Leidens Ontzet 2014 – Flag of Leiden

It should be twinned with the town where my wife and I were raised, Willenhall, for the town is historically famous for the manufacture of locks and keys.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willenhall#Twin_towns

Very handy if we are ever locked out of our city.

Unbelievably there are no lock makers left in the home town of lockmaking thanks to Mrs Thatcher ;¬(

Jim Prideaux seemed to think it was all caused by Socialism. Factories and industries closed down in the Netherlands in that time too and we didn’t have Thatcher. Some industries received large subsidies just before they closed down. I saw a programme on German television recently, about the changes and subsequent closure of a Opel factory.

Listen also this BBC Radio 4 programme:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01s4vf8 (around 12m)
Some industries declined during the Thatcher era, but were not necessarely caused by her.

We know different as a friend was privy to Maggie's meetings, and it was scary how she derided the ordinary working bloke and wanted everyone to be a white collar worker, hence we have next to no industry left in England, or pits.

A sore point I am afraid.

Her retoric was out there of course, partly because of the rather adversarial nature of British politics, but changes in the economy would have happened irregardless of who was in power. In Leiden all the big factories (ironworks, food tinning company, clothing companies) closed in the 1970s and 1980s, causing poverty and misery.
Manufacturing is still going strong in the UK, see here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_in_the_United_Kingdom
www.themanufacturer.com/uk-manufacturing-statistics

Not dependable information I am afraid ;¬(

I quote "Triumph Motorcycles Ltd is the only wholly British owned major transport manufacturer", what about Morgan motors.

Small industrial units and people stacking shelves in supermarkets is all England does now.

Well, I've tried, but i was not convincing enough. ;-)