> It seems to me that successive governments since Thatcher have deliberately > tried to remove any manufacturing capability from the UK. My belief is the > action in the 70s and early 80s by the unions sealed the death knell of > British industry; foreign investors were terrified of getting involved with > a workshy, bolshy and self-serving union-driven workforce and the government > was tired of sitting in the middle policing the morons at their picket > lines. > That's a bit strong. I think foreign investors were already put off by our far higher rates of pay in relation to newer manufacturing opportunities in the far east. To call the workers of the 70s and 80s "workshy" is to simplify a very big social problem into a Daily Mail-style "solution" (IE - it's all those horrible worker's fault).
I can't believe you think all industrial action is "moron"ic, or perhaps you do, and are glad to be living in a country where the poor are pushed around at the whim of large corporations? To the topic, I caught a bit of Micro Men, and the sight of that red tracksuit sent me into peals of laughter. Really though, the UK computer industry had no chance of competing with machines in which USA-sized deals had been struck with Intel on chip manufacturing (by far the most expensive bit). Nobody's fault IMO, but the inevitable effects of a globalised market.
