UK Steel Industry & Media Reporting

I think what sticks in my throat is the fact that failing banks were (quite rightly ) propped up by the tax payer and yet they continued to pay huge bonuses ! How does that work ?

M0nica, have the finance industry ever paid back all that had to be spent by local councils in housing benefits etc to those affected by the Banking crisis

Has the finance industry ever paid back all the unemployment benefits etc that were had to be given to all those that lost their jobs outside the Banking industry?

Has the finance industry ever paid back all the trade and money that was lost by small companies due to the recession that was brought about by the banking crisis?

Has the finance industry ever paid back anything in compensation for all the stress that so many families suffered through the incompetence and greed of those in management of the Finance industry?

Not one person has been brought to justice for the Banking crisis, although any number of reports have demonstrated that the crisis was purely down to deliberate mismanagement and greed.

M0nica the Banking industry can never repay all the money, hardship and stress that they caused to millions in this country through outright greed of those who run that industry.

However, we have on this forum those with links to the Banking industry that do not wish to see as little as thirty million pounds given as subsidy to the steel industry, when they directly benefited from the five hundred billion pounds given to the industry they directly or indirectly derive their living from.

I may be being naïve, but I find it ironic that our “Brexit at all costs” government is to ensure we rely on importing an essential commodity such as steel. And far from assuring jobs when EU immigration is “limited” they are cheerfully making 3,000 or more people unemployed.
How does that work then?

Well said Maw.

Well Grandad1943 I'm sure that those GNers with the links to banking which you suggest, would be pleased to satisfy your questions with suitable answers.
The thing is that it isn't good enough to cite 'certain people' without giving names, after all, if those persons have been open (on GN) about their links to said industry, they won't mind being named.
It's much better than making murky references clouded in vague statements.

Well GabriellaG54, you have stated your links to the Banking industry and your wish that no subsidies should be paid to British Steel. So, as I am off to the office now, I will leave the rest to you.

A huge proportion of steel is now made from recycled steel, it is estimated that 50% of UK steel falls into this category. It would mean massive capital investment to change those works to using electric arc furnaces and using recycled, but recycling is a necessity now. We can't keep taking iron ore from the earth. There has also been a huge investment in energy (mining, the process itself, the working of it) in recyclable steel. Reusing and re-refining will keep some of that. A much greener process.

As for making basic steel, for railway lines etc, I think it is a strategic industry and the equipment and techniques need to be kept alive.

For this reason, it should be a public asset, like water, energy, transport, and so on. These important industries should not be in the hands of hedge funds whose only loyalty is to their wallets.

And of course, the jobs. Keeping workers working, and paying them wages, is good for the economy. While people are earning, they are spending on necessities and services. Not to mention paying tax.

www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/23/recycling-steel-could-give-lifeline-to-the-industry-report-says

Grandad1943.
Excellent post. My feelings exactly.

JacquiG Very good post. I also think that we should keep our steel industry as an essential service.

As a country we should be investing in clean energy and renewables, more wind turbines etc. Built from our own steel, not shipped in from halfway across the world with all the environmental damage that that causes.

Since Thatcher, Britain has been asset stripped, and the banks and hedge funds are the criminals in this. Putting money offshore is bleeding Britain dry.

It's not selling the family silver. Its asset stripping plain and simple. We need to take it all back.

Ilovecheese
I agree in part but remember, we would need to import coal to make steel and that causes as much environmental damage if not more, as the effect of using the coal would be pollution of the atmosphere.

John Redwood, enthusiastic advocate of hard brexit, was paid £250,000 last year for his part-time job as an investment advisor with Charles Stanley. His advice to investors was to take all their money out of the UK.

I wouldn't be surprised if he's in the running, although I have heard some Tories suggest he'd be a great Chancellor.

Nothing's impossible anymore. These people have no shame.

GabriellaG54 Quote [ I was, fairlyrecently, in Leeds for two days for the first time and travelled by Greyhound bus.] End Quote

Ehhh, I believed that Greyhound Coach/Bus services ceased trading in Britain in 2015.

I stand to be corrected if I am wrong?

JacuiG - In the UK steel is made using electric arc furnaces - and has been for more than 50 years.

It is interesting to note in the TV news coverage in particular that they show images of blast furnaces - which of course produce iron. The lack of investment in replacing the Siemens open hearth furnaces was driven by Thatcherism.

Steel made by the arc furnace almost always uses scrap - so recycling is a key element in that process.

Production of steel by the continuous casting process was initially invented in Germany, and perfected in Barrow-in-Furness around 60+ years ago. Steel produced by these methods is responsible for most of the output used in say rolling railway rails.

GabriellaG54, in your recent post you state:

" ... we would need to import coal to make steel ... "

I'm afraid that that is not true. Coal suitable for coking is available in the UK, and there are plans to re-open a mine in North West Cumbria.

Emissions to atmosphere can be mitigated by CCS processes, but that might mean investment, which in turn might mean less priority given to the finance sector. Our Government has no sustainable long-term industrial strategy - so I guess we cannot look to the UK for help in stabilising the economic crises the country still seems to be suffering from.

Grandad1943 - you're spot on with the disappearance of UK Greyhound services.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhound_UK

It was clearly just an attempt by First Group to offer cheap inter-city transport. These types of failure date back to the days of bus de-regulation in the Thatcher era, which caused so much damage.

Grandad1943
It was Megabus.
I used Tesco Clubcard points and got the whole return journey free.
I have used Greyhound buses occasionally in the past and Megabus is similar but somewhat better.

Gawd...I hate these worthy full length explantations from men. Always keen to expound on what they deem to be 'masculine' subjects.

Further to railman's comment re coal.
The UK imports metallurgical coal (for coking)
There are no UK mines producing this kind of coal nor has there been for thirty years.
Until Cumbria break ground (and they've been working towards this goal for the past 5 years) metallurgical coal will still be imported from places such as Russia, Colombia and the USA.

I told you quite clearly that my OH is CEO of a private bank which does not have bricks and mortar on any UK High Street and was not involved, in any remote way whatsoever, with the UK government's bailout of banks.
You obviously didn't read what I wrote, you simply made up your own story.

To link me in any way to my OH's business is beyond the pale.
We don't live together, he doesn't keep me and for you to suggest that I, in any way, benefitted from a bailout that he was never a part of, is supposition on a grand scale.
To infer without naming was bad enough but to make untrue charges against me when I had very clearly stated my position is unforgivable.

The above post @ 16.39 is to Grandad1943

My rebuttal (to your original volley re the banking bailout) was at 10.13 yesterday.

Grandad just how many were pushed onto housing benefit by the bank crisis? How many more would have been made redundant and put on housing benefit if the loans hadn't been made

You need to remember that the loans to the banks were made because without them the economy would have collapsed and many, many more people would have lost savings, pensions, businesses, homes and their future.

Do you think that would be preferable? Please answer this question.

explantations ?
explanations ??

M0nica, of course the subsidy bailout to the banks had to be made as the Labour government led by Gordon Brown and his Chancellor Alistair Darlin were faced with the prospect that the major high street banks would be unable to open their doors for trading.

That situation emerged when Alistair Darlin received a shocking phone call from Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Fred Goodwin revealing a severe run on that bank which in all reality meant that one of the largest financial institutions in the world was bankrupt due to gross mismanagement, incompetence and most of all greed.

As I have already started in this thread, banks and other financial institutions are invariably linked in trading within the finance industry, and the collapse of such a large institution as RBS would inevitably bring many other companies involved in banking and finance (both large and small) also onto their financial knees.

As the crisis unfolded further, it became clear that management greed and incompetence was spread right through the Banking industry and that brought about the deepest recession (depression) witnessed throughout this country and the world since the 1930s. Millions lost their jobs and homes not only in Britain but also worldwide.

So, M0nica the bailout of the banks was very necessary and things would have been much worse had it not been carried out. However, for you to state that the finance industry has repaid all that they were given, many I am sure (including myself) find totally insulting and naive.

Those financial institutions (on and off the high street) will never repay the unemployment benefits, housing benefit and all other support that the government and local councils gave to all those affected by the recession. Those banks and will never compensate those so affected by the stress and break up of families as they found themselves caught up in the above, none of which was of their making.

All that was brought about by nothing else but deliberate mismanagement, incompetence and most of all greed which encompassed the whole finance industry.

However, (and to state again) we have those on this forum that would not wish to see thirty million pounds subsidy given as subsidy to British Steel when they have benefited (some more than others) from the five hundred billion of taxpayers money handed out to the finance industry in subsidies as compensation for greed and incompetence.

Disgusting.