Mark my words this political love-in with China is going to end in tears. Handing over control of parts of our nuclear industry to the Communist Party of China seems particularly mad. Since the CPC still has a strong military aspect, it seems George Osbourne is giving the Red Army access to the off switch for our power grid.
This whole pantomime is blatant evidence that the brute force of money trumps anything including mamby pamby worries on things like human rights and colonialism.
What do other people think?
I find it all deeply worrying.
I wouldn’t trust any of our current leaders to scratch their own arse effectively with the aid of an instruction book, handy youtube video, and a fully automated Chinese-built arse scratching robot, let alone make the right decision about the future of nuclear power.
Unspeakable dickwads.
Each day my contempt for Cameron et al grows.
They don’t care about this country because they’re too young to remember when it was worth caring for.
This Daily Mash article sums it up quite nicely:
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/china-to-build-british-nuclear-plants-that-can-be-detonated-remotely-20151021103168
Well said BJB. Great comment. I think the power station deal is disgraceful.
On the other hand, Jeremy Corbyn has been quoted as saying you need to deal with people in order to influence them in any way. ( In the context of people expressing doubts about some of the groups he has dealt with). That said, in practice this only appears to have extended to talking to the groups with which he felt some sympathy, and not the opposing factions (e.g. Ulster unionists or ultra orthodox Jews).
i have a problem with the whole concept of foreign ownership of what should be UK state assets. It’s bad enough that most of our utilities are in the ownership of French or German companies, but this Chinese deal is definitely a step too far.
This article in todays Indy says it rather, if unpalatably, well…….
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/sucking-up-to-china-won-t-be-an-issue-we-have-plenty-of-practice-a6701526.html
Has he expressed his concern about human rights? That’s what the NZ PM’s press office tells us when they meet. But they soon move on to business and shake hands warmly.
Blimey! That was a short winter. It seems to be April 1st already.
What? This has actually happened?
If the Chinese deem us to be no longer worth their time of day, they’ll shit all over us without a moment’s hesitation.
Chinese not remotely trustworthy. I am not in charge of the country a d know that. Our leaders apparently don’t. The problem is Osborne has fixated on slashing everything with any meat left on t 🙂 e bone that we have to bow and scrape to. All sorts of unseemly people to take care of something as basic as our future energy requirements. Unbelievable.
Just think of it as karma for all that opium we forced on them. I think most Brits are unaware of how much bad history we have with China. Despite all the fixed smiles, Xi Jinping will be like all Chinese in seeing the British as the people who invaded his country, imposed unequal treaties and humiliated the Chinese people for a century. Oh and burned down their equivalent of Windsor Castle. They’re surprisingly magnanimous about it all given that we looted all their treasures and now they only get to see it in the British Museum or when it pops up on the Antiques Roadshow. The ‘Communist Party of China’ is not some monolithic totalitarian entity. It’s not Communist and I wouldn’t rate is as any more corrupt than administrations in places such as Indonesia and the Philippines. I’ve been working in the healthcare sector in China and “the Party” are doing a reasonably good job of trying to ensure decent services for all. No worse than Jeremy Hunt, for example. They’ve developed their own Bullet Trains and are building roads, hospitals and power stations across Africa and the Americas. It’s not the Communist Party that’s building Hinckley and I wouldn’t see Chinese companies as any more evil than Volkswagen or Serco.