Source: Current Affairs Blog
Tuesday 15th April 2008, 11:49am
Sale of their precious British icons to an Indian company?
There's reports of whisperings in British circles, and not very happy ones at that, about the new ownership of Land Rover. Too bloomin' right!
“Napoleon was right, this is a country of traders and shopkeepers. And as long as somebody buys their assets and makes something good out of it, as long as there are jobs, the British don't mind. I was saying somewhere, if somebody came with an offer for the royalty, the British would enter negotiations,” House of Lords Member, Lord Meghnad Desai said.
And the British sense of loss over the sale is quite evident. “There have been noises that this is an Indian company coming into British territory to purchase what is part of our heritage. I think there is a sense that we are, as a country, selling another important brand to another country. However, what is important is where this country is based, where the cars are based,” Motoring Editor of Auto Express, Freelander Landan Strong said.
But whoever owns the company, these cars will always be British, and for the foreseeable future, made in Britain.
British brands could still be made in the UK and some production overseas as well so long as the core brand is still seen as British. Following many troubled years Many drivers will want to see the rigourous quality assurance of the vehicles such as the safety standards of the Freelander upheld.
Meanwhile, many others say that the cars were so saleable because they had a British stamp on them.
Would Tata have bought Jaguar and Land Rover if they were not such emotional products? I think the fact that they are so British, and they have this tremendous reputation made them valuable enough for Tata to be interested in investing the money in the first place.
It is believed that Tata, too, wants the cars to go on looking British.
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Source: Current Affairs Blog
Wednesday 2nd April 2008, 5:20pm
Three Million potholes in UK
....and four thousand of them in Blackburn, Lancashire - although the holes are very small.
Where did this figure come from?
Is there a quango of "hole inspectors" out on the streets counting or are local authorities required to collate and document hole incidents and feed them to a central hole? Could it be that small action groups like http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/ provide these alarming statistics?
Another pothole site reminded me ot the lads mag section "readers wives" as Concerned of Derby writes in with a siting of a gaping hole on the A445.
Compare price of filling potholes to paying compensations
Local authorities paid a staggering £53 million in compensation and spent £12million handling claims in 2007, compared with £52million on fixing pothole.
The dangers of potholes
The Cycle Club reckon that pot heoles are responsible for 12% of compensation claims by CTC members. Lets face it taking a tumble in a bust road is no fun.
Solution
Upholding the great tradition of "look after yourself" it seems that one way to combat accidents and staggering garage repair bills is to selfishly drive around in a whopping great big off road vehicle.
On its 60th Anniversary perhaps Land Rover should consider the needs of the urban motorists.
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