Letter: Germanic precision is way to help ease the ills of industry
I recall a German lecturer who made us all learn a specific type of punctuation very different from what we were used to. Any mistake in an essay would be rewarded with a minus percentage tick and a large part of many hours work would get an average or bad mark.
In the end I spent more time punctuating my work than actually writing it and when we had to present in class he spent all his time looking for those errors and ignoring content.
But we learnt one thing; methodical precision was the price of entry and only then could one compete. His intention was that we carry over this rigor in presentation to content and he was right.
Looking at the German football team you could see that precision in their work as they demolished Brazil. I think we need that in our football and industry and education. What would the score have been if England had played them?
Looking at things like the organisational and financial chaos that rules the public sector ably assisted by a few years of Labour government one has to say it cannot go on and realise that politicians like Blair will vanish like the early morning dew when things turn nasty.
What's the answer? I would suggest that evolving into a European superstate as the inferior partner is not it. Basically we do not use our potential and I don't just mean business potential.
Shropshire has a good potential of part time workers and I hold the view that this is an asset not a penalty in that it is highly flexible. Why not extend the concept to include the retired or unemployed working part time in a much wider spectrum of function than at present.
The National Health is about to burst at the seams and a determined group of skilled volunteers looking at efficient utilisation of resources and management practice might make a big difference.
An added dimension of competition would do no harm in the public sector and this just might include intense academic work to instil a stronger work ethos. We want to be the German football team not Brazil because right now we are not precise enough, not motivated enough and not educated enough.
I think Shropshire has the raw material to make the right changes. That must start with political parties working together on tough decisions.
Robin Lloyd, Ellesmere
