The UK won't keep the money

The politicial powers have too much 'compassion' for everyone else (out side of the UK
) and will gladly give money away left right and center just because we feel sorry for everyone elses plight.

The downside to that of course is that one way or another we all get to suffer within the UK.

The government has plenty of money to invest in 'speed spike' cameras but is short of a couple of million homes for the needy.

misplaced loyalties ?

India is a big problem

they have zero employee protection legislation, no health and saftey, no pollution controls, and regularly liberate IP from western countries, we cannot compete with our high cost economy which actually demands decent treatment for the workers, pollution controls, IP protection and so on

we need to radically rethink how we compete in the modern world

we are also incidentally borrowing half a billion quid a year to give to India as "aid", money which doesnt actually help the poor, and bearing in mind India is funding a nuclear weapons programme and space programme I seriously think we should keep that money for our own poor and needy

we need to be a lot sharper

Have you been to India and observed as such

Yes - some basic smaller feudal industries are like that but the bigger companies whether indian or multinational do a lot more than they need in employee protection , pollution control etc

As for IP laws, the only IP violations are from Chinese imports on the grey market. Why else do you find major US companies like GE, Intel setting up design centres here compared to China. IP is protected.

As for Aid - that half billion ain't nothing compared to what gets flushed down the NHS. Oh, and you do know that most of the UK's wealth did come from looting India in the1800 and early 1900's.

India is competing fair and square - no dumping and tariffs. Coming back to cars, europeans have failed to conquer elsewhere beyond the luxury segment. VW is 15 years too late.

Call it a global economic correction! Your govt needs revenue from fines as taxes ain't enough nowadays.

Just face it, the UK is banjaxed.

This country is now paying the price for hundred's of years of 'our rule'.

Were in a position where we cannot compete with the likes of China for production (most countries cannot compete now).

However one area this country is very good at is innovation and speciallised production.

We always have been.

The UK's problem is that we just give technology away (Radar, jet engine etc).

How can we export? The company i worked for (25 years), has now moved to china, machines and all.

Yes we may have ruled 1/3 of the known world, raped and pillage, but the strong have always taken from the weak, this is nature and will never change.

What i can't accept is all the foreign aid we give away, year on year, when we have to drive on roads so poor, so many look like a patch work quilt!

We need to get our priories right.

If we are truly in recession, lets have ZERO aid to other countries.

Indeed, we did pillage other countries, and suck them dry for our benefit.

Exports are improving due to a) the devluation of the pound (which would not have happened were we in the Euro) and b) the increase in the standard of living and wages in India and China. Indian engineers in India regularly move on to better paying jobs, and that is to our benefit. We are getting more and more competitive. BUT ... by outsourcing and employing Indian engineers, we lose skills.

Aid to some countries such as India may well be questionable. Maybe redirect that aid to helping truly poor countries, or underpriviledged people in the UK.