I need a bloody good moan

I have spent more time setting up this web-log than actually writing any content, so I was seriously “pissed” when I discovered that it’s disappearance was not temporary, but permanent when my ISP’s disk array went Kaput on Friday. I supposed (wrongly as it happens) that they would have a “back-up” that could be restored, even if it was a day or two out of date. Well the disk incident happened during a back-up run, so they had nowt, zilch, f.a.!
Now my main Steelstrip website is produced, managed and stored locally, so I always have the latest copy safe, but the cgi server is managed “online” and I never thought I needed to back it up! Well the hardest lessons are the ones best learned. On the plus side, the integrity of the SQL database was not affected, so once everything was re-installed all the old data was picked up automatically. So a word to the wise, check that you have back-ups of anything stored remotely on a cgi server.

The Rover workers received their redundancy notices yesterday; it must be terrible in Longbridge, not only for the workers and their families, but also the multitude of small businesses that serve their community and the numerous engineering companies that supply them. Then there is the dealer network etc:(

I am not a political person, but it seems to me that successive Governments of all colours have had a very negative attitude to Industry and Engineering in general, and seem unaffected by its rapid decline in the UK. I have worked in the past with German and Italian steel manufacturers and the attitude of their Governments is in stark contrast to ours. Not only are they supportive, but the banks and society in general look at Industry differently. In the UK it seems easy to get investment for short term “get rich quick” schemes, but very difficult for engineering companies to borrow against longer projects, where the return on the capital investment is by its very nature more long term. I remember well, how in Italy, being an engineer was an honourable profession that commanded respect, over here their “grease monkeys” as if anything that involves getting your hands dirty is a lower profession. The service industry seems to be the “buzzword”, sell anything, but don’t actually manufacture, thats a scruffy business

Napoleons comments about Britain being a Nation of shopkeepers, begins to ring eerily true.

Anyway my thoughts are with the Rover workers let’s hope that they can find job’s commensurate with their skills