The decline of Western civilization?

I was watching Professor Niall Ferguson’s programme about the decline of Western civilization and how China had turned inward on itself circa 1500s and let the European nations overtake her as the most advanced nations on Earth.

He argues that the return to the natural order may be happening in the Pacific just now, as China has woken up to capitalism and with relish.

I also read in Time magazine an interesting article about how Germany has confounded the odds and is boosting economic growth even in times of hardship. Also the USA are actually projecting to growth faster than first expected.

Then it occurred to me what all three nations still do so well that to a large extent the UK and Scotland do not: MAKE things. Germany is a world class producer not so much of lots of goods, but rather of quality products. German precision engineering can be found in some of the best automobiles in the world. China are not only manufacturing a myriad of products and exporting them abroad, but they are also investing in education and transport. This will secure prosperity for the future.

Indeed it was also argued that the boom times of 1950s America was partly due to the massive investment FDR made in the 1930s by building the Interstate roads. Perhaps China’s massive high speed rail programme will pay dividends also for them.

Worryingly in the UK we have long hung up our manufacturing boots and focus on the Tertiary sector or the service industries. While this may be good as it builds soft skills it sadly is prone to imitation and also to move work to cheaper places abroad. Whereas at one time we built the best ships in the world on the River Clyde and Clyde Built was a stamp of quality people would pay good money for. Can we turn back the clock and offer jobs, apprenticeships and training to turn our workforce into highly skilled craftsmen and women? I fear if we somehow do not we will become a nation of call centre workers which while this is needed it is vulnerable to be outsourced to another country, as we have seen with many help lines and support lines being moved in the past to India, where labour is cheaper.