London good or bad?

kreuzkav

They might create jobs but what do they produce.  Germany is doing well because it produces products not services.

NorthNineteen

And what do you think funds all the German production...?  London has been a money making machine since the 17th Century, but it's a lot more than that.  <div><br></div><div>London produces culture (from music to tv to fashion), brands/advertising, architecture and civil engineering, medical research/pharmaceuticals and apps.</div><div><br></div><div>It exports legal systems, accountancy and<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> business improvement/consultancy.</span></div>

Sutent

Science and technology is booming in London. Go to the east end and see the IT people. I grew up near the river lee and I remember all the booming factories. Go on the a13 over barking and see the huge old deserted ford factory. All very sad. Enfield had Ferguson and cooker maker belling

miss annie

Tate & Lyle is the largest sugar refinery in Europe - my younger sister works there. There is plenty of specialist stuff, shop window mannequins are made here, there are still lots of big print companies all over Clerkenwell. I cycle past three different bookbinding places most days. Fashion - design, manufacture and retail and Savile Row tailoring contributes about £26 billion to the UK economy. GlaxoSmithKline are in the outer reaches of town too. London is not all about bankers necking three grand bottles of champagne or Chinese investors buying luxury flats. There are plenty of real people making useful, practical things.

dion

the tricky thing here is that it is hard to grasp that a 'service' industry creates wealth and jobs but with no real visible presence; a 'manufacturing' industry has factories, chimneys, Lowryesque workers queuing and shiny things being taken away in lorries.<div><br></div><div>hence easy to decry loss of manufacturing or talk up other countries manufacturing prowess.</div><div><br></div><div>we were the first to have an industrial revolution and therefore not surprising that we are the first to come out of one</div>

Arkady

Following on from Dion, I'm increasingly getting the impression that manufacturing is going to revert from the factory to the cottage industry via new technology.<div><br></div><div>I thought that this article was fascinating: http://politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2014/05/15/how-the-internet-will-destroy-capitalism</div><div><br></div><div>Someone should get Miss Annie a 3D printer.<br></div>

Ali

There are two local  steel window manufacturers  in the area  not many jobs though

dion

I also wonder how much manufactured stuff we all actually need nowadays. Stuff is hugely cheaper than ever before and most of us have most of it already and some of it is multifunctional as well doing away with the need for TV and DVD if you have a smartphone or laptop Hence services are provably the way forward - I won't buy a new telly each week but I may eat out more often.

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miss annie

I am desperate for a 3D printer, and one of those pens that draw with 3D ink, so you can draw in the air and your drawings become solid lines. You can buy 3D printed make up powders now, lipsticks and creams are in development, I love this technological wizardry.

Sutent

the reason that things are so cheap is that big multinational companies have sweatshops in 3rd world countries. The way the workers are treated are absolutely appalling. In April it was the one year anniversary of Rana PLaza, where 1000 + workers (mostly women) died when the building collapsed in Bangladesh. Thankfully most of the companies have signed up to Accords which ensure basic pay, building inspections and formation of workers unions to prevent this sort of disaster again. unfortunately some evil companies like GAP choose to continue to abuse their workers. <div><br></div><div>In China recently workers who make things for Nike, Adidas went on strike for not being paid. This is a massive step in a very repressive country. Until all workers are allowed to join unions and demand a wage that will allow them to live then manufacturing will not return to the UK as we have cannot compete with such low wages and in humane conditions as we have rules against this. </div><div><br></div><div><br><div><br></div><div><br></div></div>

JoeV

@Dion - I'm not sure what you mean. The world can't live on services alone. Everyone buys manufactured products every day from the clothes on their backs to the food that they eat. The fact that those manufactured products are cheaper than ever is possible only because the people making them live far away and are paid a pittance compared to people in this part of the world.<div><br></div><div>Services vs manufacturing is so old school now anyway. Manufacturing isn't coming back to this country in any meaningful way, but the fact remains that we as a society haven't yet solved the problem what do we do with the people who don't have the skills to compete in a services economy a<span style="font-size: 10pt;">nd now to pile on, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">because of the internet, what do we do with the people who have the skills and are now being displaced by the Internet economy or whatever it's being called.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt;">You're on to something BenMyring. Thanks for posting the link to that article.</span></div><div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div>

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Ali

<P>They used to make Routemaster in west London but I think they  are made up North somwhere</P>

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Sutent

You need to invest in renewable energy. Massive  future manufacturing and scientific growth market. Please government invest and see how many jobs created. We can take the world by storm!

Arkady

<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2" style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">Some more good articles on the impact of technological change on the future of work:</font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=4640&title=Technological-change-and-new-work</font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=4643&title=The-future-of-manufacturing</font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detail.aspx?ID=4641&title=What-future-for-work</font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">The conclusion seems to be that we can expect a continued decline in mass-factory manufacturing and the development of local, autonomous, interconnected (and more democratic) labour.  Seeing more and more of this sort of thing, which reinforces my scepticism about nostalgia for the old industrial base - if done properly the future could be bright indeed.</font></div><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><font size="2">My fear is that unless this is matched with strong social-democratic policies we will end up more like Mega-City One than Star Trek (forgive me if I've used this </font>analogy<font size="2"> before).</font></font></div>

andy

The world is not short of stuff. There is over-capacity in almost every industry there is (and Sutent is right, because much of this manufacturing is in places that don't look after the people doing it). <div><br></div><div>The knowledge about how to organise all this stuff is valuable. How to design it, how to fund it, how to get it to the right people and even how to make it more sustainable.  London is the best in the world at these things. </div><div><br></div><div>Services don't work without manufacturing, but manufacturing doesn't work without services. </div><div><br></div><div>There is nothing 'better' about manufacturing.<br><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt;">That said, this was a nice article about high-end manufacturing (of bike bits)</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt;">http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/italian-job</span></div></div>;

Ali

<font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">The routemaster  factory went form this</font><div style="font-family: Arial, Verdana; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"><br></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"> face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">to</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=chiswick+park&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=PH14U6bSLMXe7Aaj7YHoAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQsAQ&biw=1366&bih=667</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2">probably more jobs  but knowledge based not manufacturing</font></div><div><font face="Arial, Verdana" size="2"><br></font></div>

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