China Bashing

[Andy-Mat]

true but would it really matter that we didn’t have all these gismos?
Our grand kids would be playing instead of a mini zombies staring at a screen, disengaged from communication of any kind other than a grunt etc.
luckily mine are not allowed all the trappings of modern electronic wizardry.

........and probably without a single friend in this modern world, sadly!
In principle I, and I am sure many others here, agree with you, but things don't really work like that generally anymore.
Regards
Andy

 

[Andy-Mat]

In my experience, more often than not we seem to create managers who are clueless, unable to inspire, take their employees for granted, are short sighted and without realising it, do everything possible to upset and demotivate their work force. This is something I wish we could export to other countries!

Politicians, just about the same in most countries too.
It is a fundamental fact of life and is fully explained in a book I read many years ago called "The Peter Principle".
See here:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle#The_Peter_Principle
Apparently, there was a TV series, but I only know that from Wiki, I have not seen the series myself.
My last German manager (all the others were either from the UK or America, and one from Spain), was a strong believer in the Principle talked about in that book, and was one of the best managers I have ever known, from ANY country!
The book should be required reading for anyone dreaming of becoming a Manager.....
Andy

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Many of the best Chinese factories are Taiwanese owned, they have great engineering standards and have done brilliantly in electronics and bicycles. The culture of the Taiwanese is completely different to mainland Chinese. I've been surprised how different they are, the Taiwanese are a great people, sadly the mainland Chinese have been swallowing propaganda for decades and seem less than rational at times. Obviously you can't job lot whole nations and their people like that there a huge amount of exceptions on either side but Taiwan shows all the advantages of a democratic society with free speech. Same as Hong Kong who sadly are being forced to be more like mainland China now and will lose that over time.

 

[Woosh]

if we source d it from China for our manufacturing then we can specify the quality?

we all do that. If we don't specify stuff we put in our e-bikes, we'll get the kind of bikes sold in supermarkets or amazon/ebay.
We assemble bikes in Southend but still not enough though.
Ideally, I'd like someone to start assembling e-bike batteries here and do that with the kind of quality control of Japanese factories.

 

[vfr400]

"Always look at the bright side of life..."

It's more a case of pragmatism. People have been predicting imminent calamities and disasters throughout our lives. I've not seen a single one realised. Life goes on. We're still here riding our bikes.

 

[Woosh]

I've not seen a single one realised.

it's more of a kind of constant danger. People are saddled with a mortgage they can't pay off until their retirement and many have seen redundancy again and again.
You only have to look at the number of people on zero hours contract.

 

[vfr400]

it's more of a kind of constant danger. People are saddled with a mortgage they can't pay off until their retirement and many have seen redundancy again and again.
You only have to look at the number of people on zero hours contract.

It's click-bait journalists, political activists and outright nutters all trying to make themselves relevant.

 

[Bobajob]

it's more of a kind of constant danger. People are saddled with a mortgage they can't pay off until their retirement and many have seen redundancy again and again.
You only have to look at the number of people on zero hours contract.

It’s only going to get worse. The corona virus has bankrupted the country if you believe mainstream press, who will have to pick up the cost, the taxpayers, I wouldn’t put it past the government to spring on another increase of pensionable age or possibly have it means tested.

 

[vfr400]

It’s only going to get worse. The corona virus has bankrupted the country if you believe mainstream press, who will have to pick up the cost, the taxpayers, I wouldn’t put it past the government to spring on another increase of pensionable age or possibly have it means tested.

Thats a very big "if". The mainstream media are completely biased. Best strategy is to believe the opposite of what they say.

 

[BazP]

It’s only going to get worse. The corona virus has bankrupted the country if you believe mainstream press, who will have to pick up the cost, the taxpayers, I wouldn’t put it past the government to spring on another increase of pensionable age or possibly have it means tested.

I think that it is fairly obvious that it will be the tax payers as that is the governments only renewable source of money. Doubt that any investments will be blossoming.