3FIDDYZ Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-storie ... -21041540/ For once I have to agree with something written in the Mirror and said by Alan Suger... Its not just about buying British but buying foreign items from British companies, it may cost a few £ more but at least your hard earned is staying in the UK and keeping UK residents employed.... Its also about looking at the parent companies of the banks and insurance companies that we personnaly deal with, are they UK owned? If 50% of the population did this we would have the Credit Crisis licked in no time! It might be £20 cheaper in the longrun to buy those parts from the US but you are fuling (in a very small way!) the US economy... after all, they have probably come from the far east to the US, the guy in the US makes the Profit (he then spends it in the US), the US mail company gets their bit, and then it gets to here and no one in the UK has benifited (apart from you having a nice shiney car part! ;-) ) Dont buy cheap and buy twice... BUY BRITISH! [/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stew Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Quads Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I wonder how many of Alan Sugars comanies buy UK equiptment/stock/parts - I bet a very small % Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3FIDDYZ Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 That dosnt matter, the profit in a motherboard made in China is tiny, the point is that the larger product cost to trade price and then the trade price to retail / customer price and then the VAT on the product is all kept in the UK and keeping UK residents in Jobs... But! Alan Sugers companys are now more or less out of the manufacturing market (after he sold amstrad to sky!) and now in services, Amscreen sells advertising space on LCD's screen in train and tube stations, Viglen is now a IT service provider, Amsprop, buys and sell houses, Amsair is a small private airline.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Id like to see the bit about larger organisations being forced to pay smaller ones in a timely manner become a reality. Im now aproaching the stage where Im about to file county court papers against a multinational company because of an unpaid debt of a measly few hundred quid. Its not the money that is the problem, its the principal that we have a signed agreement for services from that company, weve provided the services, and they have now pi$$ed about for over 6 months giving various different reasons as to why our invoices haven't been paid yet.. Not a problem to us, but I can see how these actions could lead to other businesses suffering serious cash flow issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 CAshflow is the main issue in the market....profitability is something that can be worked on over a period of time...cashflow is vital to keep business trading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3FIDDYZ Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Agree there Chesterfield, our company is guilty of that.... 30 days used to be the norm and it should be again, or at least if you agree on a longer term it should be dead on that date...... But saying that, we have a contract with a VERY big company and they tried to push us for 150 days!! Its funny how their terms with the people that pay them are all on 30 days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Im not particularly bothered - ive read the small print of the agreement that we have with them, and Im amazed to find that there is a statement which says that should any of their payments be overdue to us, they are subject to the same interest charges and late fees that they themselves apply to their own customers.. So Im having fun with a calculator at the moment. Im also seeing some very strange things in the world of credit checks too - Ive had one quite large UK company actually reject the worlds 7th largest bank on the basis of credit. The excuse was that in todays climate you cant be sure that a bank is stable.. At the time of the statement, the net assets of said bank could have bought this UK PLC about 2156 times over... Laugh, I nearly cried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixy Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 In France the supermarkets are forced to stock a large percentage of things like fresh fruit, vegetables and meat from suppliers who are within a set local area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zedrush Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Is that the culprit who pooped on your pic stew? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc350z Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Oh no.. raw nerve.. can't stop myself.. must... RANT.... Patriotism... hmmm.... it is a great word usually hijacked by mindless racists / politicians / Americans (no offence the Americans are the most patriotic nation on earth, which would be good if they lived patriotic lifestyles).. I think 20 years ago the UK population was patriotic.. not anymore.. we're not the UK now.. we are England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.. a group of neighbouring micro countries whose place in the world community is getting marginalised year on year as we split up and collapse into 4 small cr4ppy countries strangled by tax, twin towns, self serving councillors, red tape, nanny mentality health and safety, beaurocrats, europe, and the seeming need to help out in a role as international peace keepers when we blatantly can't afford to anymore.. We have an increasing reliance on other countries to provide us with everything.. even call centres.. we have all spent 45 minutes speaking to "peter" in hydrabad trying to get BT / UU or Amex to change our address speaking to people who just plainly don't understand what we want them to do.... I have a few american mates and they are fiercly partriotic.. which i find at odds with their lifestyles... One of them drives a jap manufactured pickup truck (not usa assembled) and he can't get the association with being patriotic and buying goods manufactured / assembled in the USA. (I wouldn't mind this if he was a 50 iq idiot but he's not...) His simple answer is that the imports are superior products for his needs... hmm... he personally imports clothes, electronics etc rather than pay the extra 20% at the USA high street..... If we tried to be "UK centric" we'd come unstuck.. cars as an example.. hmm.. Jag / landrover are Indian owned companies that manufacture cars in the UK... Mini is German... etc etc etc etc... Yep by buying the uk assembled cars we keep money in the boundary for a while..having paid 20 - 30% premium to pay the UK car assembly plants running costs and wages but that money will eventually be spent on imported goods because we, in the UK, basically design and manufacture practically feck all .. we rely on imported parts to assemble.. foreign R&D for components.. and foreign owned companies to syphon any profit out of the country. We will never return to the days of UK car manufacturing on a large scale because we simply cost too much in the uk.. I recently worked in Nigeria and the company i was working for was starting to import Chinese manufactured cars... they were importing a lookalike X5, it was quite well made.. cosmetically at least... had the Mitsubishi 2.5dci engine which is a workhorse.. interior trim was a mix copy of BMW and some components from Mitsubishi like dashboard / instruments and was pretty nice inside.. yep it had never endured crash testing and would probably last 3 years tops as the component quality of the nuts and bolts was not the best.. but.. it was 7 grand at the dockside in Nigeria including all shipping costs.. for that it had alloys, a/c, leather, all electric windows, a decent(ish) cd stereo, remote central locking, sunroof and an alarm... frightening. I saw Merc S class copies with a 5 point star.. blatant... ,Mark 2 Honda CRV Copies, Ford focus Mark 1 copies, direct Hino truck copies and even toyota pick up truck copies... all CHEAP... the pickup trucks were under 2.5 grand.... We all rememebr when Korean cars fist came to the UK... we all laughed.. 10 years later they are getting acceptable... The chinese cars are coming to the UK once they crack crash testing and stop direct copying other manufacturers models... they will be cheap and the UK will lap them up.. because we are skint and Euro car manufacturers have taken the p155 for years on car prices in the UK... How can we be patriotic and conecentrate on UK goods and services when there are so few left, the banks are throttling business credit, the government are creating us a debt legacy that will take generations to clear... watching the government is like watching the last days of rome.... I am English and also fiercly patriotic but again i am not patriotic enough to spend my ever decreasing salary on UK goods and services... i think the UK mentality has switched to every man/women for themselves..... Rant over... sorry... and yes i have a very bleak outlook.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobby Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 manc350z.....i cant really find fault with your response on the matter!!! But I would say that if we dont support brit industries and invest in more british industries and consumer products...we are in trouble...we must all make an effort to first get the businesses working and then demand that they reduce the prices to compete with imports....that is the only way out. I would start with the new Jags.....they are competitive to any EU premium product out there...and if they have the support and active participation in future product ideas from a loyal customer base..they will do better.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_350z Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 we live in a free world - if british businesses were doing a good job, and let's be honest Alan Sugar aint all that when it comes to business, then they'd get our business. The global horse has well and truly blown the doors off and bolted so this particular type of Arthur Daley ignorant chest thumping jingoism just shows Alan for what he is. Something even worse right now is everyone blaming the government (no, I'm not a labour support) for their ills. It's like "My arse itches, the government should do something about it". No mate, your arse itches because you are sat on it and gobbing off instead of using your brain and body to do something useful. There is little encouragement to be an entrepreneur these days as I'm sure some folks on here can attest to. Tax, employment rules (have YOU ever tried to "let someone go" who is rubbish?), exorbitant finance rates, too high cost of failure, lack of good labour, large companies exploiting the small with things like payment terms. Why punish the chinese just because they are doing a better job than us? That's nuts. We're starting to sound like the French and their farming subsidies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3FIDDYZ Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Good rant Manc, enjoyed your contribution.. One word in there thought that sicks out.. Design. We are still world leaders in design in all areas, and a main area of those being in the Automotive industry. I have mates that have worked on parts and designs for some of the cars mentioned above, etiehr for design companies in the UK and abroad, we have designers working accross the world in the automotive industry.. Then there are buildings, product design etc etc etc we are still a very big player in the design world.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 There is little encouragement to be an entrepreneur these days as I'm sure some folks on here can attest to. Tax, employment rules (have YOU ever tried to "let someone go" who is rubbish?), exorbitant finance rates, too high cost of failure, lack of good labour, large companies exploiting the small with things like payment terms. Fully agree - took us 3 months to remove someone who was no good in the job, the hoops you have to jump through are a joke. The tax burden on small businesses is also somewhat of a joke. It almost certainly stifles growth of small businesses in the majority of cases in the UK. Successive governments have over time created a benefits system which also actively works against small busines. Advertise a job with starting salary of £11k, and you may as well sit with your thumb up your backside as wait for any applications to come in. A couple on the dole, one child, no jobs and a "bad back" will net much more than that courtesy of DSS anyway, so whats the point. We've also bred a culture in the UK whereby students seem to think that because they have a degree, its their god given right to start on £25k+, and if they dont get a job on that, they just bleat and moan abot how hard it is. And with the ability to get a degree in ever diverse and more pointless subjects, a degere today counts for a heck of a lot less than it did. Rather than doing what many in the past did and take any job and actually gain experience, they see many positions as "beneath" them. Then we get those shouting from the rooftops that the immigrants have come in and "stolen" UK jobs.., the same jobs that many UK jobless see as "beneath them"... Laughable really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toffeeblock Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Chesterfield - I find your remarks personally very offensive. I am a recent graduate in Basket Weaving from the Central University Of Newcaste Upon Tyne (C**T) and as I am...... a) a wheelchair bound lesbian, with an eye patch, c) suffer from repetitive strain injury, d) from a single parent background resulting in me suffering from Absent Dad Syndrome (ADS) ......I have found it very difficult to find a graduate job commensurate with my vast worth to society. To add insult to injury, due to the shockingly low levels of benefits I have received, I have been finding it increasingly difficult to afford to run my 350Z. In fact I could barely afford a 2006 model and nearly settled for an 03 import. Fortunately however I have just been offered a 120k salary to work part-time for Brixton Council as an equal opportunities / social work adviser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3FIDDYZ Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 Chesterfield - I find your remarks personally very offensive. I am a recent graduate in Basket Weaving from the Central University Of Newcaste Upon Tyne (C**T) and as I am...... a) a wheelchair bound lesbian, with an eye patch, c) suffer from repetitive strain injury, d) from a single parent background resulting in me suffering from Absent Dad Syndrome (ADS) ......I have found it very difficult to find a graduate job commensurate with my vast worth to society. To add insult to injury, due to the shockingly low levels of benefits I have received, I have been finding it increasingly difficult to afford to run my 350Z. In fact I could barely afford a 2006 model and nearly settled for an 03 import. Fortunately however I have just been offered a 120k salary to work part-time for Brixton Council as an equal opportunities / social work adviser. Funny But unfortunately so close to the mark.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manc350z Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Good rant Manc, enjoyed your contribution.. One word in there thought that sicks out.. Design. We are still world leaders in design in all areas, and a main area of those being in the Automotive industry. I have mates that have worked on parts and designs for some of the cars mentioned above, etiehr for design companies in the UK and abroad, we have designers working accross the world in the automotive industry.. Then there are buildings, product design etc etc etc we are still a very big player in the design world.... Sorry 3FIDDYZ , i agree we have good standalone design capabilities just not joined up design - manufacture - sell the completed product cababilities anymore.... I have worked for a couple of now gone / merged / offshored great UK Metal Gear design and manufacturing companies... they had good design, cracking manufacturing quality but raw mats costs + uk labour charges + business taxes + unions + rats etc etc etc and cheap imprts killed em properly in the last recession in the 90's... How many of our remaining manufacturing companies will go during this one i shudder to think. Stevie_350z - I don't blame the government for the mess we are in.. just the scale of bale out cash they are borrowing... I think most people don't blame them to be honest, easy credit, poor financial controls / governance, bad offshore investments etc = crippled economy... Don't get me started on the sacking deadwoodfront.. it is easier to shoot the useless feckless wasters and fight the murder wrap... There are some nice Jags / Landies and I suppose every jag sold = less bailout money for the UK government to potentially gift to Tata cars to keep em going... and a few more UK workers keeping their jobs.. but surely by the gov. potentally bailing the company out it is the equivelent of paying the assembly workers and their suppliers high rate dole money so Tata can use their labour FOC and use smart accounting practice to internally transfer cash back to the mother comany.. of course the government can provide the money to tata at base + .5 so a 2% business loan it is extracted by the threat of laying off workers.. fabulous.... My wife is considering buying a secondhand XK8.. it feels almost necessaryu to buy it now for some reason !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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