Wooing the British Public with their Imaginings

All the political parties are making their bids to woo the british public with their ever increasing offerings.  Yet none of them are saying how we are going to pay for it all.  The realisation will only occur after a party is in government when it will turn out its pockets and find them empty.  We have sold all our assets.  Almost sixty years ago we were in the lead making silicone crystals and slicing them into chips of various kinds.  They were fairly primitive but  were being used as rectifiers on electric trains or simple logic devices for telephone exchanges.  I know because I was working on those devices for Associated Electric Industries, and General Electric Company - the company that had a cash mountain.  The computer industry began to flourish in this country, with the likes of GEC, Ferranti and International Computers.  But succesive governments have overseen their demise along with hundreds of other companies in vital industries such as aerospace, shipping, cars, tractors, farming equipment, machine tools, steel production, the fibre industries, medicines - the list is endless.  This has led to a lack of skilled engineers and technicians, such that many with the potential are no longer interested. 

Successive governments have not supported British manufacturing, whatever the economic weather.  They have allowed the sale of Companies to foreigners, expecting them to invest in this country.  Many Companies have been moved to another country where products are made that once were British.  We now buy them in.  The MG is a classic example.   I had an 88 year old Coventry man visit our house recently.  He was quite bitter about Massey Ferguson.  They were bought out and now make the tractors we once designed and built, but in the US.  We import the same Massey Ferguson tractors.  It is all about Globalisation.  

The Labour Party say they will nationalise the railways, the water boards and electricity supply industries.  This would be one small step to retaining and developing our skills.  A Government is required that will step up to the plate and support all our industries.  Manufacturing stands at a very low level of 20% of our gross domestic product.  Only when manufacturing is restored to its original levels will we be able to pay for everything.