On Tue, 29 Sep 1998 07:06:03 -0700, William wrote:
>I might also add that, for _many_ years, most Polaroid products have
>been made in Ireland. (That's what "Made in the UK" on the bottom is a
>euphemism for.) Ireland has low labor rates.
They would have no right to say this if these products are made in the
Irish Republic.
Speaking as a Welshman (and no doubt my Scottish friends would agree)
I find it irritating that if a product is made in Scotland or Wales,
it's marked as made in the UK (or Britain) but as "Made in England" if
it is made in that country. Did you know, for example, that the wings
for all the European Airbus airplanes are made in Wales as are nearly
all engines for European Ford and Toyota cars? Or, for the Hi-Fi
buffs, REL subwoofers?
Addressing the wider issue, as a technology graduate of a long time
ago, bright young things were coaxed into the aerospace, defence and
similar industries. Our consumer products industries probably suffered
as a result, especially the automotive and consumer electronics
industries (who paid commensurately less too). That's possibly why our
home sown consumer industries are no more (and the rump is foreign
owned) but the aerospace (e.g. Rolls Royce aero engines) and defence
sectors are doing well with good products.
Photographically, we used to have Ross, Reid, MPP, Johnson, Photax,
Gamer, Gnome and countless others that have now gone. We still have
Ilford (foreign owned), Kentmere, Paterson and a few small ones like
DeVere and Nova.
The Japanese, especially, were laughed at when their products first
arrived here, but their good engineering, quality and reliability soon
floored the British motorcycle industry, consumer electronics,
automotive and almost every other major manufacturing sector.
--
John Gruffydd (Mold, Wales, UK)
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