Re: British Steel
Originally Posted by
OldGreyFox
->
What about North Sea Oil and gas, or coal, or tin, lead and copper....plus we produced wool and other textiles. Sheffield steel was prized throughout the world, without resorting to Aussie Iron ore. We gave the world railways, some of them still run today....
We also invented the steam engine...You certainly wouldn't be where you are today without Britain and it's explorers Bruce, you are descended from here....Britain is the father of the modern world and most of its children are now turning their backs on us......
What are you talking about? Did anything I say negate any of that? except the last absurd sentence which is a complete nonsense and a rewriting of history (BTW nearly everything you quote is 18th or 19th Century technology and your oil fields have been and gone)
When you joined the Common Market it was Britain that turned its back on the Commonwealth as trading partners not the other way round. Remember NZ Lamb, Aussie Butter etc in the 50's - suddenly you didn't want it at all, since then the Commonwealth has found other trading partners. Australia was hurt but not surprised (it remembered its treatment by that duplicitous toad Churchill). Sure we will negotiate a trade deal with you but it will be on our terms.
You may have read that Australia is part of a new Asia Pacific trade pact (RCEP) covering one third of the world's economy, Britain is small fry by comparison to this market.
As for father of the modern world (what the hell does that mean?) Britain might have been a potent force in the very early 20th Century but since the two World Wars Britain has not contributed that much to the modern world has it? It has spent too much time getting into the EU, going in and out of recession and, more recently, three years achieving absolutely nothing while the economy splutters along.
The USA and now China are driving the modern world.
Britain's glory days are long behind it and its economy was never anything like ours - those are just facts of life.