Real engineering deserves real recognition

摘要

For the future, Britain needs an economy with less financial engineering and more real engineering. Fine words, eh? There is surely not a transport engineer in the land who would disagree with the proposition: But many may be surprised at its source: a politician, indeed a government minister. The words are Peter Mandelson's, spoken in the House of Lords last month as part of the business secretary's statement on a £2.5 billion government plan to "help the British automotive industry weather the downturn in the global economy."rnWe welcome the government's recognition, albeit belated, that the automotive industry needs and deserves support. We also agree with Liberal Democrat IMP John Thurso, who recently described hedge fund managers as "an opaque bunch of spivs gambling with public money." Can we take it from such robust comments that one unexpected side-effect of the financial mayhem caused by bankers is that politicians of all stripes are finally waking up not only to the excesses of incompetent financial engineers but also to the vital role played by real engineers in general and commercial road transport in particular? Alas, no.