Does anyone support Brown ?

[bubblewrap]

Hear hear.
I want to buy British, but it's really difficult nowadays. Anything not made in China is shockingly expensive, as is real wood furniture compared to Arg0s stuff.

I have always bought good quality stuff expensive yes but cheaper in the end because it lasts longer.
My TV is 15 years old stereo(25)Washing machine(10)Microwave(10)The newest thing we have is the dishwasher(son bought it not us)(3).
I wont buy anything new until I have to.
The lap top I/we use I/we have had for 5 years.

[bubblewrap]

I have always bought good quality stuff expensive yes but cheaper in the end because it lasts longer.
My TV is 15 years old stereo(25)Washing machine(10)Microwave(10)The newest thing we have is the dishwasher(son bought it not us)(3).
I wont buy anything new until I have to.
The lap top I/we use I/we have had for 5 years.

I have a pair of boots that were my fathers he was given them second hand in 1946 so they are at least 62 years old.

[Two_Sheds]

We've gone through 2 toasters, 2 irons and 3 kettles in 18 months ... cheap cr@p.
My microwave is a big old Zanussi ... it's industrial size, but built like a tank and still going strong. Mr S wants to buy a shiny new plastic one, but I have resisted him so far.
My stereo is so old it has a turntable on it! Picks up radio 2 just fine, so it can stay.

I just thought .. how is this political? I guess it is, if our Govt's policies have forced the closure of British manufacturers? Or at least British jobs in favour of Chinese/Indian ones?

[pigletwillie]

I just thought .. how is this political? I guess it is, if our Govt's policies have forced the closure of British manufacturers? Or at least British jobs in favour of Chinese/Indian ones?

Its not the governments policies at all. We all want new shiny stuff, to live in nice houses and to eat well, go on holidays etc. To pay for all that we now have to earn as a British average £411 per week, the Chinese average is less than £9 a week.

Do the math and you can see why western europe cannot compete on price alone. British companies employees all have pensions, sick pay, H&S legislation, minimum working conditions, insurance and more and quite rightly so. The Chinese company worker has very little, if any of that, so his companies low costs allow us to buy a kettle in tesco for under a fiver.

So, no the government hasnt forced the closure of our manufacturing capacity or forced those jobs over to India or China, We have, in our desperation for new shiny tat that is cheap and affordable and oh so disposable.

[bubblewrap]

The last timeI bought a cheapo kettle it lasted just over 2 months the next on I had cost over £30 I've had over 6 years Which was the cheapest?

[pigletwillie]

The £5 one cos not every one will blow up after 2 months and most will last a few years. My site kettle is a tesco special and has worked fine for nearly 3 years now.

[Two_Sheds]

We all want new shiny stuff, ... and to ... go on holidays

Not all of us
I want nice happy people around me, not "stuff"
I'd rather be on my lotty than "on holiday" (I went to Singapore, but that was a freebie to visit Mr S's brother, and I won't be going again)

[jackie j]

I have decided to get another job so that I can have a few little luxurys that doesnt mean I will be spending it on rubbish, probably use it to make my lottie better. Which will eventually help the person who takes it on after me. If I earn my money I want to be able to spend it on what I want, not more taxes etc. At the moment I do not earn enough to pay tax but with my second job I will. I dont realy want to be working more hours at my age, I feel pressured into doing so. I have always wanted to be a stay at home mum, I have only worked when my children were in bed and their dad was at home. Parents no longer have the choice for mum to stay home ( or the higher earner ), Yet we are told when our children are 5 yrs old we have to find work especially if a single parent ( dont want to start that one up again its all been said before ). Today on the news we are being told that we shouldnt be putting our children into child care places while we go to work because parents dont know how to be parents its a skill that you learn as you go, none of us get it right all the time how can we when half the time we are at work.

[Fluorescent green]

In my area I have seen a new college, a new school to be built, our dilapidated leisure centre upgraded,

If its anything like where I live, the college, school and sports centre will all be PFI's.

Private Finance Initiative - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Private Finance Initiative = a 25 year mortgage = more borrowing, and there are not even on the budgets ballance sheet.

FG

[HeyWayne]

If its anything like where I live, the college, school and sports centre will all be PFI's.

Private Finance Initiative - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Private Finance Initiative = a 25 year mortgage = more borrowing, and there are not even on the budgets ballance sheet.

FG

Trouble is - when a government (local or central) is screamed at that they need a new school/hospital/leisure centre etc, you can guarantee that a tax hike wouldn't go down well, yet how else is it paid for? We could always wait until the government has saved up enough money...

All of these issues involve far more than the simplistic answers we seek/are given.

[Paulottie]

LOL...We make solid English hardwood furniture if TS, or anybody else, wishes to invest! Guess what, order books are full for months to come.

Make no mistake PW, the govn't are kept in place by the retail giants and banks; not by our vote.

Consumption is the chief basis of social order, the system creates perceived 'needs.' The system of needs is the product of the system of production. The system needs us as consumers and the masses are loaned money to perpetuate this obscenity.

I am not sure that the majority of people even realise the value of anything anymore...retail sheep. Have you been to your local rubbish tip of late , it makes me want to weep.

[bubblewrap]

I am not sure that the majority of people even realise the value of anything anymore...retail sheep. Have you been to your local rubbish tip of late , it makes me want to weep.

Retail sheep? Madderbat calls them sheeple.

A "cynic" is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[Mcbee]

LOL...We make solid English hardwood furniture if TS, or anybody else, wishes to invest! Guess what, order books are full for months to come.

Make no mistake PW, the govn't are kept in place by the retail giants and banks; not by our vote.

Consumption is the chief basis of social order, the system creates perceived 'needs.' The system of needs is the product of the system of production. The system needs us as consumers and the masses are loaned money to perpetuate this obscenity.

I am not sure that the majority of people even realise the value of anything anymore...retail sheep. Have you been to your local rubbish tip of late , it makes me want to weep.

i sometimes think that our whole society is based upon making people want more. More cloths, more food, bigger cars etc. It all seems to be about "growth" - thats what you hear when the company reports are due -"Sainsburys had 5% growth, Tesco's had 2% growth etc". There seems to be a general presumption that growth is a good thing, and part of me sees that makes sense from an economic point of view.If you encourage people to spend more, then you need to make more, so you employ more people etc.

But there must come a time when people have enough - or just don't want anymore - and so what will happen to companies then? If they don't grow, will the stock market view them as failures and sell their shares, ultimately causing the companies to fail?

I think you have to live by what you believe - and i don't believe that uncontrolled economic growth is good.

[BrideXIII]

i


But there must come a time when people have enough - or just don't want anymore - and so what will happen to companies then? If they don't grow, will the stock market view them as failures and sell their shares, ultimately causing the companies to fail?

I think you have to live by what you believe - and i don't believe that uncontrolled economic growth is good.

the thing is , present company excepted, the point never comes, because things are not made to last anymore, they are made to be replaced within 4-5 years on large goods, then you have your 'state of the art' market, people who HAVE to upgrade to every new thing, which is now every six months (witness processors in computers for example), so that growth is artificially engendered, which is fine, until there is a credit crunch and suddenly, noone wants the newest sofa/coffee maker, because they don't need one.
then that growth figure crashes, and we are exhorted by the government to get back out there and spend, its our 'duty' to save jobs by spending money we haven't got, by borrowing it at ridiculous rates of interest that we cannot afford cos we could lose our jobs tomorrow......... that's NOT a stable economy, that's a fantasy.

[bubblewrap]

There lies the problem some people don't know the difference between want & need.