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"... When I visited Japan last month to study its successful high-speed rail system, its transport minister told me that Japan’s first railways were built by Ed

"... When I visited Japan last month to study its successful high-speed rail system, its transport minister told me that Japan’s first railways were built by Edmund Morell, a British engineer, in the 1870s. This is the time for Britain to seek to regain its world-class engineering skill base and to lead in new industrial sectors such as low carbon technology. This will happen only if pioneering companies recruit top talent now. ..." Good idea, but will regrettably not happen because after the grads are trained - where is the industry into which they can be recruited? - what market is willing to pay for these products now & in the near future? - where are the English entrepreneurs? The UK made a deliberate decision to specialise in finance at the same time winding back engineering. A shame really because English engineering is first rate.

gaius 18y ago
I'm a Mech Eng graduate and it's too late for my generation. Once we were all eager beavers, we couldn't wait to get out into the real world and engineer some stuff. Most of us went into IT or banking because there were so few jobs for engineering graduates in our field. Now, hell, I've all the database skills you could want, but I barely know one end of a gas turbine from the other. Getting the UK back to an engineering powerhouse will not be quick or easy to do.
danw 18y ago
Good points, but please refrain from using British and English interchangeably.
- bootload 18y ago
  "... please refrain from using British and English interchangeably ..." Why out of curiosity?
  - danw 18y ago
    As a British engineer who is not English it can be seen as offensive. Here's a nifty diagram to illustrate: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/British_Isles_Euler_diagram.svg/537px-British_Isles_Euler_diagram.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/British_...
    - bootload 18y ago
      "... As a British engineer who is not English it can be seen as offensive ..." Hey thanks danw for distinction.

gaius 18y ago

I'm a Mech Eng graduate and it's too late for my generation. Once we were all eager beavers, we couldn't wait to get out into the real world and engineer some stuff. Most of us went into IT or banking because there were so few jobs for engineering graduates in our field. Now, hell, I've all the database skills you could want, but I barely know one end of a gas turbine from the other. Getting the UK back to an engineering powerhouse will not be quick or easy to do.

danw 18y ago

Good points, but please refrain from using British and English interchangeably.

bootload 18y ago
"... please refrain from using British and English interchangeably ..." Why out of curiosity?
- danw 18y ago
  As a British engineer who is not English it can be seen as offensive. Here's a nifty diagram to illustrate: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/British_Isles_Euler_diagram.svg/537px-British_Isles_Euler_diagram.svg.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/96/British_...
  - bootload 18y ago
    "... As a British engineer who is not English it can be seen as offensive ..." Hey thanks danw for distinction.