Simon Steed's Blog About Stuff!

Today the Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited Manchester based company EDM Ltd. He was shown around the factory by the staff members and had a hands on with some of the training simulators that the company produces and then went on to present an hour long seminar on business and export.

Mr Brown visited the site due to the strong exports that the company produces, especially in these trying times. EDM exports strongly all over the world with their trainer systems and the MD Kevin Bird has recently returned from a trip to China to secure more business in the coming weeks.

Mr Brown was particularly interested in the railway simulator recently purchased by Northern Ireland Railways and also the Continental Boeing 787 dreamliner door trainer systems – both of which Simon Steed (author) actually worked upon and helped design the software.

The railway simulator uses touch screen technology to provide a means to train signallers on railway operations. The door trainers provide means to train cabin crew in the operation of the various parts of the aircraft, primarily door operation but also cabin procedures etc.

All the software was written using the Microsoft Dotnet framework by EDM

Quoted from the Number 10 website:

Thursday 12 March 2009

PM pledges support for exporters

The Prime Minister has pledged more support for British exporters to help expansion into new foreign markets during the downturn.

The Government plans to provide specialist and tailored financial and legal advice to over 1,200 businesses in the coming year.

The PM said that although times are tough, opportunities for new export growth still exist.

“There are still markets for British goods if we help businesses access them. That is why it is vital we give British businesses world class support to make the most of global opportunities and increase their activity in overseas markets.”

Gordon Brown and the Minister for Trade and Investment, Lord Davies, spoke to 100 of the North West’s largest business exporters this morning.

The PM said that a recent survey found companies that export tend to be more resilient in a downturn. He said 42% of exporters increased their turnover in the past 12 months, compared with only 23% overall.

But Lord Davies said small and medium businesses needed to continue to be flexible and innovative to seek out new export opportunities.

“Small businesses can find it hard to break into new markets on their own and UKTI is there to help. The £3.5 million programme ‘Gateway to Global Growth’ will start from April helping SMEs to access foreign markets where they see potential for their business.”

The Prime Minister’s visit coincided with the launch of the Real Help Now guide for the North West.

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18581

Is the fact that it’s purely down to greedy banks and corporations trying to get rich and greedy with our money and then when it all goes tits up going back to their £5 million palaces and enjoying the money they have made whilst the likes of normal people like you and me have to work out butts off to stay afloat.

When will people realise that crap governments, poor bankers, shitty sharedealers and most importantly fat cats like oil sheiks, energy bosses etc are the main cause for all this upset and do something about it?

Why the hell should oil production be tapped down just because the price of a barrell has dropped – simply so the sheiks can rip us off with higher prices and line their million pound loos with more gold embossed wallpaper (maybe they use it to wipe their asses as well?)

Why should energy bosses be pulling in close to a million pounds per year and then tell us we need to pay more for gas and electricity – you really are not worth paying even a quarter of what you earn so give some back!

I could go on and on here, maybe I should just call it quits for now but I don’t think i’m alone in my thoughts here!