HONDA

[Bogus Dave]

You must have been plugged into the same thought process as me, possibly others too.

 My last thoughts on the subject as as expected the news had decended into a finger pointing, slanging match, political point scoring debacle amongst other things, so.

As a town and indeed a country we have over decades stepped up to the plate employment wise when faced with changing economic challenges. I personally see this bad news as an opportunity, yes, an opportunity.

Right on our doorstep is a massive, massive site. The M4 one way and the M5 the other both connected by a dual carriageway. There is a planned science park yet to built a mile away not forgetting S. Marston business park and huge distribution centres right next door. I never thought for one minute the £350m a day or whatever saving is to be made from Brexit would be spent on the NHS, indeed the plight of the Honda employees and the redevelopment of the site for engineering and other business uses is exactly where a large chunk of that and other employment investment money by the government or any other government should go. Why not a southern powerhouse? Why not dual the A420 as part of the a ‘project’ as this links onto the M40 and a little further down M25, A/M1. Not forgetting the M6 the other way. It is do able. We cannot compete with mass produced cheap shit from the Far East. What we do do well it high value and high tech manufacturing. Opportunities, opportunities, opportunities.

That’s all well and good, but I just struggle to see that happening. For one thing, our government is incompetent, and will be far too focussed on trying to fix the Brexit debacle in the next 5-10 years to do anything about internal development.

For another thing, our workforce is traditionally unproductive when compared to foreign counterparts - we don’t have the motivation or the gumption to produce a lot

For a third thing, where are all these amazing technology companies at the moment? Why and how are they going to magically appear out of nowhere?

For a fourth thing, foreign investment will be completely disincentivized from investing in this country, until we have some form of trading relationship with the rest of the world on any vaguely favourable terms, which isn’t going to happen in at least 5-10 years.

It’s unicorn thinking, with no basis or logic behind it

[Bogus Dave]

We are a lazy, bloated nation with far too strong a sense of self importance that has been propped up internationally based on history and London’s banking industry. And all brexit is going to achieve is to lay that out bare for everyone to see

[Mother Brown]

How about building a  regional airport on the land.
I presume the runway is still there ?

[Batch]

You could, but I've genuinly no idea whether its economically viable.  I know the idea is speculate to accumulate - but surely financial justification is needed before anyone will invest.

Kemble and Staverton survive I suppose.

Reckon it'll end up as houses. The dream scenario would be for BMW to consolodate on the site and expand. Don't think that's very likely...

[Sir red ken]

We are a lazy, bloated nation with far too strong a sense of self importance that has been propped up internationally based on history and London’s banking industry. And all brexit is going to achieve is to lay that out bare for everyone to see

Wow that's a lot of British people your tarring with your own brush.

[Sir red ken]

How about building a  regional airport on the land.
I presume the runway is still there ?

How about a new Football ground for STFC? close to the new training ground in Highworth.

[Mother Brown]

How about a new Football ground for STFC? close to the new training ground in Highworth.

If  that did ever happen, it would probably be built before the training ground is completed.

[Bogus Dave]

Wow that's a lot of British people your tarring with your own brush.

Am I wrong??

We can’t build a trainline between London and Leeds. How on earth are we going to replace thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment?

[Batch]

Wow that's a lot of British people your tarring with your own brush.

We'll see if "they need us more than we need them" holds soon enough.

[4D]

Am I wrong??

We can’t build a trainline between London and Leeds. How on earth are we going to replace thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment?

Britain has been like that for years, it hasn't miraculously happened since the referendum. I expect you're too young to remember the 70's and early 80's Dave?

[herthab]

I’m waiting for you and your accolites to arm yourselves with buckets and march ‘Jarrow’ style the length and breadth of this sceptred isle shaking said buckets in town centres to raise money for those being made redundant. You have three years to sort this out. After all it was mighty fine for those miners back in the ‘80’s to come to Swindon and do the same.

It's 'acolytes' you ignoramus.

[pauld]

It's 'acolytes' you ignoramus.

Along with his "supasticious" from the other day Still, his English is a bit better than SRK's (but then who's isn't?), although I doubt either of them would pass the citizenship test.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Am I wrong??

We can’t build a trainline between London and Leeds. How on earth are we going to replace thousands of jobs and billions of pounds in investment?

You're not wrong BD. You're totally right. Even when we do "build" something now the cost of a project is mostly succinctly higher than other places.

L-L for all the glory of a reclaimed sovereignty and exaggerated vision. It just will not happen here. As for a Southern Powerhouse (they went into administration some years back), if being comparative to the "Northern Powerhouse"...well it doesn't exist. Derby (near me), seen as one of the catalyst industrial towns, pedestalled for this will always have some industry, thanks to Rolls-Royce, Toyota, Bombardier...etc. Workers there will be starting to feel the squeeze, especially Toyota ones. They may follow suit, like Honda. The industry just isn't what it is anymore and never will be again. Chiefly because a production of a car, train carriage, turbine engine...takes parts from all over the world to be made. Long gone are days of "fully in-house". It would cost more than a bomb. Literally.

The idea of a Northern Powerhouse, accelerated by Cameron and his chum Osbourne was and has been nothing but political spin. Yes it's all nice when heads of state and cabinet ministers come and stand on a plinth, in Bay one at R-R with a backdrop of 20 grinning workers, a BR700 engine and drawings the UltraFan Technology but it's all a front because even R-R (Derby) is not the company it once was.

As BD says, many UK companies are living off past reputation. Luckily R-R are still fairly good at what they do but they cannot afford to be lazy and must focus on innovation. If not, someone else, somewhere else will. They are for the first time facing competition in Aerospace. They don't get the contracts handed to them on a plate anymore.

[BambooToTheFuture]

Also, when I saw the thread title, I immediately thought of the awesomely marketed 'Cog' advert by Honda. There haven't been many well made ads like this for a good while and that's why most don't even watch ads anymore. This gem is about 15/16 years old now.

[Bogus Dave]

Britain has been like that for years, it hasn't miraculously happened since the referendum. I expect you're too young to remember the 70's and early 80's Dave?

I am yeah, but i gather they were generally pretty shitty times. I can’t wait to return to them