Rubbish

There was a time, when the words, Made in Hong Kong, meant a lot. It generally meant that this item has been produced in a sweat shop somewhere in the far east, and is guaranteed to be utter rubbish. It will break as soon at is used or will severely damage anyone who is so foolhardy to purchase it. Then everything changed. China wanted Hong Kong back and of course, no-one was going to argue with them. Now the same rubbish is labelled Made in China.

Some people maintain that change is good, and of course if we are to evolve as a species, then we must be prepared to change in order to survive. Many species, throughout time have failed to adjust to climatic and geographical changes and have vanished forever. This fundamental mechanism of evolution works well, but it is driven by the need for change and few changes, that are made for their own sake, or through a whim, are likely to survive in the long term.

In the world of education, employees are puppets in the hands of whiz kids, promoted to a level of incompetence, who feel that in order to make their mark, they must force huge changes on the system. And so, like many other organisations, change after change, has ensured that no-one knows where they are going or why they are even moving. The systems go round and round in circles as old and established ideas resurface, time and time again.

Change is not always good and often totally unnecessary. Sharks, have survived unchanged for millions of years, largely because there has been no need for them to change. They are perfectly adapted to suit their environment. Now some species are facing possible extinction, in order to provide the Chinese with shark's fin soup.

So now we have the world being taken over by the largest and most highly populated country. They seem able to copy everything that the west produces, and do it for a tiny fraction of the cost. Alas however, in this life one tends to get what one pays for and we are now bombarded daily by the cheap, badly made and even toxic or dangerous goods that we in the west seem eager to purchase. Everyone wants something for nothing, we all seek out bargains and bogofs but we should pay heed to the likely outcome of this monumental change in economics. Industries in the west cannot compete on price, and probably never will. Therefore in the face of such a competition, the strongest and fittest will survive and the rest perish.

I suppose the result of this will be that everything that we buy will be rubbish and so no-one will be any the wiser.