Wednesday 29 February 2012

Do We Trust Vince Cable To Pick Winners?

Here we go again - a "proper industrial policy". Yes, Grandad Cable has decided he can pick the winners, and he's targeting ... the oil & gas industry !

Any government meddling in business is to be viewed with the utmost skepticism: but of all sectors to choose, oil & gas is the daftest. Here we have the richest, most capable companies on the planet, producing something that is rivalled only by food and water in terms of guaranteed demand - and unlike food & water, it can't be produced on a small scale, only by the energy companies in question. So what can Vince possibly offer ?

The answer, of course, is subsidy and general featherbedding, because even hard-bitten energy types will gleefully take a sucker for every penny. So the UK oil & gas lobby will duly raise a cheer, while trying manfully to suppress its collective grin.

But that's only a start: Vince has more plans in mind, oh yes. "Other industries to be targeted include aerospace, media, film and fashion."

The queues of lobbyists are already forming along Victoria Street. I gather the police have recently acquired some handy tents they could use, if the wait is protracted and the weather turns inclement.

ND

16 comments:

Bill Quango MP said...

aerospace, media, film and fashion..

Looks like Branson should be front of the queue.

Sean said...

Maybe the Libdems could get the student vote back by supporting the porn industry to help the boys and girls pay down the their debts :0)

"Some estimates gathered reckon that at least one in ten female university students work or have worked in the anonymous side of the sex industry as lap-dancers, hostesses, prostitutes and escorts, to pay for their studies"

Two birds with one stone. Now that really is picking a winner.

More Here

Old BE said...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Anonymous said...

er, didn't Vince once work for an oil company

Nick Drew said...

Bill - I think he has a little man (Usain Bolt) to do his queueing for him

in like a shot for 'support' for his space-flight nonsense, no doubt

as for 'film', I thought those crazy tax-schemes were deeply out of fashion

Sean - LibDems have a checkered history, & not all of it on the 'anonymous side' ...

BE - sound instincts that man (not to say positively loud)

anon - well, but I am not sure being an 'economist' for Shell counts as really working in the industry

Budgie said...

Vince seems to think it is 1997.

SteveRHopkins said...

I wouldn't trust him to pick his own are with a meathook.

Demetrius said...

How very 1980's, sometimes it is nice to have a retrospective. What next, Sinclair Cars and hand held computers with 150 kb memory? What about reopening Cortonwood Colliery?

Anonymous said...

The Libdems seems hell-bent on doing more damage to England than the Luftwaffe.

Sean said...

"What about reopening Cortonwood Colliery?"

They will have to demolish quite a few shops and distribution warehouses and assorted businesses first.

Sebastian Weetabix said...

Off topic, but interesting things happening in the gold market today. WTF is going on? Any market gossip out there?

farm land investment said...

Could someone tell me what is the bloody purpose of the Lib-Dems? They are further to the left of Labour half the time, and they just cause confusion and every one in awhile come up with a bloody stupid idea like this.

Old BE said...

If he *is* going to pick winners, can he pick shale gas?

The US has just become a net exporter of fuel for the first time since 1949.

Nick Drew said...

BE - a pedant writes: it is North America that has become a net exporter, not the USA, which still imports massively from Canada

SW - gold, yes and silver too, if I get time I might put something up

andrew said...

I picked some winners at the oaks last year.
Somehow i ended up with less money than i started with.
mr cable might do better, but i really do not think that that is what a government is for.

hovis said...

SW: Gold not seen it,but influenced by the US shutdown is my plucked out of the air guess?

BE you know I disagree with all of you on this: Shale a winner? a jest shurely? Give it five years and lets see how the parabolic decline in production from HVSWF wells affects those figures.

Sean: At least if we're in the 80's with Sinclair making cars we will have the seeds of a a large pool of home grown talent from all that bedrom ZX81 programming. I guess the closest thing we have is Raspberry Pi.