Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Great episode, and yes I spotted the FW bit, fantastic to see the Westfield in there, I'm sure I spotted a Caterham too, though there seemed some doubt on Blatchat last night. A fantastic piece and what an excellent way to end a largely enjoyable, (to me) series, It's the sort of thing the TG lads do well. But this time, they surpassed themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 I found it interesting how serious Clarkson was when presenting the "made in Britain" piece. He normally annoys me with his predictable banter but this time he was very good. I wasn't nodding off, which I did earlier in the programme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User0083 Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Was a great end to the series. Clearly F1 on the road was a set up on closed roads. But it was great. I loved "All the red sections are countries that use British made military vehicles... Britain was one of the white sections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M444TTB Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 I found it interesting how serious Clarkson was when presenting the "made in Britain" piece. He normally annoys me with his predictable banter but this time he was very good. I wasn't nodding off, which I did earlier in the programme. If you ever catch some of his non-Top Gear pieces of TV (comedy quiz shoes aside) he's really into stuff like this. He did a good piece on I.K.Brunel a few years back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff oakley Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Jeff, agreed. However, if Mr Smith sells a widget for 10p and Mr Jones sells the same thing for 7p the world will buy from Mr Jones. We need to understand this and concentrate on the stuff that Mr Jones doesn't make. I think we do this well, mainly in sophisticated engineering manufacture. Anyone can drop forge a spanner, but not everyone can, or wants to, make a sophisticated valve for an oil drilling rig. Maybe I should have called Mr Jones Mr Wu. I understand this, but if we had support that instead of paying for the dole made it possible for Mr Smith to make his widget at say 8p the differance would be much nearer and I suspect that people would support home grown industries more. Look at call centres where they were all shipped out, but now many companies are bringing them back as the cost differance is less and the public have demanded more UK call centres. We need work for low skilled people as well as high tech people and the service side. That is why Germany has done so well becasue they have a diverse range of well creation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 In the 70's and 80's every bit of clothing that was sold in M&S was made in the UK. In Barnsley SR Gents employed hundreds of women who made quality clothes that British Women wanted, now everything is made in the sweatshops in the Far East and India. They are the sort of manufacturers we need back to get employment up. As an aside, strangely enough I met one of the founders of SR Gent, Peter Wetzel, late last year. He and his partner sold out to a Malaysian company late '90s. He's now acting as an agent/PR for a start-up Swedish oil from hydrocarbon waste company (Cassandra Oil). Just a hobby I think 'cos he spends a lot of time out of the UK for tax reasons so obviously worth a few bob. Interesting stuff but I retired before they delivered anything meaningful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 My daughter worked at s r gent in Barnsley. Not for long. Jeff, the difference isn't the 3p I used. The Chinese pay about $20 a day. Low pay is one thing, no one in the uk can live on $20 a day. I agree about subsidising low pay rather than pay UB. Or is that JSA now. However it can be done through the tax system and by raising the minimum wage to living wage. We can get our economy back on track and expanding by concentrating on the high tech manufacturing that we're good at and the far east don't want to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Matt, sorry missed your post. I was just telling HM about it and said he was good promoting Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Algar - Competition Secretary Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Great end to the show and brilliant to see the UK manufacturers supporting it so much by bringing the vehicles along. :D I do worry that Jag have set the price a bit high for volume, but time will tell if they have it right or not. My brother is into his Jags and he has driven one. says it's great and you keep hanging back in traffic just to hear the noise when you rev it to catch up :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark (smokey mow) Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 A brilliant ending to the series it just goes to show that the top gear team are capable of putting together a quality and serious piece of journalism if they put thier mind too it. Can we have more of this type of feature in the future please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff oakley Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 My daughter worked at s r gent in Barnsley. Not for long. Jeff, the difference isn't the 3p I used. The Chinese pay about $20 a day. Low pay is one thing, no one in the uk can live on $20 a day. I agree about subsidising low pay rather than pay UB. Or is that JSA now. However it can be done through the tax system and by raising the minimum wage to living wage. We can get our economy back on track and expanding by concentrating on the high tech manufacturing that we're good at and the far east don't want to do. We need a mix of low tech and high tech. When we had steel works and mines there were jobs for those who were" Strong in arm thick in head" as they were known locally. Those jobs have gone but the people have not. I was at the Klarius exhaust factory last week in Cheadle and the process is still very manual with guys at a stamping press putting one bit in and taking one out all day. Good men who are the back bone of a country, they do jobs that are monotonus but create wealth all around. Not everyone is able to do high tech and unfortunately the last goverment made those, who were not able to go to Uni, as being worthless. Now we have apprenticeships making a come back and choices in school for the academics and the practical. We can have it all, yes there will always be India and the far east who are cheaper but here is a thought, remember when Japan was the cheapest base for production, was only 30 years ago. Then Tiawan, Korea, China and now we are seeing a lot of production facilities moved to India and Vietnam. The reason is that as the wealth filters down people get aspirations and with the aspirations comes increased costs and suddenly the big Global companies can move easily to the lower cost base. There is also the savings in H&S that we are under in the West but above all we still can do things well which was the message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 If you ever catch some of his non-Top Gear pieces of TV (comedy quiz shoes aside) he's really into stuff like this. He did a good piece on I.K.Brunel a few years back. He did one about his father in law, Major Robert Henry Cain VC who faught at the battle on Arnhem. I had tears in my eyes at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Paul I watched that and I had tears by the end. Jeff, all very true but it's not easy providing low skill jobs. I don't think China will go the way of Japan unless the communist regime collapses, which is very unlikely. I'm not sure call centres are coming back to the UK for cost reason. It may be customer complaints about not being able to understand what's being said. However there are plenty of low skill jobs available, mainly in the local authorities. We've taken on three apprentices who have not got good school results and haven't been to Uni. They all wanted to work but had little skill. All have turned out very well. One is now a permanent member of the support team and can do the job as good as anyone else. The second will be in the same position in a few months time and the third is doing well but has only been with us a few months. We have had a few experienced support staff and they've all had to go, mainly due to not wanting to work. When a highly paid support person does 3 calls a day and the apprentice deals (and clears up) 15 calls you know what action follows. Low skill isn't as clear as it would, at first, appear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cast iron Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 even Nissan got a positive mention, I nearly passed out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Verona Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 I was a dealer when the factory opened. The Japanese were flying in workers from the Japanese plants to show them how to work in "Quality Circles" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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