Steel Production

[timbo]

I'm following the whole Port Talbot story closely, as I'm sure are the rest of you. The big thing that has struck me, which I must admit, hadn't occurred before now, is that losing steel production, is a security issue. In other words, if the sh1t hit the revolving blades, and we couldn't produce our own steel, wed be in the poohcakus!
Also, if the government let's it go, we would be the first western power to do so. What do the rest of you think?

[themoudie]

Aye timbo,

All empires have their day in the sun and move on, China, Mongols, Assyrians, Egyptians, Romans, Vikings, Moors, Tibet, Portugal, Mya, Inca, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, etc! Some go 'bananas', some just quietly slip away and mind their own business, others do all that and then get a second or third wind, others never recover and are subsumed.

There will be a load of "bull and bluster" from the little people in that "village" in the now anal part of the UK (SE). The "place" they meet in is falling in round their ears and they don't have the combined nouse or vision to keep that in good repair, so what hope for the rest of us.

Maybe it's a "new policy" for the new age of "economics" and "technology"!    Adam Smith had a 'dream' and there are many whom still worship at its altar. The world is a finite place and the economics of 240 years ago, when there was still undiscovered resources, people to conquer and seemingly infinite resources is long gone.

Alpha chimp or Bonobo, there are too many Alpha chimps about! Just watch "The Donald", "Vlad" and others in the Middle East   A quiet read of the linked article, the similarities to our (UK, France, Belgium, etc) current 'economic state' and the dispossessed are not surprising.

Link: The 40year hurt!

May be this thread should be moved to rants!?! 

My regards, Bill

[manxie]

I don't really know much about this subject but what I do know is, the low carbon steel tube on sale these days (may be Chinese) is a far less of a quality to the Chorus tube I used to be able to buy. It wont bend a 90 degree bend without kinking!! It will sometimes if it is annealed first but then the cost is increased due to the gas used to heat it 

Personally I think the UK would be mad to get rid of the steel works...you just never know what the future holds 

[CrazyFrog]

Don't get me started - the whole subject makes me mad. 

I used to work for Avery's and about ten years ago, and just after TATA had taken over I had to visit Port Talbot where we had previously installed a weighbridge system. All I was doing was dropping a PC off to go in the weighbridge hut. I arrived on site at 9.00am and finally got through the gates at midday after having to sit through THREE HOURS of H & S bolleaux. FFS, all I was doing was dropping a PC off!

I actually commented to the guy I was meeting that whilst we in this country (thanks in large to the EU) are having to do all this stuff, steel works in India will be run by fourteen year olds in sari's and flip flops, and how on Gods green earth could we be expected to compete? I also suggested to him that if there was ever a down turn in the world market for steel, guess which plants they'll shut first? He agreed with every word, but just shrugged his shoulders and said 'What can we do?'

The point is that I'm no economist, but if I can see this, why can't the fnuckwits in Westminster? Either they are too stupid or don't give a sh!t, or more likely both.

Sorry, rant over......

[Propellor]

I'm following the whole Port Talbot story closely, as I'm sure are the rest of you. The big thing that has struck me, which I must admit, hadn't occurred before now, is that losing steel production, is a security issue. In other words, if the ******* hit the revolving blades, and we couldn't produce our own steel, wed be in the poohcakus!
Also, if the government let's it go, we would be the first western power to do so. What do the rest of you think?

Is tata under any sort of British or UK control?

[themoudie]

Aye Propellor,

How big is the "incentive" bung? Does a Government Minister have an interest? Or, "Who's in the Monopoly 'school' tonight?"!

Take your pick.

I'm off to the workshop!

Good health, Bill

[iansoady]

Sorry, rant over......

Nothing wrong with proper H&S and AFAIC the EU merely promulgates best practice (see some recent posts near here re using angle grinders). When I was a kid I often saw older miners returning from their shifts with fingers etc missing due to the total lack of legislation. It's easy to forget just how dangerous work used to be.....

The situation you describe sounds like one of those officious jobsworths you find everywhere who uses H&S as an excuse to muck people about.

[iansoady]

Is tata under any sort of British or UK control?

No. However, if the plant is here and producing it can always be taken over. Tricky if it's half a world away.

[CrazyFrog]

Nothing wrong with proper H&S

I quite agree, but have to say that I've never experienced any 'proper' H & S.

Every single piece of H & S 'training' I've had the misfortune to be subjected to has been an unmitigated waist of time designed to tick a box and cover somebody's ar$e...

[johnr]

a strange part of this story is that over a year back the eu wanted to impose tarrifs on chinese steel to stop them from dumping stock on the european market, but they were prevented from doing so by one eu member imposing its veto on the idea because they thought that the loss of jobs in the domestic industry was a price worth paying for cheap steel imports being available for its domestic market. that eu member? the united kingdom.
the same uk government that has claimed that the eu interferes in its domestic market too much.
as for why the banking industry is trated like a socialist institution, but the steel industry has to sink in the capitalist mire its beyond my comprehension.

[CrazyFrog]

why the banking industry is trated like a socialist institution, but the steel industry has to sink in the capitalist mire its beyond my comprehension.

I think that's easily explained John. Most bankers will have been to the same public schools and universities as all the politicians.......

[timbo]

Obviously, I should have posted this on Rant thread. A lot of very interesting and valid points being made. H&S is a huge topic on its own. Being ex fire service I saw it become completely out of control. An example being a colleague who was made to write a full Risk Assessment for a mop bucket! The whole thing became a joke, which completely undermined H&S overall. Unfortuneately the whole claim culture made the valid topic of H&S become completely abused by management running scared.

[iansoady]

Unfortuneately the whole claim culture made the valid topic of H&S become completely abused by management running scared.

I agree entirely. It's a bit like Johnson's and Farage's ridiculous statements about the EU being taken as fact.....