I arrived in England on 25th of March 1965, started work at the Nursing Council in London on 1st April, moved to Forte's Holding Ltd, the hoteliers, restaurateurs hospitality conglomerate, then went to work in Fleet Street at the Birmingham Post and Mail's London Office, then joining the Press & Publicity Office of Overseas Containers Ltd at the most controversial period of convincing Dock labour to accept the latest technology in cargo handling in a hundred years.
With the largest container-ships built at the time to operate from Tilbury to Australia, OCL also needed a Container Port at Southampton to handle the Far East trade, as Container Ports were being developed in Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan with Road Hauliers and freight trains geared to transport huge 20-footers and 40-foot containers to connect with the Consolidation network in most UK industrial towns. This was a game changer for British Exports, yet the warped vision of politicians of the day could not see beyond Europe. And Britain joined the EEC in 1973, and I had just met my husband Roy and joined his design and photography business in Southampton, where we lived for over 47 years.
Today begins the winter of discontent as the UK's Second Covid Lockdown began last night Thursday 5th of November, Guy Fawkes Day and normally bonfire night is held in every community with fireworks displays well into the night. This year there was not a single gathering to be found in Southampton, in one of England's greenest county, Hampshire is slowly succumbing to Coronavirus since our schools and universities re-open to students under strict restrictions, after a short period of respite, when the Chancellor entreated all those able to help out by eating out, to give our desperate hospitality sector a boost to the industry. Did the Prime Minister let go of the Covid control too soon or have we become immune to the threat of Covid-19 as many had allowed their masks to slip at various recent gatherings?
Whichever the cause, the R rate of infection has suddenly shot up, especially in the North of England and Scotland, where Tier 2 or 3 had been applied, followed by Wales, with a smaller population, went into voluntary lockdown ahead of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and England's lockdown will end on December 2nd with the hope of breaking the R trajectory before Christmas. This will hit the economy harder than before, as many businesses and retail outlets had cut their workforce since the government furlough of 80% of workers' salaries ended in October, just before the new furlough scheme came into play this week. The government seems to be a step behind at every turn, which prompted many criticisms.
Meanwhile Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party, who had manoeuvred the last election for Boris Johnson to win the number of seats required to form his Tory government, has reinstated his Party to be renamed the Reform Party in readiness for Brexit, when the Prime Minister must get a clean Brexit deal (that is: No Deal is better than a Bad Deal) otherwise Farage with his Reform Party will go into action to agitate for a good Brexit, to gain back control of British Fishing Waters and retain control of our State Aid to our industries and businesses, which the EU Negotiator is trying to keep Britain under EU rules; their reason for not giving us the same deal as that for Canada.
Well, who needs neighbours when they try to stitch us up, to keep our economy down whilst continuing to receive £1 billion a month over four years since we voted to leave the EU in June 2016.
Meanwhile, Nigel is focused on the success of running a country on a low-tax, laissez-faire system like Hong Kong under Cowperthwaite. In 1960, with a GDP per capita of $429 (according to the OECD), compared to $1,380 for the UK and $3,007 for the US. Within 33 years its GDP per capita exceeded that of the UK. Within 50 years it overtook the US. Today it ranks among the ten richest nations in the world its per capita GDP is 40% higher than the UK’s.
For those interested in how that was achieved, click on the link below and enjoy the article by the Editor of Fortune & Freedom:
