What Have We Learnt From The Germans?

The BBC have launched a German theme this week starting with their cars (against our mighty Leyland & Rover offerings). It was a really fascinating program but very sad how us Brits never saw our motor industry decline coming.
(if you missed it I recommend it on i-Player)

My dad mostly bought German cars purely because of their quality, performance for your money & of course reliabilty etc. And to rub salt into the British wound, never needed to buy a brand new one either. He even owned a 1966 Beetle at one point. Since when have we ever produced the equivalent to a Polo, Golf & a Passat? And not to mention the Audis, BMWs, Mercs. Note: Ford & Vauxhalls are American based companies, not British.
Ok, we came up we the classic Mini (though at a massive loss in the 70's), but even that has been rebranded the German way as we all know. And so are "our" Bently cars. Our car industry was in such a state that even Honda nor BMW could save Rover from dying a slow death.

As a family, we used to live over there during the early 80's it was drilled into us that the German way (much to our annoyance) always worked better than the British way. Despite starting two world wars & taking over Europe through the Euro in recent years, they are a very civilized nation too! Their football is the right way. So are their penalties. In fact I prefer watching them play than England because of this! Autobahns were build in the 30's not the 60's (though mainly for Hitlers tank's). I often wonder how they lost the war with all their superior advancements in technology - the jet engine, U-boats, V1's & V2's are just a few to mention.

And they produce better sausages too.

Despite all this I am still a true Brit of course! But there is just no escaping from admiring them so much. I own a Renault, own an Ameriacn Marin mountain bike(built in Taiwan), own two German footy tops, own a Japanese camera, wear clothes that were made in either China or Mauritius.
But at least I own a British designed & built Dyson hoover (DC-01) and live in a Britsh built red bricked Victorian terrace! Oh, my hi-fi system is "mostly" British too, with Creek Audio, Linn & Rotel.

As for this blip this is one of my favourite Father Ted episodes - it was just ironic that when the BBC Das Auto program was over, I flicked over to More4 and there was Father Ted trying his best to prove he is not a racist by inviting a group of Chinese folk to his house for a drink following a (Nazi) delivery mix-up!!!

Priceless.

Finally: well done to Peter Capaldi on becoming the new Doctor Who. Now that is something the Germans cannot match!