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Post by 92220 on Sept 12, 2016 8:00:58 GMT
Got this in an email from a friend. SCARY!!!
From an expatriate Brit! Written before the Brexit vote.
Read it and weep!
A short list of financial and industrial FUBARs from the EU...
Cadbury moved factory to Poland 2011 with EU grant.
Ford Transit moved to Turkey 2013 with EU grant.
Jaguar-Land Rover has recently agreed to build a new plant in Slovakia with EU grant, owned by Tata, the same company who have trashed our steel works and emptied the workers’ pension funds.
Peugeot closed its Ryton (was Rootes Group) plant and moved production to Slovakia with EU grant.
British Army's new Ajax fighting vehicles to be built in SPAIN using SWEDISH steel at the request of the EU to support jobs in Spain with EU grant, rather than Wales.
Dyson gone to Malaysia, with an EU loan.
Crown Closures, Bournemouth (Was METAL BOX), gone to Poland with EU grant, once employed 1,200.
M&S manufacturing gone to far east with EU loan.
Hornby models gone. In fact all toys and models now gone from UK along with the patents all with EU grants.
Gillette gone to eastern Europe with EU grant.
Texas Instruments Greenock gone to Germany with EU grant.
Indesit at Bodelwyddan Wales gone with EU grant.
Sekisui Alveo said production at its Merthyr Tydfil Industrial Park foam plant will relocate production to Roermond in the Netherlands, with EU funding.
Hoover Merthyr factory moved out of UK to Czech Republic and the Far East by Italian company Candy with EU backing.
ICI integration into Holland’s Akzo Nobel with EU bank loan and within days of the merger, several factories in the UK, were closed, eliminating 3,500 jobs.
Boots sold to Italians Stefano Pessina who have based their HQ in Switzerland to avoid tax to the tune of £80 million a year, using an EU loan for the purchase.
JDS Uniphase run by two Dutch men, bought up companies in the UK with £20 million in EU 'regeneration' grants, created a pollution nightmare and just closed it all down leaving 1,200 out of work and an environmental clean-up paid for by the UK tax-payer. They also raided the pension fund and drained it dry.
UK airports are owned by a Spanish company.
Scottish Power is owned by a Spanish company.
Most London buses are run by Spanish and German companies.
The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station to be built by French company EDF, part owned by the French government, using cheap Chinese steel that has catastrophically failed in other nuclear installations. Now EDF say the costs will be double or more and it will be very late even if it does come online.
Swindon was once our producer of rail locomotives and rolling stock. Not any more, it's Bombardier in Derby and due to their losses in the aviation market, that could see the end of the British railways manufacturing altogether even though Bombardier had EU grants to keep Derby going which they diverted to their loss-making aviation side in Canada.
39% of British invention patents have been passed to foreign companies, many of them in the EU.
The Mini cars that Cameron stood in front of as an example of British engineering, are built by BMW mostly in Holland and Austria. His campaign bus was made in Germany even though we have Plaxton, Optare, Bluebird, Dennis etc., in the UK.
The bicycle for the Greens was made in the Far East, not by Raleigh UK but then they are probably going to move to the Netherlands too as they have said recently.
Anyone who thinks the EU is good for British industry or any other business simply hasn't paid attention to what has been systematically asset-stripped from the UK. Name me one major technology company still running in the UK.
We used to contract out to many, then the work just dried up as they were sold off to companies from France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, etc., and now we don't even teach electronic technology for technicians any more, due to EU regulations.
I haven't detailed our non-existent fishing industry the EU paid to destroy, or the farmers being paid NOT to produce food they could sell for more than they get paid to do nothing, don't even go there…
I haven't mentioned what it costs us to be asset-stripped like this, nor have I mentioned immigration, nor the risk to our security if control of our armed forces is passed to Brussels or Germany.
Find something that's gone the other way, I've looked and I just can't.
Still want to stay? Well it must be some consolation that you have Cameron to negotiate in Europe on your behalf.
And of course, the real deal-breaker .... Democracy, transparency and independence. We can vote out our MPs - BUT the European Commission who dictate 55% of UK laws, which are legally binding, are ..... guess what, untouchable, unelected and hidden from view. |
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Post by joanlluch on Sept 12, 2016 9:44:13 GMT
Well, my understanding is that at least some of these relocations are due to the dynamics of global economy, not particularly because of a certain political structure. On the other hand, all countries have a genuine desire for managing their own economy and defining their own laws, specially if they feel that they have losen power or regulatory capabilities. Whether this is right or not is mostly a matter of opinion. The same is applicable to my country Catalonia. Just yesterday yet again our people went out to the streets on massive demonstrations to ask for Independence from Spain, which I support for the same reasons as brexit supporters. At the end of the day, it's global economy what dictates everything, but living in a country you feel proud of and you have control of makes you happier and more ambitious for your own country. Just the vision from someone that looks at it from the outside.
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Midland
Elder Statesman
Posts: 1,871
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Post by Midland on Sept 12, 2016 9:45:32 GMT
Suggest politics be put elsewhere!
D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2016 10:21:10 GMT
Suggest politics be put elsewhere! D Don't all posts in this section come under the heading "General Chat"? |
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Post by Cro on Sept 12, 2016 10:22:05 GMT
Suggest politics be put elsewhere! D Don't all posts in this section come under the heading "General Chat"? I must have missed that part where model engineering was mentioned in the original post....? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2016 15:21:00 GMT
Don't all posts in this section come under the heading "General Chat"? I must have missed that part where model engineering was mentioned in the original post....? I must have missed that part where it says "model engineering general chat".....? But I know what you mean, it should be in "Off Topic". Plus I personally think politics and religion would be best avoided altogether on this type of site. |
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Lisa
Statesman
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Post by Lisa on Sept 12, 2016 16:30:39 GMT
I must have missed that part where model engineering was mentioned in the original post....? I must have missed that part where it says "model engineering general chat".....? <snip>  |
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Post by Roger on Sept 12, 2016 22:45:05 GMT
Don't hang the man, it was interesting for some of us. You could make the same argument for the 'What I've done today' which often has non Model Engineering content. It's probably best not to say anything if you don't agree with either the sentiment or the subject matter of a thread. It will soon fall off the bottom of the list if it's of no interest.
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dscott
Elder Statesman
Posts: 2,438
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Post by dscott on Sept 13, 2016 0:41:46 GMT
Thank you, yes it brings it all home and yes the EU does effect Model Engineering with all the rules and regulations.
In fact, I have just given up helping out with Birthdays and public running. As my Wife now has chronic short term memory
and having told her not to go near children she goes and talks to them again!!!
We still go in on Wednesdays to support but spend more time in the workshop.
Yes, it is a horrendous list and does not give much hope to our younger generation who will have to cope.
So for all these 40 years the real reason for being in with the gang was to asset strip us!! Anyone giving free Greek lessons???
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Post by suctionhose on Sept 13, 2016 2:02:53 GMT
No different in Australia. My children are learning Chinese. Truth is the global economy is drawing new lines in the sand. Adapt or perish!
Not really any different to the demise of railways in the 1930's...h
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Post by joanlluch on Sept 13, 2016 3:33:56 GMT
Don't hang the man, it was interesting for some of us. You could make the same argument for the 'What I've done today' which often has non Model Engineering content. It's probably best not to say anything if you don't agree with either the sentiment or the subject matter of a thread. It will soon fall off the bottom of the list if it's of no interest. Problem is that territorial (not just political) matters tend to heat discussions in a bad way. This forum is not exclusive for UK residents, so members from continental European countries or elsewhere can get uncomfortable from particular views they think are not right or accurate. That's not quite the same as the 'what I've done' thread where posts tend to cover non-polemical universal subjects. |
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Post by runner42 on Sept 13, 2016 5:58:31 GMT
The opening post is perhaps an exhaustive treatise on the negative impact that the EU has on GB, but fails to present the positive aspects which I am sure there are many, otherwise Brexit would have been enacted long ago and would have a 100% support from the population of GB, instead of the many that voted to stay in.
Brian |
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Post by modeng2000 on Sept 13, 2016 6:13:21 GMT
The opening post is perhaps an exhaustive treatise on the negative impact that the EU has on GB, but fails to present the positive aspects which I am sure there are many, otherwise Brexit would have been enacted long ago and would have a 100% support from the population of GB, instead of the many that voted to stay in.
Brian If this is the case then perhaps someone will post the equivalent outlining the positive things that the EU has done tor Britain. |
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Post by joanlluch on Sept 13, 2016 6:46:04 GMT
Does adopting the English language as the default for communications whithin the EU -so that the British won't need to learn another one- count?. Does allowing Great Britain to keep their own currency -so that the British run their own monetary policies against the rest of the EU- count?. Oh well...
I'm favorable for Britain leaving the EU, but I guess that's a too delicate subject to even mention it. So, I'd suggest a moderator just close this thread, as it is already on risk to get heated too much.
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Post by Doug on Sept 13, 2016 9:57:31 GMT
its funny that the title of the thread reminds me of a certain Monty Pithon scetch from "The life of Brian" however from a point of view of being in or out Europe has had some massive impact on some countries czech republic and poland are two i have found most profound, before being in Europe they were quite backwards and stuck in the 50's however both now have benefitted massively from being in the EU with both infrstructure and jobs comming to the area's however they have paid a big price for this in the cost of living going up massively. There are always two sides to every story and the EU is not to blame as much as the greed of the companies moving production to a more cost efective site or the unions ramping up costs on behalf of the workforce. being in the EU has not either been detrimental or positive in the long term as capitalism has remaind strong and compaines/ share holders made thier own choices. As Joan mentioned we havent been commited to the project in that we have refused the economic union and the open boarders two of the fundemental parts of the EU so leaving is really the best option. you cant be half a member of a club it just does not work.
BTW english is the international language of buisness not the fall back for the EU for lazy brits that "Ich spreche kein Deutsch" i spent a year learning german a few years after the wall went down so i could comunicate with colleagues in Siemens Berlin to then find after a year they spoke better english than my german and they wanted to speak english in all our chats so i never really got to use it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2016 20:20:08 GMT
I must have missed that part where it says "model engineering general chat".....? <snip> If we are going to be pedantic about it most of the companies mentioned in the original post are engineering/ manufacturing companies. |
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Post by Tel on Sept 14, 2016 10:34:09 GMT
OK guys, I'm going to lock this thread on the grounds of it being potentially divisive.
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