Found this article quite heartening: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -high.html Particularly "The UK has the largest aerospace manufacturing sector in Europe and is second in the world only to the United States, with a 17pc market share." I know one the strengths of this forum is its breadth of opinions and standpoints so it would be interesting to hear other views on the article. I realise it's only reporting an interview with an Airbus chief but it's nice to have some straws to grasp.

Found this article quite heartening: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... -high.html Particularly "The UK has the largest aerospace manufacturing sector in Europe and is second in the world only to the United States, with a 17pc market share." I know one the strengths of this forum is its breadth of opinions and standpoints so it would be interesting to hear other views on the article. I realise it's only reporting an interview with an Airbus chief but it's nice to have some straws to grasp.

I'm not sure it's "green shoots" as, in terms of the UK, the article only talking about the new orders securing jobs that already exist.

That's good news, of course, but isn't about growth in terms of reducing unemployment and underemployment.

Particular points of interest that strike me in a quick read:

• a quote from Fabrice Brégier: "One of Airbus's greatest strengths is the partnership we have from our four home countries and other partners in Europe – and the UK is a key part of this partnership," he says.

He would not be drawn on the future of the UK in the EU, but one wonders if this was a hint of a possible negative impact if the UK were to vote to withdraw.

• "Airbus itself is a key partner in the programme and has contributed £350m to the programme, which the Government has matched ...

"The company has no plans to downsize in the UK "while it remains competitive". Last December, it opened a £70m state-of-the-art Airbus Aerospace Park at Filton, which focuses on design and manufacturing, as well as support roles such as finance and customer services."

The "ATI [Aerospace Technology Institute] was a key outcome of an unprecedented £2bn, seven-year investment programme into UK aerospace, announced by Nick Clegg, the deputy Prime Minister, last August. The money is provided equally by the industry and the Government."

Under such circumstances, "while it remains competitive" sounds rather like: 'as long as it keeps subsidising the industry'.

Yes. There's an interesting debate to be had about whether the £350m investment is going to benefit the country more than being spent on measures to bring down unemployment. I wouldn't presume to comment without a lot of research. Possibly Ms Cinnamon could enlighten us?

Nevertheless it's good to see a strong stake in an industry with a nine year order backlog. And an industry that produces highly skilled, well paid jobs. Most contributing to the tax take.

To play "Match the Quote" with you for a minute. And bear in mind this is a Frenchman speaking.

"when asked if there was more the UK could be doing for Airbus, he replies: “No. I’m happy with the support. I have no specific requests.”

And some figures, suspiciously round ones, but even so.

"In total, the presence of the aircraft manufacturer in the UK provides work for more than 100,000 people through more than 1,000 companies that it uses across Britain."

Moving on to a company that is expanding its employment in this country. I hope Jaguar has a stunningly successful advert at the Super Bowl.

Theres a good argument to be made for government to match or subsidise investment in hi-tech industries where it can be proved that success in that field creates skilled jobs and trains young employees in something that they can then use for the next 40 years or so. Which made this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10341119 reversal of promised investment all the more disappointing when it happened, a different project investment has since been made but it was certainly pick-and-mix time for the current government when they first came to power and maybe putting what are in effect relatively small sums of money into specific projects for company's like Forgemasters would give a stronger message to the rest of the world that we are serious about engineering ? On a related topic I was pleased to see a news report the other day that showed British companies starting to source materials from within the UK rather than China, rising costs in the far east and especially rising transport costs making no difference at all in some prices of manufactured components - the company who make the "Trunki" childrens luggage range being quoted as one example where plastic parts are now cheaper to have manufactured in the UK - thats the sort of area that government should be asking whether it can help.

Theres a good argument to be made for government to match or subsidise investment in hi-tech industries where it can be proved that success in that field creates skilled jobs and trains young employees in something that they can then use for the next 40 years or so. Which made this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10341119 reversal of promised investment all the more disappointing when it happened, a different project investment has since been made but it was certainly pick-and-mix time for the current government when they first came to power and maybe putting what are in effect relatively small sums of money into specific projects for company's like Forgemasters would give a stronger message to the rest of the world that we are serious about engineering ? On a related topic I was pleased to see a news report the other day that showed British companies starting to source materials from within the UK rather than China, rising costs in the far east and especially rising transport costs making no difference at all in some prices of manufactured components - the company who make the "Trunki" childrens luggage range being quoted as one example where plastic parts are now cheaper to have manufactured in the UK - thats the sort of area that government should be asking whether it can help.