Readers letters
I read with interest, the editor’s comment concerning the number of engineers created by the UK in comparison to China and India.
China and India are investing heavily in the industry, recognising the fact that this is the way forward. Whilst in these countries, students do pay their tuition fees, (I have Chinese relatives), scholarships are available for those clever enough to earn them.
The Big Bang may give youngsters a better understanding of engineering but without the investment required from government, it is nothing short of a grand parade. Any university degree has a greater following, and is far easier to get, than an engineering degree simply because there are no jobs available. Virtually all of the manufacturing industry has been sold to foreign private enterprise, at a fraction of its worth, by successive governments. Let us not forget that industry requires an engineering degree and some small amount of experience, usually a minimum of two years, before any job is offered.
Rumour has it that this government wants to centralise everything, in London. Why should London have all the jobs? How about shifting parliament to, say Birmingham, or Manchester. Would either of those places get all the centralised jobs, I think not as London and the south east would scream their heads off because it is so expensive to live there. Everything revolves around London just because it is the capital city. If parliament were to be moved to another part of the country, London would become a nonentity, just like it now treats the rest of the country. By de-centralising it created jobs, now those jobs are in jeopardy. Where is the investment here?
There is also the fact that manufacturing companies are charged numerous times, using different guises, for creating carbon. I believe that the law is that if a person commits a crime, the person is tried by the due process of the law. If acquitted, that person cannot be tried for the same offence again. Cannot the same principle be applied to the creation of carbon? Admittedly it is an ongoing item but with a single fee, per tonne, produced, per annum, would be far better for the industry than the present system of robbing the industry of money desperately needed for further investment. An all-party committee should be set up to create and monitor the system but there is one major draw-back to that idea, the political parties continue to bicker with each other to see who can out-do the other, just like little children.
George Dewsnap, Crewe
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