Ahhh I have a bit to say about this. The short answer is NO, Britain can never regain its predominance. No it is not as alleged by an above poster due to loss of manufacturing prowess. China, not the UK has always been as it is today the world's factory. This was why the Opium wars were fought, because the British imported so much from China that it was emptying the entire British treasury. A Huge trade deficit was taking place and thus the Brits decided to sell opium onto the unsuspecting Chinese masses to correct it. The CHinese of course quickly saw it was an unproductive drug, tried to ban it and the rest is history. This has reverberated to the modern day, Which is why today east asian countries from Singapore to China are resolutely against drug trafficking, drug consumption not so much, but drug trafficking is punishable by the death penalty...but i digress.... Modern Britain is decidedly very different from its empire days, if you have ever lived there for any period of time, you would know that they are an extremely lazy bunch of buggers. Gone are the days where their ancestors had the drive, courage and above all duty to venture forth and make a better life for themselves. True they were atrocities towards natives in those days, but the ambition was there. Who or what is the modern briton today? He works for a mere 3-4 hours a day, skives off whenever he can, does almost no overtime work, never goes above and beyond the call of duty, after work he guzzles a bottle of the most disgusting alcoholic drink i have ever tasted in my life called BUCKFAST.Yes we savor wine, they guzzle it. Bottle after Bottle. On Weekends, they generally go to a soccer match, and proceed to get into a brawl whether their team wins or loses. ON weekends when the football league is not in action, they go to towns and cities to protest against those pesky foreigners who are taking their jobs away.( and of course, fight) What else is there to do for this specimen called the modern Briton? I have related the story in another post about how a relative of mine who lives in London needed to get work done on his flat. The British builders were so lazy that he eventually flew in German and polish builders to get the job done for him at a higher cost, completing the job in 10 weeks instead of the british quotation of 6 months. this is not just based on hearsay Ask Madonna, she knows what is going on in the UK. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3291841/Madonna-in-attack-on-lazy-British-workmen.html or how about steel tycoon TATA, who could not get any workers to stay around for overtime. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/8527734/British-work-ethic-condemned-by-Indian-tycoon.html True, there is a lot of foreign wealth in London, some of it you could possibly call undeserved(oil wealth, russian dirty money,etc),but many call from rich productive people from all around the world, but the modern briton looks at the pesky foreigner and wonders why he should not be owning that million dollar home in kensington or Chelsea...Look at the British rich list....all the richest people with the exception of aristocrats are foreigners...Mittal,Abrahmovic,some kazakh steel mining tycoon,etc,etc. Where is the British entrepreneur, the likes of Bill gates and Warren Buffett, steve jobs, Mark zuckerberg. Sorry you are not going to find them in the UK, they are too busy getting drunk. Socialization in the UK started with the healthcare system the NHS, and Obama knows this full well, starting with Obamacare, and another 50-60 years of consistent social welfare, and voila, USA becomes a giant UK.
Your take on British history and in particular Chinas position as a perpetual powerhouse of manufacturing is somewhat erroneous, it was the East India Company that sought to redress its balance of trade with China not the Office of Dominions or Treasury however its charter often allowed it to enforce trade and trade agreements with British naval assets. People like me work 4-5 hours per day most people however in full time employment will work longer than that, and Buckfast is an almost untasted beverage across most of the UK as its only a particular favorite in Scotland. As for your relative being unable to coax their UK builders into action that can only indicate their own particular feebleness. No offense to your relative. Your view of the UK is narrow and ill informed, try spending time over here or reading something other than the Daily Mail or Express.
To no-one in particular but many in general: <rant>one of the saddest things about the internet is the way it gives morons the opportunity to produce and publish fact-free and intelligence-deficient bits of text as if they were actually taking part in a reasoned debate (just because many Republican Party presidential candidates do it doesn't make it right). Really, if you get most of the "information" on which you base your opinions from TV news, or even articles in lite newspapers and magazines you have NO IDEA what you are talking about - your opinions are beyond worthless - they may actually be harmful to you and others. So THINK, next time you feel like posting, STOP, move away from the keyboard, go straight to the fridge. Pull out a beer, sit down in front of the TV and switch on the "football" or something until the temptation leaves you. We will ALL be better off by your public spirited self-restraint. </rant> Stand-up for nonsense-free forums! Q1
Reply if you must, but why are you showing off your tats ,"mate"? :eek: <img style="-webkit-user-select: none; cursor: -webkit-zoom-in; " src="http://theworldhates.com/chavs/files/2009/11/true-mans-drink.jpg" width="439" height="427">
+1 to quiet1. Grandluxe quotes an article where the the guy interviewed refuted it: "The Times claims that Mr Tata said British managers were âlazyâ. At no stage in the interview did Mr Tata make this comment. This entire interview was recorded and the transcript will confirm the misinformation created by this alleged quote. Tata therefore wishes to make clear that The Times article fundamentally misrepresents the interview. "
Grandluxe also posted a link to an interview with Madonna (2001!) who says there are "bank holidays every minute" in the UK. However, there are more public holidays in the US than there are in the UK.
28 days statutory minimum vacation days in the UK+8 BANK holidays, buddy. That's unheard of in the USA. 28 days! Unreal.
More inaccuracies (you may as well just delete your posts grandeluxe, this is becoming tiresome!) 1. Most of the 1000 richest on the Sunday Times List are British citizens, not foreigners. The most richest who may not be British citizens are global anyway, nationality is not so important. 2, No one is looking at million dollar properties in Kensington/Chelsea. The reason is that a million dollars in that area would only enable you to buy a parking space for a rather small car.
Your poor understanding of the UK creeps in again its 28 days max without +8 bank holidays. source:http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10029788