A talk given to the Cheshire Branch of the European Federation of Women on 21st September 2000.

 
It compares and contrasts the two Continents.

To read the text please click on the link to the “External Relations” page of the Britain Watch website.

A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 14th December 1999.

Serious as are the current threats to our national interests posed by Euro-taxation, Euro levies on the art market and the Euro defence initiatives, they are as nothing to the threat posed by the prospective admission to European Union membership of mainly East European countries, totalling about 130 million people with an average income per head of about a tenth of ours.

The Office of National Statistics shows that more than 400,000 migrants, mainly job seekers from the present EU countries, arrived here in 1998 (report, Dec. 1st).  This figure, equivalent to the whole adult population of Bristol and Reading taken together, is set to grow as EU nationals, who need no job permits, are increasingly attracted by our high social security provision and low unemployment, especially in the overcrowded southern England.

The actions of our political leaders, both Labour and Tory, pass from folly to insanity in supporting the EU candidature of Turkey (report, Dec. 11th).  This predominantly Asian Muslim country borders Syria, Iran and Iraq, with a population of 63 million increasing at two per cent per year.

A common Christian heritage was supposed to be the fundamental reason for bringing the disparate peoples of Europe together.  Now even that principle is to be discarded.  Whatever Turkey’s merits as a partner in Nato, they are irrelevant to the matter in hand.

Britain’s only protection from the prospect of being overwhelmed by a tidal wave of what will be legal, not illegal, migrants, is complete withdrawal from the EU madhouse while there is still time.

Proposal made to Petkim Petrokimya AS in April 1984

S F Bush

Summary

Outline proposals for mini polymer plants are advanced. This concept, which is being developed in the United Kingdom, is particularly suited to Turkey which has an expanding economy and consequent need for easy-to-build low cost plant which can be tied directly to processing.

The mini plant concept is advantageous for styrene-based plastics, particularly for Expanded Polystyrene and ABS compounding processes, at the 5,000-7,000 tons per annum scale. Sales of complete plant at this scale have recently been made to third countries.

Based on the likely costs, import duties and financial climate in Turkey, the returns on investment for these plants look extremely attractive.

Basic Concept

Polymer and chemical plant design has been dominated by the idea that the larger the unit, the lower the cost because labour, capital and overheads are spread over a larger production. This may still be true when all the product can be sold, when there are no breakdowns and when there are infrequent grade changes. Increasingly, because of technical and economic changes, these conditions are not met, and study has shown that much smaller plant (by a factor of 10 or more) linked to specific polymer products can give better and more certain returns on investment.

This arises because of a combination of economic and technical reasons as follows:

1. Direct sales of polymer to a specific polymer processing line cuts out polymer selling costs.
2. There are fewer and more foreseeable grade changes, thus reducing scrap rates at the polymer stage.
3. The polymer process can be tuned to the final product, thus increasing its quality and rducing scrap rates at this stage.
4. Because the physical size of plant is reduced, process control can often be more precise (this is especially true of polymer reactors).
5. Again because of plant size reduction, many more equipment items can be purchased off-the-shelf, thus gaining a direct cost advantage compared with much larger plant where some of the scale advantage is eroded by the requirement to have some items specially fabricated.