Apple have given up the means of production if true they are doomed

[Beskar]

You never know it may happen one day although if the tech was available it might be more profitable to go from Wexford to Wales closer to London and all that course that would be like star trek stuff with maglevs and all that

Northern Ireland to Scotland is shorter distance. Also, Northern Ireland is part of Britain.

[gaelic cowboy]

Yes but whats the benefit???? Economic wise it make far more sense to connect to the republic than the north anyway it's all hypothetical but it would require that the sea bed be scanned and checked the sea bed around the north and scotland is notoriously unstable and very deep in parts distance is not neccessarily the point to put first in the equation.

Were well off topic now though but what the hell

[Furunculus]

Northern Ireland to Scotland is shorter distance. Also, Northern Ireland is part of Britain.

and more useless.

[gaelic cowboy]

and more useless.

Lol

[Furunculus]

those countries which do concentrate on certain high value research won't necessarily do so bad:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance...onomic-future/


to use that example of the ipod/iphone/ipad; every single one of them contains a CPU designed by and licensed from ARM holdings, a British company, just as every single one contains a GPU designed by and licensed from Imagination Technologies (powerVR graphics), again a British company.

as do most nokia phones, most android phones, most blackberry's, all palm phones, most smartbooks........................

by way of evidence, from today:
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22794
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22823

PowerVR has now shipped in 250,000,000 million electronic devices:
http://channel.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=22823

[Beskar]

and more useless.

So much for being a British nationalist then.

[Furunculus]

So much for being a British nationalist then.

how so?

if someone is going to invest tens of billions tunneling from ireland to the british mainland, which will provide a better economic return:
> the wilds of an economically dead part of scotland
> or the M4 towards Cardiff and London

what does that have to do with british nationalism?

[Beskar]

how so?

if someone is going to invest tens of billions tunneling from ireland to the british mainland, which will provide a better economic return:
> the wilds of an economically dead part of scotland
> or the M4 towards Cardiff and London

what does that have to do with british nationalism?

Well, for a start, it would be significantly more expensive to cross there, it would be cheaper to have it further north and for companies to simply have headquarters and a route up there. This would increase economic trade and commerence in Scotland and Northern Ireland away from London, which is good for Britain. Also, by connecting Britain together, there can be an easy increase in Britishness, instead of looking at Northern Ireland as "over there" simply because you cannot drive there, and with a tunnel this is gone. Also, this would integrate Britain more. I always wondered why on packaging it goes "For Britain (except Northern Ireland)", this would get rid of things like that, and make Northern Ireland more British.

Also arguably, perhaps having two tunnels, one in the north and one from Wales might be a good thing.

[Furunculus]

Well, for a start, it would be significantly more expensive to cross there, it would be cheaper to have it further north and for companies to simply have headquarters and a route up there. This would increase economic trade and commerence in Scotland and Northern Ireland away from London, which is good for Britain. Also, by connecting Britain together, there can be an easy increase in Britishness, instead of looking at Northern Ireland as "over there" simply because you cannot drive there, and with a tunnel this is gone. Also, this would integrate Britain more. I always wondered why on packaging it goes "For Britain (except Northern Ireland)", this would get rid of things like that, and make Northern Ireland more British.

Also arguably, perhaps having two tunnels, one in the north and one from Wales might be a good thing.

unfortunately this statist view of the world, where central management and regulation can bring about a happier and more ordered society, has never been proved to work before. :)

build an economic case to make a tunnel between NI and scotland and it might well happen, otherwise........

[Beskar]

unfortunately this statist view of the world, where central management and regulation can bring about a happier and more ordered society, has never been proved to work before. :)

build an economic case to make a tunnel between NI and scotland and it might well happen, otherwise........

I am not a believer of central managemeent, hence why I suggested aspects of management should move north to Scotland and Northern Ireland, opposed to just sitting in London like you suggested. I believe that ultimately, there should be universal aspects to somethings, as evidence by economics of scale and otherthings, but many aspects I believe should be far more local. For example, Foreign policy should be a national aspect, collecting the garbage should be local, etc. Other aspects should be regional, as such, I believe in having democratic regional assemblies which only act on regional issues. This would also be in your boat as it gets rid of the "West Lothian" question, where Scottish MP's decide on policies that wouldn't affect them. The national body would only do matters which affect things nationally.

I also believe the British Isles should be interconnected, if we aren't, then what is the point in it being British? In this same vain, I think the Falklands should be independent, but if they want close ties to Britain, still have the Queen, etc, that is perfectly acceptable.

[Furunculus]

I am not a believer of central managemeent, hence why I suggested aspects of management should move north to Scotland and Northern Ireland, opposed to just sitting in London like you suggested. I believe that ultimately, there should be universal aspects to somethings, as evidence by economics of scale and otherthings, but many aspects I believe should be far more local. For example, Foreign policy should be a national aspect, collecting the garbage should be local, etc. Other aspects should be regional, as such, I believe in having democratic regional assemblies which only act on regional issues. This would also be in your boat as it gets rid of the "West Lothian" question, where Scottish MP's decide on policies that wouldn't affect them. The national body would only do matters which affect things nationally.

what you say here i agree with, but your example jars with that ambition by suggesting the tunnel should be north to push business north.

as to regional assemblies, getting OT, but i disagree with them as planned by labour as they were merely another layer of government between national and local. if you meant devolution from westminster to edinburgh or cardiff them i am broadly agreed.

[Beskar]

what you say here i agree with, but your example jars with that ambition by suggesting the tunnel should be north to push business north.

as to regional assemblies, getting OT, but i disagree with them as planned by labour as they were merely another layer of government between national and local. if you meant devolution from westminster to edinburgh or cardiff them i am broadly agreed.

Indeed. I think the powers should be devolved, so lets say hypothetically, they are devolved to Edinburgh, Cardiff, Lancaster, York, and possible others. The buildings and systems are currently in place, but they are ran by Quango's. I think Westiminister should only cover the things which we as Britain as a whole, need to do, such as Foreign Affairs, etc and they only have the power over these things. In a way, Westminister is the Supreme Court, which just does the final line in certain issues and cases, while the Regional Governments, actually do the day to day goverance of the regions (example).

I also thing that local government, such as "mayor", etc, should be elected and I think there should be different elections for each level of goverance. This would keep the system democratic and lively. I think the focus of elections shouldn't be the battle of Cameron and Brown either, I think we should have an elected leader (president) opposed to a prime-minister. I think people should vote on people in their areas that will represent them as well. A whaft of things. Ultimately to bring power to the people.



Returning on-topic.

Apple should be increasing "at home" and doing their own production facilities, or even spread to "Apple China" for example, and have people under their control doing the intellectual property.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Apple hasn't given up on production. Apparently we were wrong to think they were a hardware and software company after all: they're just patent trolls.

But I'm with this:

I'd throw them out of court and laugh at them

[Meneldil]

unfortunately this statist view of the world, where central management and regulation can bring about a happier and more ordered society, has never been proved to work before. :)

build an economic case to make a tunnel between NI and scotland and it might well happen, otherwise........

Hahaha