Not disagreeing with those in support of British industry, but I also would not necessarily shout too loudly about the Comet as an example of spectacular British design, especially with those large square windows it had...
JF, I completely agree that BAe get much stick as a result of those individuals who solely wish to remember BAe's foul ups; it is just as much the fault of those idiots who chose to let Italy, a country with very little experience of fbw design the system for Typhoon, at extorsionate cost. As a world leader in FBW system development at that time (and possibly still now), why did we allow Italy to develop such a critical system? Oh yes, got to give everyone a fair share of course!