Bliar and Brown fooked up the country as well, just didn't die yet. "State Funeral" for them ? Doubt it.
Stand back, it's a recurring pattern. "Do you see what it is yet" springs to mind for some reason.
Maggie Thatcher
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Bliar and Brown fooked up the country as well, just didn't die yet. "State Funeral" for them ? Doubt it.
Stand back, it's a recurring pattern. "Do you see what it is yet" springs to mind for some reason.
An interesting observation but a bit light on facts. Let's take coal mining as an example. Already in decline by the 1960s, around 100 North East pits closed between 1950 and 1970, many were largely worked out producing large amounts of 'squegger' (not sure if that's a regional term - basically, coal-contaminated rock unsuitable for many applications). Productivity was poor, mechanisation was well below competition abroad and the price was too high. Major customers were drifting away, not always to cheaper sources - British Rail was busy moving to diesel rather than steam.
The coal produced couldn't be exported as it was too expensive, was useless for many applications as the quality was too low and the unions resisted the introduction of mechanisation which would have reduced the cost.
In short, coal-mining was fooked.
Sure, Maggie probably stuck the knife in - one way or another someone would have...
On the subject of coal, and I'm not criticising the actual miners, had Scargill (and his clones) achieved their political ambition, the UK would have
been like most of the East European block is now. He's never changed, just as pig headed today, and had to be stopped.
been like most of the East European block is now. He's never changed, just as pig headed today, and had to be stopped.
Amazingly quiet dissenters...
Manufacturing then, crap products, crap quality, crap prices. I know, you're all gonna whine about slave labour...
...fact is, if you are going to compete then slave labour is one of your problems. Go figure.
You didn't want the Austin Allegro did you? Well, be honest, it was a crock of sh*t wasn't it? So you moved to Japanese and German cars - they worked and didn't fall into a pile of rust on the drive when you turned your back.
No Government did that - you did.
Manufacturing then, crap products, crap quality, crap prices. I know, you're all gonna whine about slave labour...
...fact is, if you are going to compete then slave labour is one of your problems. Go figure.
You didn't want the Austin Allegro did you? Well, be honest, it was a crock of sh*t wasn't it? So you moved to Japanese and German cars - they worked and didn't fall into a pile of rust on the drive when you turned your back.
No Government did that - you did.
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Bit early for bed, are they typing furiously, or scratching for facts ?
Scratching for bollocks more like...
Physical, or metaphorical ?
Does it matter? It's still bollocks...
I meant finding, or talking. Better stop now, I feel a landslide coming.
Bring it on! Let's do social housing next...
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Austin Allegro built by British Leyland from 1973 to 1983.........................Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis (he of the Mini, Morris Minor and Austin 1100, which the Allegro was designed to replace).
This was at the time when almost all other car manufacturers had began producing hatchbacks, which have dominated the market ever since. But because of Internal Management/Company politics BL continued with the release and build of the "Booted" Allegro, because they had decided that the Austin Maxi would be their only hatchback and that would be its "unique selling point" and that no other car in the Company range would have one.
It was this decision and this decision alone that sunk both the Allegro and the Austin Princess, which were both ideallly suited to a hatchbach version.
"No Government did that - you did. ??????????????????
British Leyland were taken over by the Government (under the Ryder Report) in 1975.
SO YES THE GOVERNMENT DID DO THAT !!!!
I think there was an estate version of the Allegro, quite good looking for the time, at least I thought so.
Looked at one, then remembered my Mini Clubman estate bought new (and sold rapidly) some years earlier, and reason prevailed.
No more BLMC ever was my conclusion at the time. Sorry, design was good but build quality terrible.
Looked at one, then remembered my Mini Clubman estate bought new (and sold rapidly) some years earlier, and reason prevailed.
No more BLMC ever was my conclusion at the time. Sorry, design was good but build quality terrible.
Note the word bankrupt - allowing BL to fail would have resulted in the loss of around a million jobs so the Government nationalised it to SAVE those jobs...
British Leyland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I wont get drawing into the debat with you Shes no worth it. Me and the rest of Scotland hate the cow. You love the cow.
Shes dead.
Get over it. Shes no worth talking about.
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Totally agree that it saved the jobs at the time HH, but even with the Government intervention the bad management and company politics was still allowed to continue and be rubber stamped by the government and bankrolled by the taxpayer.
It really was a case of "suits" saving "suits" and the opportunity to reduce the workforce on a trickle basis rather than one big redundancy which would have lost votes.
The tendancy at the time was to blame the workforce as lazy and as a consequence the cause of bad quality and that is what has become the "historical cause" of the decline in British Manufacturing. Yes the Unions were too ready to call strikes instead of negotiate but this only gave the owners and management of many companies the smokescreen excuse to cover the fact that investment in modernisation had been totally ignored in the quest to pay shareholders dividends.
So while the up and coming Asian manufacturers and the more financially astute German companies produced goods using brand new machinery and the latest technology the British companies were repairing and making do with 20, 30 and in some cases 50 and over year old machinery and tools, thus in comparison poorer quality goods were produced, productivity was less and marginal costs were higher.
Poor quality, Poor productivity, High marginal costs....................................The public sees the striking workers on the picket lines as shown in the media so it is easy to apportion blame there instead of owners and management taking responsibility for some of the blame.
Can't comment on the car front, I was just one sucker who bought the product.
As far as the media is concerned, the recent rehash of the miners dispute was selective, and always started from mounted police etc
confronting strikers. They never explain the "previous". Legislation was introduced so that a ballot of members was needed before a strike
could be called, forget the majority needed, but no matter now. Scargill refused to call a ballot, which he would have easily won,and that's
how the police got involved originally, just enforcing the law. After that, things got out of hand, as was common under the circumstances.
In effect, Scargill's pigheaded attitude broke the NUM, and the last I heard of him, he was suing what remains of the NUM for refusing to continue
paying for his accommodation and telephone bills, this after over 30 years. I have no time for the cretin, and never did, he just wanted publicity,
mainly because he had political ambitions, and regarded the miners dispute as a stepping stone.
But, we're re raking 30+ years back, it hardly matters now, except as a diversion.
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