Time to Take the Pebble Out of The UK’s Shoe
This week the Prime Minister described the UK as ‘like a world class athlete with a pebble in our shoe’. It’s time to remove the pebble, put on our running shoes and move the UK back to its rightful place — as a world front-runner.
Boris Johnson’s no-frills Conservative Party Conference address was bold and to the point. He counted off the challenges we face and paired them with what we must do to meet them.
Bullish and without apology, Mr Johnson called parliament to task for an inexcusable and lack-lustre response to Brexit — its dithering and indecision — and, in case anyone was left in any doubt, renewed his pledge to get Brexit done.
But, Brexit aside, he also used his Party address to share his vision for a better Britain built on sustainability, connectivity and technology.
What he talked about was a circular economy. An economic system that eliminates waste and employs reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and recycling to create a closed system, minimising the use of resource input and the creation of waste, pollution and emissions. Those who lived in post-War Britain will be familiar with the satisfaction of repairing something of quality well, rather than throwing it away and replacing it.
In Europe or out of it there is more to play for in terms of the UK’s economy, its success and the legacy for our children and their children.
Tratos is a long-term contributor to a greener and more sustainable future — across all of the infrastructure industries Mr Johnson spotlighted as he talked about working to protect our environment.
Greener and more efficient public transport was high on his agenda: it’s been high on ours for decades. We’ve been one of the prime movers for better performance and bigger environmental and energy gains for rail.
We have campaigned for a real super-fast fibre broadband network for the UK, one with the power and speed to rescue our economy and put it back on the winner’s podium. A new generation broadband that allows start-up businesses and brilliant ideas to be born and grow up anywhere — whether it’s from a bedroom at home in the suburbs or a barn in a rural community. He talked about increasing connectivity for better liveability. He talked about Gigabit Britain. He’s speaking our language. Our white paper Britain’s Broken Broadband set out that same map.
He talked about education and technology. I am a big supporter of CPD and set up the Tratos Academy to support life-long learning and promote curiosity and innovation. The Fourth Industrial Revolution is with us. To protect our environment, we must change. To face the changes brought by this revolution we must learn how to better use technology, how to make it our servant and how to sustainably manage its growth. This time in our lives is filled with opportunity. We need to take those opportunities and work them hard to deliver a better Britain for generations to come.
We have an opportunity to be the exemplar for Europe and the rest of the world — by doing things cleverly, doing them right and doing them sustainably.
Britain can house its young people, its young people can live near to good jobs and they can start, invest in and grow their own businesses if we give them the chances. The world has changed. We have to think through exactly how to give them those chances — and then act decisively and with propriety. This is their world, this is the virtuous circle, the balance and the symmetry — the real deal.
Tratos is a full and committed partner in the nuclear fusion project the PM referenced in his address. The first industrial revolution was driven by coal, the second oil and gas. This one — well we need to harness the rhythms of the planet. Wind, sea and sun. This 4th one will have its roots in Fusion for energy.
We are active and invested in innovations that span all three, innovations that make a difference.
The exploration of fusion is fascinating and critical. The first tentative step toward creating this energy was made in UK
It proved that we could reproduce the power of the sun, but it was not economically efficient. It used more energy than it produced.
The second step was taken in Carcassonne France, https://fusionforenergy.europa.eu/
There is a big difference here — and its cable. Cable at the outer edges of innovation in fact. Cable that has gone from pure copper to a superconductor cable. Tratos manufactures the cable for F4E (Fusion4Energy) and is driving forward with some of the greenest cables on the market today.
Cable is part of the infrastructure on which the whole of our economy is built. We have had the advantage of cable since the second Industrial Revolution. Cables were and are the only way to transfer energy and data from one side of an ocean to the other. Cables are the network of the word. Cables are the storm-bringers, the disrupters, the gatekeepers of possibility.
They are nowhere near the limit of what they can do.
More investment is needed, inertia and self-interest dispensed with and an open-minded, fair and sharing culture cared for and sustained. Cable has the power to unlock and empower a brighter future for the planet and my company is at the forefront of this pioneering work.
We have authored White Papers setting out the future for fast-fibre broadband, rail, highways, fusion, safer cabling for buildings, power transmission and the automation of ports technology.
These are areas where we are all stakeholders. Communication, transport, power, homes and trade. Innovation here has to focus on ways to lessen the footprint, lower the impact and improve the planet’s wellbeing — and the wellbeing of every living thing on it.
Tratos Green is our commitment to sustainable improvement. On its own it has the scope to deliver big impacts and change. But — on its own, it isn’t enough. We all need to make changes. Even if they’re uncomfortable to begin with. No pioneer ever had a comfortable journey, but this is a journey that’s worth it.
So I support the PM’s ambition for a country that leads the world with clean green technology and in reducing greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Will you?
