Quote:

 

London’s booming FinTech sector has gone from strength to strength this year. More than half of all European FinTech venture capital investments made in 2014 went to London firms, according to London & Partners, a record $539m (£342.6m) and triple the amount raised in 2013.

Quote:

 

The UK’s FinTech market is currently worth £20bn in annual revenue and over 44,000 people work in the sector in London alone – more than both Silicon Valley and New York.

Quote:

 

Along with the 12 businesses joining the Future Fifty today, 12 existing members are graduating, including the recently floated Just Eat, Zoopla, AO World and Horizon Discovery.

Quote:

 

The inaugural Future Fifty group of companies together generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent. The four firms which listed on the London stock market have a combined value of £3.7bn.

RJD

Dec 11 2014, 03:26 PM

Quote:

 

London’s booming FinTech sector has gone from strength to strength this year. More than half of all European FinTech venture capital investments made in 2014 went to London firms, according to London & Partners, a record $539m (£342.6m) and triple the amount raised in 2013.

Quote:

 

The UK’s FinTech market is currently worth £20bn in annual revenue and over 44,000 people work in the sector in London alone – more than both Silicon Valley and New York.

Quote:

 

Along with the 12 businesses joining the Future Fifty today, 12 existing members are graduating, including the recently floated Just Eat, Zoopla, AO World and Horizon Discovery.

Quote:

 

The inaugural Future Fifty group of companies together generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent. The four firms which listed on the London stock market have a combined value of £3.7bn.

Are these the businesses the Little Luddite Englanders, who regularly post here, wish to forceable close and replace with metal bending, pencil manufacturing and the fitting of imported products designed to catch sunbeams on wet, dark, dank roofs? It certainly will take a lot of low skilled workers a very long time to generate that level of added value.

AndyK

Dec 11 2014, 03:40 PM

You do realise than Germany's "metal bending" is worth over €1Tn ?

and that's just its exports !

Whether you like it or not, the worlds richest countries are rich through metal bending.

RJD

Dec 11 2014, 03:47 PM

AndyK

Dec 11 2014, 03:40 PM

You do realise than Germany's "metal bending" is worth over €1Tn ?

and that's just its exports !

Whether you like it or not, the worlds richest countries are rich through metal bending.

So were we once but that era is over and as Germany is now finding it is very easy to copy and clone. Do not delude yourself into believing that all German industries are high tech high value adding, they are not and very many are dependent on the depressed wage levels that Merkel has helped fashion. Funny how it is OK for Merkel to insist on restraint in Germany, demand productivity improvements, but here in the UK for most of the left that is a taboo.

RJD

Dec 11 2014, 03:26 PM

Quote:

 

London’s booming FinTech sector has gone from strength to strength this year. More than half of all European FinTech venture capital investments made in 2014 went to London firms, according to London & Partners, a record $539m (£342.6m) and triple the amount raised in 2013.

Quote:

 

The UK’s FinTech market is currently worth £20bn in annual revenue and over 44,000 people work in the sector in London alone – more than both Silicon Valley and New York.

Quote:

 

Along with the 12 businesses joining the Future Fifty today, 12 existing members are graduating, including the recently floated Just Eat, Zoopla, AO World and Horizon Discovery.

Quote:

 

The inaugural Future Fifty group of companies together generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent. The four firms which listed on the London stock market have a combined value of £3.7bn.

Are these the businesses the Little Luddite Englanders, who regularly post here, wish to forceable close and replace with metal bending, pencil manufacturing and the fitting of imported products designed to catch sunbeams on wet, dark, dank roofs? It certainly will take a lot of low skilled workers a very long time to generate that level of added value.

Montjoie

Dec 11 2014, 03:46 PM

RJD

Dec 11 2014, 03:26 PM

Quote:

 

London’s booming FinTech sector has gone from strength to strength this year. More than half of all European FinTech venture capital investments made in 2014 went to London firms, according to London & Partners, a record $539m (£342.6m) and triple the amount raised in 2013.

Quote:

 

The UK’s FinTech market is currently worth £20bn in annual revenue and over 44,000 people work in the sector in London alone – more than both Silicon Valley and New York.

Quote:

 

Along with the 12 businesses joining the Future Fifty today, 12 existing members are graduating, including the recently floated Just Eat, Zoopla, AO World and Horizon Discovery.

Quote:

 

The inaugural Future Fifty group of companies together generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent. The four firms which listed on the London stock market have a combined value of £3.7bn.

Are these the businesses the Little Luddite Englanders, who regularly post here, wish to forceable close and replace with metal bending, pencil manufacturing and the fitting of imported products designed to catch sunbeams on wet, dark, dank roofs? It certainly will take a lot of low skilled workers a very long time to generate that level of added value.

Central Banks are buying stocks to up their values for trillions of $, £. And the companies all go "uzzah we so great" when it does.

Dummies.

Tigger

Dec 11 2014, 07:09 PM

RJD

Dec 11 2014, 03:26 PM

Quote:

 

London’s booming FinTech sector has gone from strength to strength this year. More than half of all European FinTech venture capital investments made in 2014 went to London firms, according to London & Partners, a record $539m (£342.6m) and triple the amount raised in 2013.

Quote:

 

The UK’s FinTech market is currently worth £20bn in annual revenue and over 44,000 people work in the sector in London alone – more than both Silicon Valley and New York.

Quote:

 

Along with the 12 businesses joining the Future Fifty today, 12 existing members are graduating, including the recently floated Just Eat, Zoopla, AO World and Horizon Discovery.

Quote:

 

The inaugural Future Fifty group of companies together generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent. The four firms which listed on the London stock market have a combined value of £3.7bn.

Are these the businesses the Little Luddite Englanders, who regularly post here, wish to forceable close and replace with metal bending, pencil manufacturing and the fitting of imported products designed to catch sunbeams on wet, dark, dank roofs? It certainly will take a lot of low skilled workers a very long time to generate that level of added value.

Shows what you know about modern Germany does't it?

Being a typical behind the times dyed in the wool little Englander who's patriotism evaporates the minute his wallet falls open you seem to be unaware that price point is not the bottom line in so many instances. In my own business dealings I could use Chinese or other inferior products but I do not for very sound commercial reasons, I look around my workshop and it has many German and British made tools in it, in this instance for practical reasons.

Get this, people like to see the words "Made in Germany" on a product because that alone often signifies that it is high quality and quality always costs money, at one time " Made in England" had exactly the same cachet.

And you'll be explaining to us how the Germans manage to have a trade surplus in manufactured goods with China, won't you?

Making things is good, counting other peoples money and ripping of others will lead to the poor house.

File under shoddy goods.

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 08:57 AM

RJD I ask again politely, what is Fin Tech please?

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 08:31 AM

Tigger

Dec 11 2014, 07:09 PM

RJD

Dec 11 2014, 03:26 PM

Quote:

 

London’s booming FinTech sector has gone from strength to strength this year. More than half of all European FinTech venture capital investments made in 2014 went to London firms, according to London & Partners, a record $539m (£342.6m) and triple the amount raised in 2013.

Quote:

 

The UK’s FinTech market is currently worth £20bn in annual revenue and over 44,000 people work in the sector in London alone – more than both Silicon Valley and New York.

Quote:

 

Along with the 12 businesses joining the Future Fifty today, 12 existing members are graduating, including the recently floated Just Eat, Zoopla, AO World and Horizon Discovery.

Quote:

 

The inaugural Future Fifty group of companies together generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent. The four firms which listed on the London stock market have a combined value of £3.7bn.

Are these the businesses the Little Luddite Englanders, who regularly post here, wish to forceable close and replace with metal bending, pencil manufacturing and the fitting of imported products designed to catch sunbeams on wet, dark, dank roofs? It certainly will take a lot of low skilled workers a very long time to generate that level of added value.

Shows what you know about modern Germany does't it?

Being a typical behind the times dyed in the wool little Englander who's patriotism evaporates the minute his wallet falls open you seem to be unaware that price point is not the bottom line in so many instances. In my own business dealings I could use Chinese or other inferior products but I do not for very sound commercial reasons, I look around my workshop and it has many German and British made tools in it, in this instance for practical reasons.

Get this, people like to see the words "Made in Germany" on a product because that alone often signifies that it is high quality and quality always costs money, at one time " Made in England" had exactly the same cachet.

And you'll be explaining to us how the Germans manage to have a trade surplus in manufactured goods with China, won't you?

Making things is good, counting other peoples money and ripping of others will lead to the poor house.

File under shoddy goods.

Have you actually been to Germany and visited their Mittelstandindustrei? Thought not all you can see are nice shiny BMW cars. Best get your head out of your arse and wonder what all those low paid Workers are actually doing.

Think. Why does every 3rd World country that wishes to grow it's economy start with manufacturing?
Think. Why is it that European companies are under pressure to vacate many volume markets and concentrate on those where there is greater IP?

Yes Germany has lasted longer than the UK in this game, so has Italy, but if you think their margins are not under considerable pressure and that whole industries have not decamped then you have learned and know nothing. If you want to manufacture, in Europe in the 21st C., then you can only do this with state of art manufacturing machines, yep a lot of capital requiring skilled workers and yet again few jobs for those that have none. Another example of why those with capital and/or those with skills to sell in the last few decades have made gains in the last few decades and the legions without have not.

By the way I note that the UK has a significant manufacturing base with a number of leaders in the field, pity there are not more, but if we cannot even satisfy current demand for skilled workers then fat chance.

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 12:14 PM

For Mr Smurf - follow the links

Tigger

Dec 12 2014, 12:16 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 08:31 AM

Tigger

Dec 11 2014, 07:09 PM

RJD

Dec 11 2014, 03:26 PM

Quoting limited to 4 levels deep44,000 people work in the sector in London alonetogether generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent

Shows what you know about modern Germany does't it?

Being a typical behind the times dyed in the wool little Englander who's patriotism evaporates the minute his wallet falls open you seem to be unaware that price point is not the bottom line in so many instances. In my own business dealings I could use Chinese or other inferior products but I do not for very sound commercial reasons, I look around my workshop and it has many German and British made tools in it, in this instance for practical reasons.

Get this, people like to see the words "Made in Germany" on a product because that alone often signifies that it is high quality and quality always costs money, at one time " Made in England" had exactly the same cachet.

And you'll be explaining to us how the Germans manage to have a trade surplus in manufactured goods with China, won't you?

Making things is good, counting other peoples money and ripping of others will lead to the poor house.

File under shoddy goods.

Have you actually been to Germany and visited their Mittelstandindustrei? Thought not all you can see are nice shiny BMW cars. Best get your head out of your arse and wonder what all those low paid Workers are actually doing.

Think. Why does every 3rd World country that wishes to grow it's economy start with manufacturing?
Think. Why is it that European companies are under pressure to vacate many volume markets and concentrate on those where there is greater IP?

Yes Germany has lasted longer than the UK in this game, so has Italy, but if you think their margins are not under considerable pressure and that whole industries have not decamped then you have learned and know nothing. If you want to manufacture, in Europe in the 21st C., then you can only do this with state of art manufacturing machines, yep a lot of capital requiring skilled workers and yet again few jobs for those that have none. Another example of why those with capital and/or those with skills to sell in the last few decades have made gains in the last few decades and the legions without have not.

By the way I note that the UK has a significant manufacturing base with a number of leaders in the field, pity there are not more, but if we cannot even satisfy current demand for skilled workers then fat chance.

Give it a rest you idiot, you totally ignore Germany's vast trade surplus in the hope it will go away and pretend the GLOBAL demand for the products it makes is bogus, and closer to home you pump up yet another variation of money shuffling as the future, it's not as if we've ever got into trouble with this sort of smoke and mirrors garbage before is it. Your sort were telling us back in 2000 that Germany was finished and that austerity in that country was there to stay, you were wrong then and you are wrong again.

And yes I am aware of how smaller German businesses work because we spend a small fortune on buying high quality components from them! I can remember visiting a factory in the West Midlands a decade ago and marvelling at the skill of a welder putting together a very expensive heat exchanger, sadly they went out of business as the land that the factory sat on was worth more than the company, the German firm I now buy these products from has no skilled welders but instead has a robot doing this particular job, the majority of those in this factory do quality control and inspection and keep the plant in order, this firm started by making parts for bicycles just after the war it is now run by the fourth generation of the original founder and has global sales running into the millions.

I understand that to you such long term commitment and pride in doing "metal bashing" must seem quite amusing when instead you could be sitting on your arse in front of a PC ripping off unsuspecting punters, but once again I'd advise you to compare the German trade surplus to our deficit.

They are on the right track and I admire them for that, we are still playing the same three card trick and will eventually go bust.

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 04:23 PM

Yes I also saw how the Trade Unions effectively destroyed our post WW2 advantages

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 04:32 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 04:23 PM

Yes I also saw how the Trade Unions effectively destroyed our post WW2 advantages

Broad brush scapegoating RJD and you know it. British management was in general terms rubbish then and still is. There was a near total lack of design innovation and next to no investment in new machinery. Many unionised companies who failed had no strikes or union problems at all.

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 05:27 PM

You are not qualified to make such a judgement

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 05:37 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 05:27 PM

You are not qualified to make such a judgement

Yes I am qualified to comment RJD, I lived through it and experienced it, at the dirty end.

jaguar

Dec 12 2014, 06:34 PM

Three-day weeks, candles at night, cold dinners, and power cuts and all because of what? A union that decided to hold the country to ransom! Strikes seem to be the only thing on the news back then.

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 06:53 PM

jaguar

Dec 12 2014, 06:34 PM

Three-day weeks, candles at night, cold dinners, and power cuts and all because of what? A union that decided to hold the country to ransom! Strikes seem to be the only thing on the news back then.

It was not all or even a majority of companies who had ANY union/strike problems, however bad management, lack of investment, and lack of innovation was endemic.

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 06:53 PM

jaguar

Dec 12 2014, 06:34 PM

Three-day weeks, candles at night, cold dinners, and power cuts and all because of what? A union that decided to hold the country to ransom! Strikes seem to be the only thing on the news back then.

It was not all or even a majority of companies who had ANY union/strike problems, however bad management, lack of investment, and lack of innovation was endemic.

Affa

Dec 12 2014, 07:04 PM

The Unions which are often blamed were victims not villains.

jaguar

Dec 12 2014, 07:14 PM

Affa

Dec 12 2014, 07:04 PM

The Unions which are often blamed were victims not villains.

The Unions which are often blamed were victims not villains.

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 04:32 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 04:23 PM

Yes I also saw how the Trade Unions effectively destroyed our post WW2 advantages

Broad brush scapegoating RJD and you know it. British management was in general terms rubbish then and still is. There was a near total lack of design innovation and next to no investment in new machinery. Many unionised companies who failed had no strikes or union problems at all.

Affa

Dec 12 2014, 07:54 PM

Britain had its first experience of a housing bubble during the so-called Barber boom of 1973. An easing of credit conditions by the Bank of England coupled with the go-for-growth strategy of the Conservative chancellor, Tony Barber, resulted in house-price inflation peaking at 36%. The average price of a home, which had risen from £2,000 to £5,000 between 1950 and 1970, doubled in the next three years.

Interest rates shot up to record highs

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/datablog/2013/apr/08/britain-changed-margaret-thatcher-charts

Quote:

 

We have therefore announced a new Home Ownership Plan under which each mortgagee will have this choice: to retain his present right to tax concessions - or qualify for a new Government grant which brings down the interest rate on his mortgage by 2j per cent (subject to a minimum of 4 per cent).

With the help of this grant many more wage-earners, especially those with family responsibilities, will be able to buy their own homes. Everyone who joins the Home Ownership Plan will also benefit from a new Government Guarantee which will substantially reduce any deposit he is required to make.

AndyK

Dec 12 2014, 08:05 PM

Home ownership was a core part of the Labour party manifesto though, Osbourne must have learnt how to create housing bubbles from Harold Wilson

Affa

Dec 12 2014, 08:20 PM

AndyK

Dec 12 2014, 08:05 PM

Home ownership was a core part of the Labour party manifesto though, Osbourne must have learnt how to create housing bubbles from Harold Wilson

The purpose of the post was to demonstrate that the 'militancy' of Unions was largely a consequence of inflation, and the erosion of value of wages which business would not repair. Not that they necessarily should, but the reality is that it was the governments monetary policies that caused it all ........ hence the Unions were victims.

It's like whipping a man tied to the pillar and then blaming him for bleeding on the floor. That's what Tories do ........ they create a problem, and then use that problem to force through harsh measures - all the while blaming the victims for the problem.
The size of the Welfare bill is another example - quadrupled under Thatcher, and blamed on scroungers ever since.

ACH1967

Dec 11 2014, 04:02 PM

It seems to me that any industry that puts taxes in the UK coffers should be celebrated

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 04:23 PM

Tigger

Dec 12 2014, 12:16 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 08:31 AM

Tigger

Dec 11 2014, 07:09 PM

Quoting limited to 4 levels deep44,000 people work in the sector in London alonetogether generated around £2.1bn in revenue over the past year, with an average growth of over 60 per cent

Have you actually been to Germany and visited their Mittelstandindustrei? Thought not all you can see are nice shiny BMW cars. Best get your head out of your arse and wonder what all those low paid Workers are actually doing.

Think. Why does every 3rd World country that wishes to grow it's economy start with manufacturing?
Think. Why is it that European companies are under pressure to vacate many volume markets and concentrate on those where there is greater IP?

Yes Germany has lasted longer than the UK in this game, so has Italy, but if you think their margins are not under considerable pressure and that whole industries have not decamped then you have learned and know nothing. If you want to manufacture, in Europe in the 21st C., then you can only do this with state of art manufacturing machines, yep a lot of capital requiring skilled workers and yet again few jobs for those that have none. Another example of why those with capital and/or those with skills to sell in the last few decades have made gains in the last few decades and the legions without have not.

By the way I note that the UK has a significant manufacturing base with a number of leaders in the field, pity there are not more, but if we cannot even satisfy current demand for skilled workers then fat chance.

Give it a rest you idiot, you totally ignore Germany's vast trade surplus in the hope it will go away and pretend the GLOBAL demand for the products it makes is bogus, and closer to home you pump up yet another variation of money shuffling as the future, it's not as if we've ever got into trouble with this sort of smoke and mirrors garbage before is it. Your sort were telling us back in 2000 that Germany was finished and that austerity in that country was there to stay, you were wrong then and you are wrong again.

And yes I am aware of how smaller German businesses work because we spend a small fortune on buying high quality components from them! I can remember visiting a factory in the West Midlands a decade ago and marvelling at the skill of a welder putting together a very expensive heat exchanger, sadly they went out of business as the land that the factory sat on was worth more than the company, the German firm I now buy these products from has no skilled welders but instead has a robot doing this particular job, the majority of those in this factory do quality control and inspection and keep the plant in order, this firm started by making parts for bicycles just after the war it is now run by the fourth generation of the original founder and has global sales running into the millions.

I understand that to you such long term commitment and pride in doing "metal bashing" must seem quite amusing when instead you could be sitting on your arse in front of a PC ripping off unsuspecting punters, but once again I'd advise you to compare the German trade surplus to our deficit.

They are on the right track and I admire them for that, we are still playing the same three card trick and will eventually go bust.

Why don't you give it a rest or stick to the point. I am well aware of German successes and also that just the other day she was rated the sick man of Europe. You seem to be overawed by the fact that metal can actually be cut and polished. There is a lot more to engineering than Yorkshire fittings. Unlike you I have spent much of my working life in Germany, in engineering businesses, run them, owned them and learned to speak their language and yes I have visited VW, BMW, Audi, Daimler Benz, MAN and other factories.
Yes I also saw how the Trade Unions effectively destroyed our post WW2 advantages and were much of the reason why Investors gave up on the UK for metal bashing, it was easier to make better money elsewhere. You decry Financial Services, but you have no idea that this sector makes better profit margins than metal bashing often with significantly less risk. I have grave doubts that you understand anything about business strategy. I bet you have absolutely no idea how many German based manufacturers have during the last decade or so moved out of Germany for manufacturing cost reasons. Tig. you definitely are a minnow trying to tread water in a big sharks pond. Stick to holding up the ladder.

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 05:27 PM

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 04:32 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 04:23 PM

Yes I also saw how the Trade Unions effectively destroyed our post WW2 advantages

Broad brush scapegoating RJD and you know it. British management was in general terms rubbish then and still is. There was a near total lack of design innovation and next to no investment in new machinery. Many unionised companies who failed had no strikes or union problems at all.

You are not qualified to make such a judgement and your opinion is not made on any relativistic comparison of management performance both here in the UK and abroad. It carries no weight and I believe the myth was first developed in the Red Nag as a smoke screen, now it sticks with some like guano on seaside rocks or dog sh1t on rubber boots.
Yes some Unions were responsible,. Not all Trade Union Bosses were megalomaniacs, but enough in the large manufacturing companies to wreak havoc. As for investment in new machinery, I was there and saw the Ludditism with my own eyes. In fact I was installing such at exactly that time. Now years later the white-washers of truth are out with their brushes.
As for Managers today I have no idea how you are able to form an opinion unless passed to you in a Fortune Cookie.

Affa

Dec 12 2014, 08:20 PM

AndyK

Dec 12 2014, 08:05 PM

Home ownership was a core part of the Labour party manifesto though, Osbourne must have learnt how to create housing bubbles from Harold Wilson

The purpose of the post was to demonstrate that the 'militancy' of Unions was largely a consequence of inflation, and the erosion of value of wages which business would not repair. Not that they necessarily should, but the reality is that it was the governments monetary policies that caused it all ........ hence the Unions were victims.

It's like whipping a man tied to the pillar and then blaming him for bleeding on the floor. That's what Tories do ........ they create a problem, and then use that problem to force through harsh measures - all the while blaming the victims for the problem.
The size of the Welfare bill is another example - quadrupled under Thatcher, and blamed on scroungers ever since.

jaguar

Dec 12 2014, 06:34 PM

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 05:37 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 05:27 PM

You are not qualified to make such a judgement

Yes I am qualified to comment RJD, I lived through it and experienced it, at the dirty end.

As did We all.
Three-day weeks, candles at night, cold dinners, and power cuts and all because of what? A union that decided to hold the country to ransom! Strikes seem to be the only thing on the news back then. If that wasn't bad enough, we had the threat of a nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union and terrorist bombings in London. The BBC news was always full of gloom stories about the Middle East, about which we cared nothing. I clearly remember the 70s miners' strike, the winter of discontent, the three-day working week and gritters on strike. I remember the struggle parents had to make ends meet, food shortages caused by people panic buying only to throw it away when supplies were restored. The MISERABLE power cuts, grey cold miserable days and even greyer colder miserable days and then along came Thatcher, I stayed up all night to watch Mrs Thatcher get elected that May night, it was the start of better times as history has now proved.
I was glad when the 70s ended, it was an awful time.

Tigger

Dec 12 2014, 09:14 PM

jaguar

Dec 12 2014, 06:34 PM

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 05:37 PM

RJD

Dec 12 2014, 05:27 PM

You are not qualified to make such a judgement

Yes I am qualified to comment RJD, I lived through it and experienced it, at the dirty end.

As did We all.
Three-day weeks, candles at night, cold dinners, and power cuts and all because of what? A union that decided to hold the country to ransom! Strikes seem to be the only thing on the news back then. If that wasn't bad enough, we had the threat of a nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union and terrorist bombings in London. The BBC news was always full of gloom stories about the Middle East, about which we cared nothing. I clearly remember the 70s miners' strike, the winter of discontent, the three-day working week and gritters on strike. I remember the struggle parents had to make ends meet, food shortages caused by people panic buying only to throw it away when supplies were restored. The MISERABLE power cuts, grey cold miserable days and even greyer colder miserable days and then along came Thatcher, I stayed up all night to watch Mrs Thatcher get elected that May night, it was the start of better times as history has now proved.
I was glad when the 70s ended, it was an awful time.

And today instead of propping up heavy industry that nearly bankrupted us, giving into trade unions and having an economy with falling productivity we have an alternative. We prop up a largely useless financial sector, give into bankers and corporate pressure and have an economy with falling productivity!

Can you spot the difference?

AndyK

Dec 12 2014, 10:03 PM

Tigger

Dec 12 2014, 09:14 PM

jaguar

Dec 12 2014, 06:34 PM

papasmurf

Dec 12 2014, 05:37 PM

Quoting limited to 4 levels deep

As did We all.
Three-day weeks, candles at night, cold dinners, and power cuts and all because of what? A union that decided to hold the country to ransom! Strikes seem to be the only thing on the news back then. If that wasn't bad enough, we had the threat of a nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union and terrorist bombings in London. The BBC news was always full of gloom stories about the Middle East, about which we cared nothing. I clearly remember the 70s miners' strike, the winter of discontent, the three-day working week and gritters on strike. I remember the struggle parents had to make ends meet, food shortages caused by people panic buying only to throw it away when supplies were restored. The MISERABLE power cuts, grey cold miserable days and even greyer colder miserable days and then along came Thatcher, I stayed up all night to watch Mrs Thatcher get elected that May night, it was the start of better times as history has now proved.
I was glad when the 70s ended, it was an awful time.

And today instead of propping up heavy industry that nearly bankrupted us, giving into trade unions and having an economy with falling productivity we have an alternative. We prop up a largely useless financial sector, give into bankers and corporate pressure and have an economy with falling productivity!

Can you spot the difference?

The difference is if we had kept the mines open we would now have Caroline Lucas and her pals staging a sit in at the pit entrance.

Affa

Dec 12 2014, 09:42 PM

A pause for thought.
I know (knew) a man that worked at the surface of the colliery. He worked in the repair shop. He once told me 'I only work for enough money to pay for my beer'. A four day week was more than enough for him. He was a middle aged bachelor and he could get away with this because he had chronic gout - though I never saw him actually suffering. Immaterial really, it was his comment that I focus on here.
As a family man at the time I was the complete opposite, I worked as many hours as I could.
And that is the cause of the pause ....... it's about 'motivation'.
It occurred to me that for the millions on MW and possibly in receipt of tax credits that the 'motivation' is gone, vanished, disappeared!
If he loses a days wage the loss is recovered through the tax credit system, the less he earns, the more the tax payer refunds him ........
Is this causation of falling productivity, of GDP per capita further below than ever.
Another reason not to have a low wage economy .....