />Sometimes it is far to easy for people to assume that simply because we don't make cloths or cars anymore we have no industry. I fear this can be a kind of self-fulfilling profesy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com