Re: Tony Blair visit to Iraq
Proone - The idea of exporting manufacture offshore isn't new as you say . However the problem we get is that it also errodes our ability to retain gifted
engineers who can problem solve. That is a national trait and several U.K companies retain U.K engineers to problem solve foreign manufacture.
As for farming - well then yes U.K farming has benefitted from EU assistance. But farming used to be seen as an essential industry in the survival of our island. The supermarkets have the ability to airfreight from Egypt and the likes but how long can this continue in an increasingly fuel starved world. The crazy thing is that the subsidies continue at a reduced level and actually promote lower production levels which is directly against
what successive governments have promoted . The level of government personnel employed to make sure that this has happened has also spiralled.
Regards employment - it is completely meaningless to compare unemployment with the past. The only way to get any reality to the figures
is to examine the age of the population and what percentages can be employed. Interestingly you mention that influxes of immigrants help to do the jobs that nobody is prepared to do at the wage level. This also is erroneous - I have a Brazilian friend working here at present - he won't do some of the hotel work because the wages are that low. Therefore Polish
workers do the work at a low rate . The hotel however is financially secure -
it's greed that dictates the low wages - not the ability to pay a better wage. Eventually the Polish workers will get fed up with the wages and another group of immigrants will move in. Pay good wages and the number of people relying on the state will decline even more .