Reply to: German economy hits ten year high ...

[Cyberman]

Well they've hit a ten year high just after a fifty year low. Just to put things in perspective. 1998 till 2008 has probably been the worst decade for Germany.

I have to agree. Germany has been in a total mess for years with massive unemployment and a benefits culture. What they did get right, in addition to Hartz IV(which forced people off of benefits) was to control immigration and disallow movements from the new EU entrants such as Poland for seven years, and put their own people first.

[threaded]

Was that the bit I highlighted?

No, didn't think so (as well you know).

[Pondlife]

Straight up, Maggie invented soft ice cream, just google it.

Was that the bit I highlighted?

No, didn't think so (as well you know).

[Dow Jones]

Why not?

Didn't she have a degree in and practise Chemistry before she became a politician?

[oracleslave]

Straight up, Maggie invented soft ice cream, just google it.

Wikipedia says:

One important development in the 20th century was the introduction of soft ice cream. A chemical research team in Britain (of which a young Margaret Thatcher was a member)[10][11] discovered a method of doubling the amount of air in ice cream, which allowed manufacturers to use less of the actual ingredients, thereby reducing costs. This ice cream was also popular amongst consumers who preferred the lighter texture, and most major ice cream brands now use this manufacturing process

[threaded]

Even more delusional than usual. I prefer the boastful posts about italian erotica or whatever it is.

Straight up, Maggie invented soft ice cream, just google it.

[Pondlife]

The Danes claim they invented soft ice cream, whereas all we Brits know for a fact that Mr Whippy it is actually one of Margeret Thatchers claims to fame, before she decided to convert to law and eventually become the greatest prime minister the country ever had.

Even more delusional than usual. I prefer the boastful posts about italian erotica or whatever it is.

[threaded]

The Danes claim they invented soft ice cream, whereas all we Brits know for a fact that Mr Whippy it is actually one of Margeret Thatchers claims to fame, before she decided to convert to law and eventually become the greatest prime minister the country ever had.

[sasguru]

Blah blah waffle witter [/I]

Nuff said.

[EternalOptimist]

Italy radio (Marconi) and the US the telephone (Bell) surely?

Encarta is brazen, describing Bell as a "Scottish-born American inventor". Actually he was a Scot who emigrated to Canada and happened to be working in the US when he invented the telephone - by that reckoning, Marconi's radio was British.

Thats nothing, American historians have just revealed that Julius Ceasar was actually brought up in the Bronx, and Ghingis Khan learned his trade in the 7th cavalry under general Custer

[expat]

I suspect other countries lay claim to these and innumerable other inventions. For example the US the Internet and Italy the Telephone.

Italy radio (Marconi) and the US the telephone (Bell) surely?

Encarta is brazen, describing Bell as a "Scottish-born American inventor". Actually he was a Scot who emigrated to Canada and happened to be working in the US when he invented the telephone - by that reckoning, Marconi's radio was British.

[TimberWolf]

... everything else that has ever mattered in the whole of human history has come from a man in a shed in Britain.

Everything. The internet, penicillin, the mechanical computer, the electronic computer, steam power, the seed drill, the seismograph, the umbrella, Viagra, polyester, the lawnmower, the fax machine, depth charges, scuba suits, the spinning jenny . . . I could go on, so I will.

Radar, the television, the telephone, the hovercraft, the jet engine, the sewing machine, the periodic table . . . It doesn’t matter what field you’re talking about – from submarine warfare to erectile dysfunction. The world always turns to Britain when some fresh thought is needed. And with only 25,000 engineers coming out of our universities every year, I fear the world may be doomed.

I suspect other countries lay claim to these and innumerable other inventions. For example the US the Internet and Italy the Telephone.

[darmstadt]

The retro 50’s feel of the Tuscan’s styling is sublime

That basically just sums up GB, looking back at the past and not at the future...

[hyperD]

Its genetic, Brits can't make cars. I mean, seriously, would anyone here buy a British car, if there was one.

Yes, I would and have. I ordered a TVR Griffith and then after a few years ordered a new Tuscan. They are simply breathtakingly..., well..., so archetypically English!

Peter Wheeler captured everything quintessential of what an exciting car was all about. He distilled this feisty essence into these quirky fibreglass rockets.

There isn’t any antilock braking system.

There are no airbags.

There’s no automatic gearbox option.

There are no parking sensors.

There are no stability controls.

There isn’t any reactive suspension

There isn’t any positional seat memory

There isn’t even a glove box

It’s seat of the pants stuff. It’s like comparing a Stearman to a Citation X, a Catamaran to a Princess.

When you hear the word TVR ring loudly, people salivate and bark “unreliable”. But in fairness to Wheeler, quality control improved in the last 10 years or so. I used the Tuscan as an everyday car for work and even enjoyed a 4,500 mile trip around Europe.

The retro 50’s feel of the Tuscan’s styling is sublime - that body will not look an anachronistic folly in 30 years time. The sound of the 5 litre V8 on full shout down a high street with a hundred curious heads turning around and simultaneous sound of a hundred bags of shopping dropping in unison, is a sight to behold. The distinctive growl of the speed six at 7000rpm is a sound that is so unlike any other sports cars on our roads, that one must simply conclude it must be born from a blasphemic union of Beelzebub and a diamond cutter.

The lumber crunching run down an ill-funded Surrey twisty is somehow comfortably numbed by the voices of a dozen Banshees screaming out in discordant harmony.

TVR tapped into a market. Quite a big one, and did it very well.

There are myths spoken in hushed voices of many a TVR driver walking into the valleys of the Porsches, having their senses unduly nannied, mollycoddled and tamed, and once again have these poor souls yearning for the thrill and tastes of the wild unadulterated vehicle pornography.

It is without doubt, one of the best antidotes to the tedium of driving in the UK – when you’re stuck in traffic, you’ve got another 3 hours of stop/start before you’re home and you’re miserable, just blip the accelerator briefly, and you just can’t stop that enormous grin breaking through again.


Another bottle of ‘94 Merlot, James…

[Cyberman]

Bollux as usual. You haven't a clue, have you?
These are not the reasons for Germany's success.

Germany tackled their blood-sucking welfare system 4 years ago. The billions saved there, by forcing people off of benefits into some form of paid work was long overdue. Instead of that, all New Lie can do is keep encouraging unsustainable immigration to take up the jobs that our professional benefit claimants do not want to do.

Hopefully, the Tories will take the necessary action, that New Lie bottled out of in 1997, under Frank Field!!!!