Liz Truss Said

[wellyfish]

So Wilson had resigned by then? My memory ain't wot it used t'be.
All things considered it's no surprise Thatcher and Reagan were such good buddies. Both stepped on Unions on their way to power and unleashed the Corporations on the world.

We all suffer my friend

Yeah, Wilson had gone by then.

That's right, Thatcher (with her famous but still deeply embedded lie "there's no such thing as public money, there's only taxpayers money") and Reagan unleashed full on neoliberalism on the world. It's never been the same since.

 

[Vinty]

falling productivity is not due to workers being lazy

I agree with that.

 

[Vinty]

We all suffer my friend

Yeah, Wilson had gone by then.

That's right, Thatcher (with her famous but still deeply embedded lie "there's no such thing as public money, there's only taxpayers money") and Reagan unleashed full on neoliberalism on the world. It's never been the same since.

That's right. She's a co-author, along with Kwarteng, Patel & Raab of Britannia Unchained.

British workers work longer hours than their German counterparts

British workers put in longest hours in EU, study finds

German and Danish workers more productive than UK counterparts even though they work fewer hours, says TUC

www-independent-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org

That's often down to poor management and lack of investment. Likely to get worse before it gets better if energy prices are the big issue rather than investment in any business.

But it's easy to blame a poorly paid and motivated worker

If deregulation and working longer hours produces higher living standards for workers, then countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam should be a workers paradise.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

falling productivity is not due to workers being lazy

I agree with that.

I had my eyes opened to relative capital investment between Germany and the UK when I visited several furniture factories in Europe some years back. The German factories were kitted out with the latest CNC machinery, had highly automated production lines and really worked on production quality control because management drove that. They were financed by commercial banks taking an equity share in the business with loans often being over decades not 3 to 5 years, had worker directors (who were actually listened to) and paid well. By contrast in the UK both at the time and still currently, investment levels were/are lower (partly becauuse mst British banks don't understand the concept of long term industrial loans), there are no worker directors (and management live in a them and us world mentality), pay is relatively a lot lower, automation is still not very common and quality control is very often flaky. So which country charges the most for its' products, has the highest productivity, greatest worker satisfaction, greatest business profitability and pays the best wages? Germany. Because as a nation it invests in it's people and it's industry. That's how you get improved productivity

One of the few firms which has taken this on board in the UK is Ercol - in the meantime over the last 30 years pretty much the entire British furniture industry has disappeared. A stark contrast

 

[wellyfish]

British workers work longer hours than their German counterparts

British workers put in longest hours in EU, study finds

German and Danish workers more productive than UK counterparts even though they work fewer hours, says TUC

www-independent-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org

If deregulation and working longer hours produces higher living standards for workers then countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam should be a workers paradise.

I have no idea what point you are trying to make there. Could you elaborate?

 

[Deleted member 18243]

So you aren’t a supporter of Margaret Thatcher then Andy

She did a lot of good but also, unintentionally, a lot of bad. Nobody else was good enough at the time, and nobody has been since. Surely if she were around now she would see the problems and bring everything back to us.

ALEX BRUMMER: Bosses have betrayed Margaret Thatcher's privatisation

ALEX BRUMMER: Back in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher changed Britain's economic landscape as she privatised swathes of business and public services.

www.dailymail.co.uk

But I wouldn't want to go back to opening them up. Time has moved on.

Why wouldn't you want to open up the mines? Coal is probably the most reliable source of power and there is a lot left. We are primitive without power. You say "time has moved on", I'd change that to "fashions change".

Don't ever follow fashions, I don't.

 

[Deleted member 18243]

The German factories were kitted out with the latest CNC machinery, had highly automated production lines and really worked on production quality control because management drove that. They were financed by commercial banks taking an equity share in the business with loans often being over decades not 3 to 5 years, had worker directors (who were actually listened to) and paid well. By contrast in the UK both at the time and still currently, investment levels were/are lower (partly becauuse mst British banks don't understand the concept of long term industrial loans), there are no worker directors (and management live in a them and us world mentality), pay is relatively a lot lower, automation is still not very common and quality control is very often flaky.

Sad but true. The work ethic in Britain has been driven underground...look at a British worker anywhere from a shop to a factory and you will find him apathetic. Ask him a question about some aspect of his job and he won't have a clue.

What is the German welfare state like? Is it as generous and indiscriminate as ours?

 

[Odds]

Poor Boris: he'll be seething he missed this opportunity to embed himself into British History with a speech at the Queen's funeral.
Poor Lizzie: she should be concerned her reputation for public oratory is not highly regarded and only a few days into the job she has to prepare the most important speech of her life.
At least Tony Blair had the job a few months before he had to speak at Diana's funeral but Lizz Truss has no time at all to deliver a speech that'll capture the mood. I actually feel sorry for her and hope she can find a muse to guide her through that moment.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Poor Boris: he'll be seething he missed this opportunity to embed himself into British History with a speech at the Queen's funeral.
Poor Lizzie: she should be concerned her reputation for public oratory is not highly regarded and only a few days into the job she has to prepare the most important speech of her life.
At least Tony Blair had the job a few months before he had to speak at Diana's funeral but Lizz Truss has no time at all to deliver a speech that'll capture the mood. I actually feel sorry for her and hope she can find a muse to guide her through that moment.

Yes. Very rarely have any feelings for any politician, but this is a big task for anybody. Could define her time as leader.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Sad but true. The work ethic in Britain has been driven underground...look at a British worker anywhere from a shop to a factory and you will find him apathetic. Ask him a question about some aspect of his job and he won't have a clue.

What is the German welfare state like? Is it as generous and indiscriminate as ours?

Not sure I agree at all.

But if the British worker is apathetic, why do you think he would be? Poorly rewarded and poorly led ? As he watches the top bosses getting more and more reward off his work ?I

I don't know the comparisons of the German welfare state, but that's not relevant.

 

[Odds]

Yes. Very rarely have any feelings for any politician, but this is a big task for anybody. Could define her time as leader.

It could make her - or break her.
Delivering a eulogy is one of the most difficult things anyone can do and the weight of expectation of millions of people is over and beyond anything i can imagine. Every word must be set just so, every nuance and intonation pitched just right.
Prince Charles has had a lifetime to prepare and i'm sure he'll find it very difficult, so Ms Truss can expect a much harder task ahead of her.

 

[Notch7]

The work ethic in Britain has been driven underground...look at a British worker anywhere from a shop to a factory and you will find him apathetic

I’ve yet to see an apathetic worker.

perhaps you need to get out more,

 

[wellyfish]

I’ve yet to see an apathetic worker.

perhaps you need to get out more,

He must have been out an awful lot, mustn't he?

I mean, all that research into detailed aspects of every job in the country then interviewing every worker regarding those aspects, recording their answers and tabulating the data can't all have been done over Zoom, can it?

Wonder when he'll publish his data?

I mean, he wouldn't have simply swallowed some propaganda whole without any critical thinking at all, would he?

 

[ajohn]

They were financed by commercial banks taking an equity share in the business

Japan has the same sort of set up. Not sure how many companies though. Pay scales differ as well as they do in Germany and other countries.

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Poor Boris: he'll be seething he missed this opportunity to embed himself into British History with a speech at the Queen's funeral.
Poor Lizzie: she should be concerned her reputation for public oratory is not highly regarded and only a few days into the job she has to prepare the most important speech of her life.
At least Tony Blair had the job a few months before he had to speak at Diana's funeral but Lizz Truss has no time at all to deliver a speech that'll capture the mood. I actually feel sorry for her and hope she can find a muse to guide her through that moment.

I swear this was Lizzie's final dutiful act of service to the nation - to ensure she didn't peg it before Boris ended his tenure as PM. Who knows what he would have started waffling about when he got his notes muddled. Probably Grandma Pig or something

Yeah, we can think what we like about Tony Blair, but he was a charismatic leader and perfectly at ease giving an important speech, even at an event such as Diana's funeral.
What Liz Truss says is going to be vital, but how she delivers it is equally important, and that might be where she struggles. I really don't envy her.