Stuck in the Past

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An observation I’ve made over the past few days is that the media appears to remain obsessed with politicians who are no longer relevant to our society. A tremendous amount of focus has been placed on the relationship between Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling. As a Labour Party, it is imperative that we stop arguing about the internal conflicts of the past, lest they will simply continue to divide us. It is not exactly a matter of surprise to most of us that there were tensions between the Prime Minister and Alistair Darling during the last administration and continuing to play the blame game achieves little. Of course, Darling himself has done little to put out these particular fires and his latest publication is, to say the least, unhelpful.

Further, the media has devoted a considerable amount of energy to even older political history, focussing on the relationship Tony Blair had with the Gaddafi regime and continues to have to the Murdoch family. It is easy to understand why the public are interested in this sort of story, but we need the Labour leadership to take the initiative and refocus attention on what really matters today. This week has seen leaks which confirm the virtual privatisation of the National Health Service and, thus far, we seem to have barely lifted a finger in protest. If Ed Miliband is to be successful at the next election, he needs to develop a far more active presence and to act as a true leader for the movement. Miliband and the rest of the Shadow Cabinet should be on every TV channel, in every newspaper, categorically condemning the damage this Tory-led government is doing to our country.

If we are to regain the trust of the British public, we must stop living in the past, be that 2008 or even 2003, and start talking seriously about the future.

Siemens Rail Contract Damaging for British Industry

The decision to  hand the Thameslink project to Siemens is a great mistake and one which will do serious damage to British industry. As a Specialist Recruitment Consultant for Quality Engineers, my core markets are Aerospace, Defence and the Automotive sector (including rail) and I have already begun to receive the influx of CVs, emails and phone calls from those seeking contracts in Germany.

Ironically, this is potentially very lucrative for me, since Tier One suppliers  into Siemens may pay very good money to secure the services of the most senior Bombardier staff on a consultative basis. Forgive the vagueness, but for corporate security reasons, I am unable to reveal the precise nature of my organisation’s profitability from the government’s decision. Sufficed to say that we, and indeed I, expect to benefit financially. It would be hypocritical to attack the government over this  without making that clear. Indeed a number of British Engineers will also do very well from the Siemens contract, but these will mostly be the higher-end,  well paid operatives, not the factory floor workers. Everyday Millers, Turners, Setters and Inspectors will all lose out and potentially fall into unemployment.

The UK economy will not benefit at all. Those who secure contracts at Siemens’ sites in Germany will work overseas and pay German tax. As an added blow, the decision not to award the contract to Bombardier may essentially mean the end of its significant presence on the UK Engineering stage. Bombardier is the final remaining UK train producer and this decision may effectively kill it off as a viable enterprise in this country. The catastrophic impact of this move will be felt for years and is so illogical from an economic standpoint that one has to seriously question the government’s motives.