Interesting Telegraph article on Britain's place in the scheme of things.

[Phil Perry]

'Britain is Europe's big hitter, and there is no reason its influence cannot grow after Brexit'

 

"Last night, Members of Parliament voted to bring to an end a four decade period in which European law has been supreme in the United Kingdom. In a few moments, the birthplace of modern parliamentary sovereignty re-established its fiat over our national destiny. As Britain takes back control of its laws and re-establishes its sovereignty, unravelling decades of European political integration, it finds itself in an astonishing position.

 

We have heard much bluster recently about the country's inherent weakness, and its imminent decline. Arguments have been made that the United Kingdom will suffer "serious consequences" for seeking autonomy from the European institutions; that it will be "humiliated"'; and that it will eventually "grovel" to them for re-admission. For some, Britain is a dwarf in relation to the European colossus; a weak British supplicant in comparison to an authoritative European subject, over which London has little influence or control.

 

Yet, as the "Audit of Geopolitical Capability" -the first report from the Global Britain Programme at The Henry Jackson Society - reveals, Britain is currently the world's second most capable nation, and by some margin the most capable country in Europe.Based on seven categories, each containing five indicators, themselves comprisedof nearly sixty components, the audit is not interested exclusively in each country's sheer mass or size.......

 

.......As the audit shows, while Britain is a long way behind the United States - which leads in all but one category of capability - it has greater economic clout than India and considerably more geographic integration than China. In Europe, the United Kingdom is the leading country, and bysome margin. It has more cultural prestige than France, a stronger capability to project military power around the world than Russia, and more technological sophistication than Germany, particularly in relationto its educational institutions.....

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...

 

 

[storchy neil]

Yes phill that's in my opinion a good news story must be true cause every refugee is risking there life to get to Britain on that basis no argument from me neil

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Very interesting, Phil. I hope it's correct. Is your Telegraph reliable?

 

In Australia there's a saying: "is that the truth, or did you read it in the (Daily) Telegraph?"

 

Here's an interesting take on each nation's relative importance; notice how many big, scary countries Australia beats:

 

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[Marty_d]

Very interesting, Phil. I hope it's correct. Is your Telegraph reliable?In Australia there's a saying: "is that the truth, or did you read it in the (Daily) Telegraph?"

 

Here's an interesting take on each nation's relative importance; notice how many big, scary countries Australia beats:

 

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As always though, context is needed.

 

While it's true that Norway's GDP was around 0.6% of the planet in 2017, have a look at it per capita.

 

Norway's works out to USD $89,818 per person, while the old USA works out to USD $34,922 per person.

 

Australia is in the middle with $55,670 per person.

 

 

[Yenn]

What is GDP. Is it the amount of money that changes hands? Or is it something else. Our GDP would be increased by the employment of many beaurocrats who sit and do nothing productive, then add in the numbers employed putting up and taking down traffic signs, where the council is cleaning a drain about 50m away from the road. Also add in the amount of money spent in fighting drug crime and running the prisons plus the amount of money keeping all the old prime ministers rolling in cash. I don't think my version of GDP tells us much. Maybe I don't understand how GDP is calculated.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Valid points, Yenn. Since most nations use roughly the same measurement, Gross National Product is a useful means of comparing economies and changes in productivity. It ain't perfect as you say. Lots of productive work, like childcare, housekeeping, etc is not included when no money changes hands, but it does include lots of jobs which you might not consider very productive.

 

Rather than have a higher income, I'd rather have a better quality of life- one of the intangibles not measured by GNP.

 

Measures of national income and output - Wikipedia

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I had a discussion with a German national not too long ago as we were lamenting yet another piece of problematic (read stuff that comes from exhaust pipes of the animal world) and we got into talking about relative strengths and weaknesses between Germany and the UK. When I mentioned engineering was a strength of the UK, he was honestly dumbfounded. Of course, I rattled off the Lancaster Bomber and Spitfire in terms of their design qualities and short period of time to get them form the drawing board to operational. But, there are a lot of civil and mechanical engineering projects in Europe for both military and civilian purposes that are led by UK people and companies. He was astounded and agreed in the end... German engineering is definitely the more robust, but often it's sledgehammer to crack a nut type engineering

 

 

[Marty_d]

I had a discussion with a German national not too long ago as we were lamenting yet another piece of problematic (read stuff that comes from exhaust pipes of the animal world) and we got into talking about relative strengths and weaknesses between Germany and the UK. When I mentioned engineering was a strength of the UK, he was honestly dumbfounded. Of course, I rattled off the Lancaster Bomber and Spitfire in terms of their design qualities and short period of time to get them form the drawing board to operational. But, there are a lot of civil and mechanical engineering projects in Europe for both military and civilian purposes that are led by UK people and companies. He was astounded and agreed in the end... German engineering is definitely the more robust, but often it's sledgehammer to crack a nut type engineering

Don't mention the war!!!

 

Funny thing is, one of my wife's best friends is Frauke from Germany. She came to Aus for our wedding 11 years ago. I jokingly warned my father "Don't mention the war!!" - within 5 minutes, he did.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

As always though, context is needed.

While it's true that Norway's GDP was around 0.6% of the planet in 2017, have a look at it per capita.

 

Norway's works out to USD $89,818 per person, while the old USA works out to USD $34,922 per person.

 

Australia is in the middle with $55,670 per person.

Indeed Marty. Norway is the interesting one. Not fully 'IN' the EU, and not really Out either. Massive reserves of oil and gas, plus other mineral wealth.

 

I've been there a few times,, once on a school trip aged 13 yrs. I really liked it then, and still do. Oslo is a very small, compact city and very clean and tidy. They seem to manage their immigration very well too.

 

Very interesting, Phil. I hope it's correct. Is your Telegraph reliable?In Australia there's a saying: "is that the truth, or did you read it in the (Daily) Telegraph?"

 

Here's an interesting take on each nation's relative importance; notice how many big, scary countries Australia beats:

 

[ATTACH]2542[/ATTACH]

The Telegraph, on average; normally contains articles which lean toward quietly 'Bashing' Britain, viewed through that lens, I thought that the piece was fairly balanced tbh. . .

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I had a discussion with a German national not too long ago as we were lamenting yet another piece of problematic (read stuff that comes from exhaust pipes of the animal world) and we got into talking about relative strengths and weaknesses between Germany and the UK. When I mentioned engineering was a strength of the UK, he was honestly dumbfounded. Of course, I rattled off the Lancaster Bomber and Spitfire in terms of their design qualities and short period of time to get them form the drawing board to operational. But, there are a lot of civil and mechanical engineering projects in Europe for both military and civilian purposes that are led by UK people and companies. He was astounded and agreed in the end... German engineering is definitely the more robust, but often it's sledgehammer to crack a nut type engineering

I have to agree with your last sentence Jerry. Father's company used to manufacture all sorts of parts for the motor industry in the UK as well as Germany. It was often remarked that the German destined components always called in the spec. for much heavier gauge steel, often into really unneccesary 'Over' engineering in comparative respects.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Don't mention the war!!!

<snip>

I didn't! I just mentioned aeroplanes!