Large oaks from little acorns grow.
I went to see ‘The Iron Lady’ last week, a great film with what must surely be award winning performances from Meryl Streep and Jim Broadbent. It brought back a string of memories. Trouble with the unions, riots in the streets, disagreements with the emerging United States of Europe, wars in the Middle East, looming disaster in the economic world…..media headlines exaggerating every event and weak-kneed politicians who hadn’t a clue what to do about any of it. It had a familiar ring about it. Then The Iron Lady strode onto the world stage and applied what could be described as Micawber Politics, that is to say "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought shillings and and sixpence, result misery." Her remedies, though harsh, worked, and the country changed direction. I can’t help thinking the current financial and economic state of the country mirrors that of the early eighties. Will the Prime Minister do what she did and cause the country to change not just its direction but its way of thinking? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Throughout the film one basic thought is voiced again and again and is echoed in the current position of the world, the need to create more wealth. Entrepreneurs must be encouraged to create new businesses and new industries. Easier said than done when the banks are a bit chary about lending money for start-ups, or helping small businesses to expand. In America a relatively new website has come up with a novel way to help new projects raise finance, not just for businesses, but other plans too. It’s called Kickstarter. On this site they set out to match a new idea with sufficient funds to turn the thought into a project and get it up and running. The range of projects for which they found funds defies description but even includes backing for the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. That eventually spread around the world taking in St Paul’s Cathedral on its way. Have a look at it, they don’t have a UK counterpart yet but it seems such a good idea that it’s bound to arrive here soon.
But why wait for the idea to cross the ocean? Surely there’s someone in the UK who could take up this idea and develop it? After all so many world class ideas originate here that if we could ensure we not only create the concept but develop it too, the results could be dramatic. Dragon’s Den on the telly goes some way towards meeting the need but that’s more for entertainment than a serious attempt to assist new businesses get started. And I’m not suggesting government should set it up, heaven forbid, that would surely guarantee its rapid demise. No, there must be a whole lot of people in the United Kingdom with the will and sufficient funds to invest in the future and reap a reward by helping new ideas to become new industries. All that is needed is an organisation to act as honest, and I do mean honest, broker. Any takers?
Like everyone else I am watching with amazement the mini-politicians of the United States of Europe trying to solve the problem of the Euro. Why can’t they see that the differences between the peoples of the various countries they are trying to integrate are basically completely different, and cannot be made into one unit? Anyone who has travelled in Europe knows that each country has its own way of doing things. To try to merge all those differences into one and say that all the countries must operate in the same way is to my mind an absurdity and is bound to fail. Of recent times country after country around the world has demanded the right to govern itself and as a result blocs like the Soviet Union have disintegrated. Closer to home Scotland is making the United Kingdom look less united by demanding a referendum on self -determination. Yet while all that is going on what are the politicians in Europe trying to do? They want to go in the opposite direction! Why? It is said that those who do not learn from the lessons of history are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past. No matter the language in which it is said that’s still true.
