Chinese steel for narrowboats

[Emerald Fox]

But what of all the Sociology Studies degrees that are needed for er... er...

 

Seconded about Murflynn's comment.

 

All in all to me it just seems that Brits need to get up off their posteriors, say Cobblers to Political Correctness (which is Facism pretending to be good manners), be honest and admit we are disappointed with inferior imports, and go out and make our own stuff, show the world that we are once again a beacon of inventiveness, admit that we have a seriously infamous history of theiving* from other countries, and create Good Stuff Made in Britain to British Standards and raspberries to EU standards and dictats.

 

 

(edited 'cos d is to close to f on my keyboard)

(*thieving too!)

Edited October 24, 2015 by Emerald Fox

[Cheshire cat]

My son graduated from a top UK University last summer with an Meng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. On his bachelors course there were 130 graduates. Fewer than 15% were British! More than 50% were Chinese.

 

This year's students all got the afternoon off today so they could go and cheer their illustrious leader.

[Emerald Fox]

Oxford University changing its name to Beijing-on-Thames University?

China may have loads of cash now, but has it acquired it through fair & honest means?

Organ transplants by force from unwilling prisoners sounds nasty.

[Guest]

Oxford University changing its name to Beijing-on-Thames University?

China may have loads of cash now, but has it acquired it through fair & honest means?

Organ transplants by force from unwilling prisoners sounds nasty.

A bit like the UK then?

[Emerald Fox]

A bit like the UK then?

Yes - I did mention that - look upwards a bit.

That's why I can't say I'm proud to be British.

I do point out many good things about Britain, and of course what there is nowadays is a consequence of Britain's history, but it is often a sordid & tacky history, back-stabbing, robbing other nations, mass exterminations (Sorry about that, says Blair).

But we could change our ways and become upstanding citizens, and adopt higher morals.

Ding dong! There's my pizza delivery. And then I'm down the pub to lecture others.

[Emerald Fox]

W

 

The new little MG is worth a look for anybody in the market for a small hatchback.

Absolutely not! We rented one from Hertz, Manchester airport this summer, a right death-trap! Engine kept cutting out when 2nd gear engaged, petrol cap already broken, handbrake designed to squash your thumb!

And - you see - even stolen the name!

The new 'fake' MGs are downright dangerous.

[nb Innisfree]

I'm no historian but I doubt there has ever been a nation that has had power and not mishandled it at some point.

[Tony Brooks]

greenie sir, its blairs fault he wanted to educate everyone to uni standard, whereas we know by 14 some kids are going to be brickies/plumbers etc and they will earn a good living doing just that. so why not start trade training for them at that age, keep english and maths on but the rest of the time spent learning jobs for the countries future and for engineers etc on to polytechnic to finish of. a bonus would be we could shut three quarters of the unis down and educate far more to careers that we need rant over

 

Regret ably it will never happen. Those who create policy are products of the academic system and know no other, hence we get NVQs where the need for building portfolios including the equivalent of a grade C GCSE in numeracy, English and IT seem to have been specifically designed to prevent a large body of students gaining the qualification they seek. NVQs and GNVQs sound good on paper to those who never went through a proper apprenticeship and practical, technical training so we are stuck with them. The way funding is allocated and the NVQ system also seem to make it almost impossible for someone later in life to gain "trade" qualifications so they are stuck in unskilled low grade jobs - much as many of those poor steel workers will be.

 

We also have the multi-nationals bending apprenticeships and NVQ qualifications to their own ends so they can get our taxes paid to them for supposed training. The only bright spark on the horizon is the training levy the government is talking about so employers who poach those other companies have trained have to pay something back. However in my view it would have been far better to have reformed the old training boards rather than scrap them all those years ago, with the went many apprenticeships.

 

How we tackle those people who seem genuinely incapable of performing anything other than the most basic and possibly repetitive tasks I do not know.

[peterboat]

 

Regret ably it will never happen. Those who create policy are products of the academic system and know no other, hence we get NVQs where the need for building portfolios including the equivalent of a grade C GCSE in numeracy, English and IT seem to have been specifically designed to prevent a large body of students gaining the qualification they seek. NVQs and GNVQs sound good on paper to those who never went through a proper apprenticeship and practical, technical training so we are stuck with them. The way funding is allocated and the NVQ system also seem to make it almost impossible for someone later in life to gain "trade" qualifications so they are stuck in unskilled low grade jobs - much as many of those poor steel workers will be.

 

We also have the multi-nationals bending apprenticeships and NVQ qualifications to their own ends so they can get our taxes paid to them for supposed training. The only bright spark on the horizon is the training levy the government is talking about so employers who poach those other companies have trained have to pay something back. However in my view it would have been far better to have reformed the old training boards rather than scrap them all those years ago, with the went many apprenticeships.

 

How we tackle those people who seem genuinely incapable of performing anything other than the most basic and possibly repetitive tasks I do not know.

you are right tony mps should have had a proper job before being allowed to apply for election education is ok to a point but look at richard branson no qualifications and top man my friend smith used to employ grads because they were cheap he never said they were good............................................

[DHutch]

I am torn on the whole steel thing, its not at all good for the area or those who have lost their jobs, while only moth-balled looking steel facilities in the UK is not good for long term security.

 

However on the flipside, if you have 30% over production world wide then something has to give, and are importing the bulk of the raw materials to feed the plant and competing against China, its a hard world.

 

As for steel quality, its in interesting topic. I have very little indeed to do with China but have spent time working in India in a job that revolved heavily around steel and has extended to comparing the quality/specification and hence suitability of Indian steel in comparison and or to replace European steels. They do not make to the same exact same specs and making direct comparisons is not easy, however its certainly not bad steel at all and while to get the same fatigue life and formability you may need to use slightly higher UTS grades for instance, but its not bad.

 

Daniel

[Murflynn]

yes but ...................

 

any steel is only as good as the inspection and certification system, which in India has been bad (see my earlier post) in places.

 

it is very hard for an end customer to know if the quality is as good as the certificates say it is.

 

we are talking about quite detailed testing here, like Charpy V-notch and hardness testing, and carbon equivalent values.

[ditchcrawler]

How old are the plants in the UK compared to China, is it due like many things to lack of investment in the past?

[Emerald Fox]

 

 

it is very hard for an end customer to know if the quality is as good as the certificates say it is.

 

Isn't there some fiddle about chicken eggs made in Lithuania being stamped with the British Lion and thus becoming 'British Eggs'?

 

I once worked in a small factory where street light lamp shades were made (it was in Ware, Herts.). The metal was wet and greasy, as there wasn't enough time to degrease them and dry them, but the painter just wanted to get as many spray-painted as possible to make him look like an industrious kind of chap. I imagine they are rotting away in countries like South Africa and Chile and the locals are wondering who produces rubbish like that. (I quit that job after 2 weeks, it was an abysmal and depressing dump).

 

Quickly back to the new MG cars, I see others have had stalling problems:

 

http://www.mgmotor.org.uk/forum/technicals/1134-mg-6-mt-stalls

 

"it turns out that the MG6 is actually built in China by SAIC Motor — the company that now owns MG Rover (though not the name Rover). It is then shipped over to Birmingham, where a small team inserts the engine. Claiming that this car is British is like claiming that an Airfix model was built in your front room. It wasn’t. It was merely assembled there."

"Well, last week I sneaked behind the wheel for a short drive, and very quickly the reason became obvious. This car is not bad at all. It’s hysterically terrible." from this:

 

http://www.driving.co.uk/car-reviews/the-clarkson-review-mg6-magnette/

 

Clarkson's bit about the stalling was just like our experience. Not at all funny with traffic bearing down on you, hoping your 4-way flashers will help....

 

"It’s a carrier bag with a Coco Chanel badge." - only not worth even 5p!

Edited October 27, 2015 by Emerald Fox

[ditchcrawler]

 

 

. Claiming that this car is British is like claiming that an Airfix model was built in your front room. It wasn’t. It was merely assembled there."

 

That's a bit British Narrowboat builders who buy in shells and other bits and puts them together.(fit them out) and then claim to be builders.

[CV32]

That's a bit British Narrowboat builders who buy in shells and other bits and puts them together.(fit them out) and then claim to be builders.

 

Viners of sheffield the same - chinese production completed and stamped here ...

[X Alan W]

Don't know a great lot about the cars TBH, but was involved with the Japanese invasion of bikes.

I love old British bikes and have no axe to grind, but they had become so dated. The Triumph twin engine was a WW2 design, something to do with generators in planes I seem to recall. My mate had a lovely old Bonneville, but could never get it to keep its engine oil inside.

The earlier Jap bikes were suspect; tyres that didn't grip on wet roads, disc brakes that needed notice in writing should one need to stop in the rain, shock absorbers that didn't were just a few of the faults. But they learned quickly! Enter bikes like the Kwacker Z900, Honda 4's and suchlike.

Even my mate who is a vintage Norton fanatic and rebuilder uses Jap bikes for daily transport, and has done for many years.

We lost our way with bikes in those times.

Very true when Japanese bikes first appeared in UK the home bike manufactures con sided them a joke & ploughed on their blinkered way, mostly 1 pot oil spewing lumps, as the Japanese upped their act the brits didn't, Joe Public realized the advantages of the far east products, same story with a lot of UK products didn't keep up so disappeared from the scene Shame as if the UK put their mind to it could produce an equal if not superior product.