Being British

[gettin2dizzy]

Anyone making a concerted effort to buy British now that we're in the poop?

[Mr Speirs]

No. I have always made a conscious effort to not buy from China. Admittedly I do own some stuff from china but id rather have something that is going to last/work.

[Thingus]

Nope.
No more of an effort now than before anyway.
I think we're only in the 'poop' because we act like we are, so i guess i'll just not change :p

[Alpinestarhero]

I'm tempted by a triumph...

[Lozzo]

I haven't changed my buying habits at all. Wherever possible I try to buy British anyway, except in extreme cases when I know I can find something far superior from another country, but even then I am fussy about where my money goes.

In recent times I've deliberately gone out of my way to avoid buying anything made in Israel or the USA purely because of the amount of money USA is propping up the murderous ba5tards bombing Gaza with.

In the past I've boycotted anything French when they've caused British suppliers to suffer financial hardship by burning lorry cargos.

[gettin2dizzy]

I certainly always buy british food. It just seems so daft getting lamb flown in from New Zealand!

[gettin2dizzy]

It just seems so daft getting lamb flown in from New Zealand!
I'd go as far to say it was baaa-rmy






oh, that's bad :rolleyes:

[DanAbnormal]

I'm tempted by a triumph...

Which are mostly made in Thailand..

[hovis]

I certainly always buy british food. It just seems so daft getting lamb flown in from New Zealand!

& NZ lamb is cheaper

:confused:

[Sudoxe]

& NZ lamb is cheaper

:confused:

Grass is cheaper out there... ;)

[missyburd]

I certainly always buy british food. It just seems so daft getting lamb flown in from New Zealand!
Doesn't it just! I can't imagine lambs with jetlag make nice eating...

















I'll get my outdoor wearables :p

[Frank]

& NZ lamb is cheaper

:confused:
hang out the window and catch one by the leg

[Ed]

I was disappointed to find that quite a few bits of my Daytona are of far eastern origin. But most of it kept a British worker in a British job, so I'm pleased about that. The fact that the bike is far better than anything else in its class is a bonus.

I rarely buy Israeli goods because I don't like the way they treat Palestinians, but then I wouldn't buy Palestinian goods (can you buy anything Palestinian????) either cos of rocket attacks on Israel. I don't often buy anything of US manufacture cos I'm sorry to say that the quality in my experience is not up to European standards, although they are catching up fast.

And like Mr Speirs I try not to buy anything Chinese but that seems impossible nowadays.

[Frank]

how many thing in any house are actually made in the USA

[gettin2dizzy]

The fact that the bike is far better than anything else in its class is a bonus.

Yup. It's really got that 675cc triple class all to itself ;)

[gettin2dizzy]

how many thing in any house are actually made in the USA
Actually quite a lot. THey're pretty god at protecting their own manufacturing interests, and make considerably more than us (per head).


Mind you; Nulabour wanted everyone to have degrees and become administrative slaves. I certainly know in my last manufacturing company, there were more admin and management roles than actual manufacturing ones.

[Frank]

pops along to check the goods in my house

[yorkie_chris]

I was disappointed to find that quite a few bits of my Daytona are of far eastern origin. But most of it kept a British worker in a British job, so I'm pleased about that. The fact that the bike is far better than anything else in its class is a bonus.

I rarely buy Israeli goods because I don't like the way they treat Palestinians, but then I wouldn't buy Palestinian goods (can you buy anything Palestinian????) either cos of rocket attacks on Israel. I don't often buy anything of US manufacture cos I'm sorry to say that the quality in my experience is not up to European standards, although they are catching up fast.

And like Mr Speirs I try not to buy anything Chinese but that seems impossible nowadays.

Do Isreal actually make anything useful?

(except maybe a few choice bits of hardware...)

[gettin2dizzy]

Do Isreal actually make anything useful?

(except maybe a few choice bits of hardware...)
Nasty euro pop singers with a 'surprise'


Oh, you said apart from hardware....

[Frank]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn_F-WyaaFk&feature=related
just incase you are confused

[rictus01]

brace of Triumphs and now a CCM, I'm obviously suffering for my country(;)), but I'll live with it......:cool:

Cheers Mark.

[Lozzo]

Which are mostly made in Thailand..


Only some of the twins are made in Thailand

[Lozzo]

Do Isreal actually make anything useful?

(except maybe a few choice bits of hardware...)

Fruit, veg and other foodstuffs. Quite a lot of it comes from Israel, but not into my house.

[G]

I shop in ASDA and as far as I'm aware the vast majority of meats and Vegs are from the UK.

[Thingus]

I shop in ASDA and as far as I'm aware the vast majority of meats and Vegs are from the UK.

America gets the profit :batman:

[DarrenSV650S]

Do you actually consider youself british?

I'm not british

[sarah]

Do you actually consider youself british?

I'm not british

I am. And English and a southerner and a European.

[husky03]

Do you actually consider youself british?

I'm not british

Whit-check your passport mate-we don't get scottish , welsh , english or northern irish passports-if you get in to bother abroad you'll be going to the BRITISH embassy looking for help etc-pi$$es me off that quote-nowt wrong with being proud to be a scot , welsh etc, but when it comes down to it we are British

[gettin2dizzy]

Do you actually consider youself british?

I'm not british
Yup. :)

[Lozzo]

I'm British and Maltese

Dual nationality rocks :D

[urbane1]

British and Canadian. It works great flying into Manchester on our Canadian passports, as the International line is always far smaller then the British line.

[Thingus]

Jeez i love Canada!
I think it's great that when you fly to Canada, there are millions of brits, and when you fly back... there's still millions of brits, nobody has a reason to come here other than business or family :P

[Stig]

No. I buy from wherever is either the better quality or cheaper depending on my needs at the time. If 'they' want me to buy British, then 'they' need to make it the preferred option.

[Sid Squid]

Whenever reasonably possible, I always look for British produce in the shops for instance I and would prefer to buy that.

[dissuade]

Food-wise I don't see the point in buying things that have been flown in, not solely for supporting British economy but I just don't have much call for needing lychees from far off places on december 23rd.

In terms of furniture, materials and work, I prefer to source things from my house from all over the world - floor from china, bath from czech republic, doors and furniture from germany... just because I have rarely seen a country with such astoundingly poor build quality in simple things such as England. I also prefer Europeans to do the work around my house, then I know at least what I am getting is of a high enough standard.

[Ed]

Food-wise I don't see the point in buying things that have been flown in, not solely for supporting British economy but I just don't have much call for needing lychees from far off places on december 23rd.

In terms of furniture, materials and work, I prefer to source things from my house from all over the world - floor from china, bath from czech republic, doors and furniture from germany... just because I have rarely seen a country with such astoundingly poor build quality in simple things such as England. I also prefer Europeans to do the work around my house, then I know at least what I am getting is of a high enough standard.

Not a team player:(

[DanAbnormal]

Only some of the twins are made in Thailand

According to Mr Bloor all the frames are made in Thailand, as well as many other parts. They are then assembled in Hinckley. John Bloor is one of our customers, we delivered their network at their factory in Thailand and Hinckley recently so I've managed to have a good ol chinwag with him. ;)

They do make the cranks, camshafts, crank cases here (as well as in Germany) though.

[timwilky]

The problem with buying British is that we do not make anything any more.

We had a customer who from bitter experience did not want a French manufactured generator. (about 40 million quids worth), he wanted what we had sold him in the past one manufactured in Stafford.

We had to tell him Stafford does not manufacture full generators any more. Just some of the bits. Very disappointed he then started talking to our competitors in Japan and the States.

Personally I find it difficult not to buy foreign goods masquerading as British. Where does your Dyson vac come from, the nice Pure DAB radios etc.

My Dell monitor in front of me is manufactured in China, so is the keyboard I am typing on etc.

Where possible I do buy British produced food, and more importantly from local farmers. But I do object to the ridiculous prices the super markets charge when you know the farm gate price.

One problem I know of is that when selling high value projects into China (For instance a nuclear power station). You have to enter into technology transfer agreements. I.E. give them the ability to produce their own in the future. You therefore have to hope your own R&D will advance sufficiently to ensure what you have given them is the last generation technology and not the ability to undercut you on future global projects. India is now the worlds biggest manufacturer of forgings etc. Their metallurgy is top class. Yet they are still capable of producing cheap crap as well if that is what you require.

[Grinch]

I make no preference...

[dissuade]

Not a team player:(

but what is the point in settling for less only to keep the lazy sods in your country in business when people who do it better elsewhere deserve your custom more?

[Biker Biggles]

The GB balance of trade deficit for November was published today.GB ltd made a loss of over £8 Billion.Just for one month.We have made losses steadily increasing towards this record figure for thirty years and it is caused by people buying foreign goods.This is entirely understandable at an individual level but is the product of decades of political and corporate incompetance.The bottom line,though,is that nothing,household company or nation can sustain losses of tens of billions per annum forever,and when GB ltd runs out of family silver to flog off and there is nothing left, none of us will have two beans to buy anything with,British or foriegn.

[husky03]

[quote] all the frames are made in Thailand, as well as many other parts. ;)

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w166/callumhadd/IMG_1583.jpg

Nowt much wrong with these bits and bobs that were made in Thailand:D

[Mogs]

I've made an efford not to buy Isreali, mainly food I think. Although my Laundry Basket is from there. The only thing I know for sure is from the USA is my leatherman knife/pliers thing.

[timwilky]

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w166/callumhadd/IMG_1583.jpg

Nowt much wrong with these bits and bobs that were made in Thailand:D
oh a pair of lady boys, are they both called Robert?

[Biker Biggles]

oh a pair of lady boys, are they both called Robert?

Sounds like the voice of experience:rolleyes:;)
Any stories to tell Tim?:cheers:

[husky03]

oh a pair of lady boys, are they both called Robert?

hehehe- i'm 100% that they are 100% women-either that or my bro in laws turned and married a wrong un!

[Ed]

but what is the point in settling for less only to keep the lazy sods in your country in business when people who do it better elsewhere deserve your custom more?

I entirely disagree. I think we make things well here. We may not have done in the past:rolleyes:

[yorkie_chris]

Depends what you're on about.

[hovis]

I entirely disagree. I think we make things well here. We may not have done in the past:rolleyes:

such as?

[Biker Biggles]

Example----JCB
A firm in desperate trouble due to the inadequte management of the economy by others.They make a good product but could well go bust.If that happens they will never come back.

[Ed]

Example----JCB
A firm in desperate trouble due to the inadequte management of the economy by others.They make a good product but could well go bust.If that happens they will never come back.

Speed cameras:D They're made in England:rolleyes:

[punyXpress]

Peanut Butter Jelly Is that made by Uncle Sam?

[gettin2dizzy]

The odd thing is; if you want truly bespoke, high quality items, you NEED to buy British. Even the Bugatti Veyron had to have the most intricate parts made here!

[zsv650]

i buy thing's from all over the place mostly british though if i can and i'd love a triumph as a next bike daytona not just because it's british but because i think they make wicked bike's that suit our road's well or a ccm.

[dissuade]

Peanut Butter Jelly Is that made by Uncle Sam?

i am not sure what you are getting at?

[northwind]

The odd thing is; if you want truly bespoke, high quality items, you NEED to buy British. Even the Bugatti Veyron had to have the most intricate parts made here!

No offence mate but that's complete rubbish. There's any number of places you can go to for top drawer engineering and manufacturing. Britain still does some very good low volume engineering but we're far from the only ones.

[yorkie_chris]

Kinda... Britain does have a lot more places tooled up, and with the experience to make such things, but only because there isn't the market for foreigners with cheaper labour to tool up to do it.

[northwind]

Yeah, there's some truth to that actually. But the small-volume taiwanese engineering firms are really picking that up, I was talking to a guy who runs one of the more succesful UK bike companies, On One... He designs the frames, operates out of a shed in Yorkshire, but he can't get anyone in the UK to make the frames to his spec, so it goes to Taiwan where they lap it up. Except for the titanium ones, nobody in the UK can make those either so it goes to the US. His exact words, "Only a moron would get these made in this country". :D The design is 100% british, and we still excel at that but production, not so much.

[yorkie_chris]

Ti frames? I know a guy in taiwan who does those... he must have been looking in wrong place.

[hob]

We are down on manufacturing due to WWII, after that all of our machinery was screwed, unlike Germany that got leveled I don't believe we got any money to rebuild our infrastructure...

WWII actually really crippled us long afterwards.

Dating back we have always been the best engineering wise, today we still are but not so much on manufacturing. The US is big on the 6-axis, point and grind out engineering where the skill is in the machine,computational design has also helped non-engineering Countries evolve (Brit based again) , a "Brit with a shed" can't get the accuracy that they have but they wont do "Stupid stuff".

Japan & others are generally crap for logic, you can see this on old cars (<1986) Honda, even today still.

An example I would give would be on a 1986 Honda accord, all but one of the inlet manifold bolts can be accessed without the head being removed, the final one requires the head to removed lol.

Noticed it a bit with the sv650 (yes I am still bitter about cracking the fairing mounting bracket) not done much on the 650 to see if there is any other logic fails, doubt there is much to go wrong.

[northwind]

An example I would give would be on a 1986 Honda accord, all but one of the inlet manifold bolts can be accessed without the head being removed, the final one requires the head to removed lol.


Kawasaki are god-awful for this... The 636 B has the 2 best examples I can imagine, the suspension linkage has grease nipples but no grease in the linkage from the factory, and the bottom shock bolt is fitted from the right meaning it can't be removed without removing the entire exhaust system (not even just the end can, the whole ****ing thing), where if it was fitted from the left it'd come straight out without disturbing a single other part. We just cut the bolt head off instead and replace it, better to fit a £10 bolt than spend an hour doing battle with crappy kwak fasteners.

We are down on manufacturing due to WWII, after that all of our machinery was screwed, unlike Germany that got leveled I don't believe we got any money to rebuild our infrastructure...


Heh, Britain got the most marshall plan money of all, more than twice as much as germany, nearly a quarter of the whole fund.

[hob]

Heh, Britain got the most marshall plan money of all, more than twice as much as germany, nearly a quarter of the whole fund.

Aye but didn't we have a massive IOU to America?

[northwind]

Yup, but so did everyone else who took marshall plan money. Germany was smarter with how they handled the cash than us to be fair, but not enough to get twice as much milage out of it.

I was taught that the real reason british manufacturing fell behind was just that we were such an early innovator, the countries that came after could learn from us but also didn't have the history and infrastructure and old hardware etc- and while germany had no real choice to start over, we chose to rebuild what we had. I don't know how true that is but it does seem reasonable enough. I think at the end of the day we just didn't do enough to stay on top, the british auto industry is a brilliant example of where we went wrong in, oh, almost every way we could have.

[hob]

Yup, but so did everyone else who took marshall plan money. Germany was smarter with how they handled the cash than us to be fair, but not enough to get twice as much milage out of it.

I was taught that the real reason british manufacturing fell behind was just that we were such an early innovator, the countries that came after could learn from us but also didn't have the history and infrastructure and old hardware etc- and while germany had no real choice to start over, we chose to rebuild what we had. I don't know how true that is but it does seem reasonable enough. I think at the end of the day we just didn't do enough to stay on top, the british auto industry is a brilliant example of where we went wrong in, oh, almost every way we could have.

LOL indeed, we do not reinvest and so get owned by everyone...

I think the Olympics showed this too, the first actual "investment" in athletes and we rank 4th (close 3rd) compared to our usual single digit gold medals.

[gettin2dizzy]

No offence mate but that's complete rubbish. There's any number of places you can go to for top drawer engineering and manufacturing. Britain still does some very good low volume engineering but we're far from the only ones.
Ask the forumla one teams.