Emeritus Prof Christopher May

As I have pointed out before, the problem is not so much that the UK doesn't have an industrial strategy, its that the one it does have (whatever claims made otherwise) is always focussed on the preferences/needs of financial services.

and if you needed some further evidence; while most of the economy is essentially flatlining or worse, somehow financial services is experiencing a major revival from its transient problems.

as usual Govt.s listen to bankers!

#politics
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/apr/07/uk-city-firms-cbi-financial-sector-rachel-reeves

UK City firms report fastest turnaround in fortunes in 30 years

CBI figures showing surprise jump in financial sector’s growth will be welcome news for Rachel Reeves

The Guardian
Apr 7 at 7:33amWeb
Show threadJW23h ago

@ChrisMayLA6
My view, which may be simplistic, is that the primary purpose of the finance sector is a facilitator and enabler of production and trade of goods and services. As such, like lawyers and accountants, they are an essential and necessary overhead if the economy.

Taking this view, an important question is at what point do they move from being an efficient and effective service, to being a fat inefficient overhead that is having a negative effect on the economy.

Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher May23h ago

@jwi

Not at all simplistic - a nice concise statement of the problems.... tail wagging the dog is how I'd sum it up

Show threadlp0 on fire 22h ago
@ChrisMayLA6, a wunch of them?
Show threadTerryB22h ago
@ChrisMayLA6 This seems to have been in built since Thatcher. In my ignorance of such matters I do wonder why a Labour party seems so wedded to this thinking. A collective loss of belief in the possibility that the UK can design, make and sell physical products?
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher May21h ago

@TerryBTwo

I'd say it goes further back, but like so many negative things was certainly made worse in the Thatcher years

Show threadTerryB18h ago
@ChrisMayLA6 So where’s this idea that we shouldn’t make stuff come from? Or maybe that the money is in services rather than making stuff?
Show threadHaji Mokhtar Stork22h ago
@ChrisMayLA6 Ha ha ha... well, that's how all governments function today worldwide. Many do not tolerate the truth...
Show threadRay McCarthy21h ago

@ChrisMayLA6
A major part of Thatcher's ideology.

These people are not even ordinary bankers. They are agents for speculators. offshoring and money laundering.

How many ordinary people in UK and Ireland no longer have a local manager they can discuss an emergency loan with, or have a counter service?

Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK19h ago

@ChrisMayLA6 financial services and military/aerospace electronics/technology.

Why do you think Starmer is so eager to play soldiers and seems to be hoping for a "Falklands Factor"

I don't think he's even that fussed about exactly what war we get into and doesn't really want a whole load of British casualties, but what he *does* want is contracts for defence equipment and the jobs they might bring to this country..

Show threadSister Lucy Fur19h ago

@ChrisMayLA6 Just wait til the UK catches up with these Untied States and private equity buys up everything for utter enshittification. Like they do with housing, medical practices, vets.

We need an army of Luigis.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/apr/07/capitalism-endgame-private-equity-captured-nurseries-care-homes

Want to know capitalism’s endgame? Just look at private equity – it has captured our everyday lives

These companies now own everything from nurseries to care homes, squeezing vital services for profit while we foot the bill, says Hettie O’Brien, author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself

The Guardian