Posted to News on 15th Feb 2010, 00:00
A dark tale of blood, lust and chocolate...
If there's one thing better than a wild night out, then it's a quiet night in. In fact boys, give us a Chardonnay, a romcom and bar of velvety smooth chocolate, and quite often we girls can happily get by without you. Perhaps a woman can't live on chocolate alone, but she can have a darned good try. Interestingly, though we girls all have our own favourites when it comes to makes of chocolate, none of us ever seems to feel the need to convert friends to our particular brand, and we never feel we have to put down another girl's choice. I wonder if you lads can say the same about football teams, computers or underwear?
>As you might expect, a big topic of debate among my girl friends has been the takeover of Cadbury's by Kraft. Will it still be the same velvety smooth experience three or four years down the line? Was there a noticeable difference when Nestlé bought Rowntree Mackintosh? Did you need to love someone just a little bit less to give them your last Rolo? Was the Aero just a bit less bubbly? Did Smarties cease to have the answer? Did the Walnut Whip become less, well, whippy?
>Being a little less selfish for a second, what, I wonder, did it mean for British jobs and the industry in particular of York where Rowntree had its factory? I confess I don't remember much of that side of the story at the time from my teenage years, but a little research seems to suggest that Nestlé actually pumped a fair amount of money into the region. Will the same be true of Cadbury's various plants in the UK? I have an inkling that the future may be brighter than many of the doom mongers are predicting. Why so? Well, consider what's happening in British industry right now. Productivity is up. Exports are up. Some might say that manufacturing is supporting our whole recovery from recession. Intriguingly, a number of companies - publicised on the BBC news just this week, on programmes which last year went out of their way to paint a picture of gloom and despair - are pulling production back into the UK from lower wage economies. And at the same time, some overseas companies are boosting their production capability in the UK, because it's increasingly seen as a great manufacturing centre again. The 'Made in Britain' badge is really starting to carry some kudos.
>Naturally, this is going to attract outside investors. So a great British company like Cadbury's is always going to generate interest. But look beyond the chocolate (if you can) to other areas where we lead the world, and you'll see foreign investment lurking in the wings. As an example, our satellite industry is the envy of the world. So was it any surprise that California-based commercial rocket company SpaceX should jump at the chance of a 10% stake in Surrey Satellite Technology in 2006, or that Netherlands-based EADS Astrium should snap up the rest of the company three years later.
>These shores are becoming, once again, verdant industrial pastures, and it's starting to feel as though the rest of the world is regarding us - in an almost 'Wellsian' way - with envious eyes. This will surely test our Government's new found commitment to manufacturing in this country. While a successful British manufacturing industry is undoubtedly a great thing, a successful British-owned manufacturing industry is surely even better.
Becky Silverton, 15 February 2010
