True.
We would benefit from as many trade agreements as possible now that we are leaving the Empire.
The more agreements we can obtain, the better. Apart from anything else, we have the advantage of them competing with each other for our attention!
Needless to say, I see no advantage in wasting our time hoping for anything from the EU.

I can see the possible advantages.

I'm sure we are all aware of how our own construction companies, road repair organisations and the like tend to move at a snail's pace. I wouldn't like to say whether that is due to slow workers, a poor supply chain or inefficient bureaucracy, but the evidence of their lack of speed is everywhere to be seen, especially when there are miles of cones on our roads accompanied by no apparent workings or plant for months at a time.

I compare this to what I saw in Saudi Arabia. Gangs of Korean men could build a flyover in no time at all, certainly a lot quicker than ever happens in this country.

I don't know whether other workers and companies, Chinese or Korean, would charge more than our own. I suspect that, as well as completing work much more quickly, it would turn out to be cheaper as well.

Quite apart from all this HS2 nonsense which, of course, most people would never use, our money would be better spent upgrading and improving our existing lines, especially in the North which, needless to say, has suffered under-investment compared to Londonistan for many, many years.

Of all the reasons you have given for the reasons we cannot compete with the Chinese when it comes to cost and time taken to build it I think 'inefficient bureaucracy' comes top of the list.

That doesn't surprise me.

Whereas we used to be world leaders in engineering and inventiveness, we now seem to top the world when it comes to regulations and red tape. The country thrives on it.

When I see roads lined with miles of unattended cones, it always crosses my mind that someone, somewhere, has still not completed the necessary paperwork to enable them to be collected!

One day we will wait for a fast Train, then two will come at once.