when the british empire was at it's height in the early 1900s, it included over 20% of the world's land area - the largest empire ever in history. the phrase "the sun never sets on the british empire" was very close to the truth - because of its spread, some territory, somewhere, was always in daylight hours.
but not any more.....
amongst countries granted independence, hong kong went back to china...
manchester united and liverpool football clubs are owned by americans....
and chelsea by a russian....
lotus cars was sold to proton(m'sia), jaguar & land rover to tata(india)......
........and now........
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cadbury has ended a 6-month takeover battle by accepting a USD19.5bn bid from US (who else?) food giant kraft to create the world's largest maker of chocolate & sweets.
the loss of management control & possible future job losses aside, the damage to british pride of relinquishing a historic brand may be irreparable.
oh, yes, brace yourselves, the yankees are coming....!
14 comments:
If you sit on your laurel for too long this is what happens.
I hope our "think tank" team in Malaysia, should read this post of yours, doc,seriously?
If we still keep ourselves cool,comfortable and warm in our own cocoon with all our self concoted jargons like"malaysia bolen, ketuanan here and there, 1 malaysia " and all soon instead of vision 2020, we will be looking at another 30 years to achieve that.
The world is different now,you will be surprised the next time whe a war is started, it is not for occupying one's land but it is about Economy.
take care
Iml,
perhaps so, although i don't know the real reason(s) for the takeover.
still that won't stop me from savouring my favourite choc bars.
nothing compares to the collapse of JAL.
Eugene,
at this rate, vision 2020 remains only a mirage. our vision is more like 6/24, ie. short-sighted.
war is a terrible thing to happen because there will be no victors, but for all of us, we have to confront spiritual warfare in the last days.
Zewt,
i was just talking with a colleague about this - how does a country that prides itself for excellent work ethics, honesty & transparency operate an airline that is bankrupt, while toyota & honda are on top of the world.
now, we sit back & see if the yankees will bail out JAL.
My concern is, will the new company compromise the quality of our beloved chocolates?
Adino,
your concern was reflected in a tongue-in-cheek Daily Telegraph article i read today - the reason why Kraft bought Cadbury is because americans don't know how to make good chocolates & the only way to maintain the quality is to keep them away from the factories!!
but, of course, that's not true. i don't believe a country that makes Ben & Jerry's & Baskin Robbins can make good chocolates. Hershey's quite good.
Fish and chips have long been taken over by Chinese take-aways.
Fishtail,
not to mention vietnamese restaurants & indian takeaways.
the sun will finally set if & when they surrender the sterling for the euros!
I am now in that very land.. I remember my dad telling me that phrase "The sun never sets on the British Empire" when I was very young. It is surreal to be breathing air and walking on British soil..
LX,
i'm not sure if those changes actually affect you & your family, but British pride sure took a beating with those sales to foreigners.
ARGH!!!
Anastasia,
USA may be the new british empire!
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