Emeritus Prof Christopher May2d ago

The UK bet its future on being open to trade generations ago, and this has intensified as the UK's economy has been engineered into a focus on services rather than manufacturing; so when supply chains are disrupted prices rise & supplies are constrained.

The US/Israeli attack(s) on Iran are now having a wide range of disruptive effects as we know, but the latest to be identified as a potential problem is medicines.... that might be pretty serious!

#health #politics

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/28/uk-weeks-away-medicine-shortages-iran-war-impacts-experts-warn

UK ‘weeks away’ from medicine shortages if Iran war continues, experts say

Concern that supply chain disruption could hit health essentials – and prices – from painkillers to cancer treatment

The Guardian
Show threadSteve Woods2d ago

@ChrisMayLA6 I see two main factors in the decline of British manufacturing.

1. The make-do and mend attitude and lack of investment in the decades after WW2 (even though UK got far more Marshall Aid money than a defeated Germany did).

2. Margaret Thatcher.

Show threadImbrium Photo
@wood5y @ChrisMayLA6 It feels like undoing some of the Thatcher damage (eg. manufacturing/housing/privatisation) should be something the Labour party should be
a) Doing as a priority
and
b) Shouting about doing it
Mar 28 at 1:51pmWeb