A reminder that if Hitachi's plans for Horizon Nuclear Power - to redevelop the nuclear power plants at Wylfa and Gloucester in the UK - had gone ahead, they were meant to be producing energy by the mid 2020s. Which would have been handy. 1/ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_N… So what went wrong? Hitachi took over the project from E.ON + RWE Npower in 2012. Site prep was to begin in 2015 + building the new plants in 2018. This was delayed until Generic Design Assessments were completed by the Environment Agency (which wasn't until 2017). 2/

This Ian Botham trade envoy thing is really getting to me + the reason for it isn't because it seems 1 of the criteria for selection was being pro Brexit. It's because it trivialises business. Apparently the appointment isn't even to impress the Australians (as if). 1/6 Although it would be quite funny if Australia sent Shane Warne to the UK in retaliation to sell us woolly jumpers. According to @FT today the expectation is that Botham's appointment will encourage 🇬🇧 businesses to look more seriously at Australia as an export destination. 2/6

Thoughts on the Envision/Nissan news for Sunderland. Of course it’s good news. Should we never have worried then, was it just Project Fear? Well Nissan themselves threatened several times they would leave the UK because of Brexit. 1/7

https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1410494221723783169

I still think there’s a fight going on between Nissan + Renault for taking the lead on EV in their alliance in Europe. Envision announced on Monday €2bn investment in battery plant in France to supply Renault, to reach 9GWh by 2024, 24GWh by 2030. 2/7 asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Elec…

Honda global restructuring/Swindon closure/Brexit impact beginning to feed through to annual results of Japanese companies in UK. Honda R&D Europe UK sold off its F1 unit to Honda Racing Development UK, up to 64 employees transferred but seems at least 28 still lost jobs. 1/4 Honda R&D moved offices from Swindon to closer to London, will focus on electric, autonomous vehicle development. Turnover down from £56m to £11.4m. 2/4

Japanese companies in the UK who have moved their product distribution hub to the EU in anticipation of what is now happening. One in a long thread, just to make a point that *some* companies have been preparing for worst case Brexit for years 1/13 Allegro MicroSystems Europe, semiconductors and ICs, owned by Sanken Denki, now importing into EU via Netherlands rather than UK. Amano Enzyme Europe transferred EU stock to warehouse in EU 2/13

On this day, 20 years' ago, the first Japanese company to invest in Wales -Takiron - announced it would close the factory it had set up in 1972 to manufacture PVC corrugated sheeting in Bedwas, Gwent. 1/6
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/110… By 1991 it had 68 employees but from the mid 1990s it began to lose money + had shrunk to 57 by 2001. Takiron blamed the strong £ + continued high price of raw materials for its difficulties. 60% of its production was exported to Europe + USA 2/6 rudlinconsulting.com/takiron-first-…

Nikkei breaking news - Toyota, Nissan and other car makers are asking the UK government to compensate them for any tariffs imposed should they fail to conclude a FTA with the EU. nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO… Specifically, car makers are asking UK for things such as unifying test certification with EU system for exports to EU and tax reductions for R&D

EU has own interests for staying tough on this one, not just because EU car manufactures make EVs. Toyota manufactures hybrids in France and from Jan 2021 will have full control of plant in Czech Rep 1/5 ft.com/content/1dddbb… via @FinancialTimes Toyota announced in Jan 2020 that new Yaris Cross, a hybrid SUV will be produced in France 2/5 nordfranceinvest.com/news/detail/to…

Interesting snippets from current @japansocietylon webinar on UK + Japan economies with Noriko Hama and @DrGerardLyons, dealing with Brexit, China, whether Tokyo Olympics will go ahead, travel, immigration etc 1/4 Hama suggests her Ahonomics (idiot) of Abe will now be replaced with Tsukanomics (empty) with Suga but says that Suga is more sinister (keen on Machiavelli apparently) than we might think - see also @jakeadelstein thread

https://twitter.com/jakeadelstein/status/1305579558121304064

2/4

I've been tentatively and possibly tenuously joining some dots - wondering whether the very specific abolition of tariffs on electronic panels for *electric* vehicles in the UK-Japan trade deal can be linked to.... 1/ ....Johnson/Cummings etc wish to have free rein with state aid to support new technologies to the point they are happy to wreck relations with EU, linked to.... 2/

UK Japan FTA negotiations "must complete by end of July" 1/6 reut.rs/2Nkz3Ge Then "as early as August" 2/6

https://twitter.com/pernilleru/status/1286798887601266692

Fascinated by the UK-US cultural differences revealed by the hoarding programmes on TV I've become addicted to during lock down. US series much more extreme, partly due to more space to hoard in. Usually a professional psychologist involved, family therapy. 1/ Also threats that children will be taken away or eviction. UK version often has friends or fellow hoarders involved. Clearers are more focused on clearing than psychology plus hugs and cleaning, casual approach. 2/

Faith in the whole national OFQUAL A level/UCAS system was beginning to break, even before the pandemic, most obviously for independent schools who I think will just continue to go their own way offering International Baccalaureate or their own leaving certificates. 1/2

https://twitter.com/DAaronovitch/status/1293942320358981632

Higher education will have to go back to interviewing + maybe their own entrance exams. Stop luring students with swanky accommodation and Russell group reputation and more on differentiated, inspiring offerings. 2/

Are Japanese companies leaving the UK because of Brexit yet? The answer is still yes and no. It’s more a case that Japanese companies aren’t investing in or coming to the UK as much as they used to, replacing the ones that are leaving or downsizing. 1/ rudlinconsulting.com/are-japanese-c… Japanese companies are still expanding overseas, even growing 1% in Europe 2018/9, but the number of Japanese companies in the UK and the number of UK employees of Japanese companies has falled for the first time. 2/4

My post on UK's priority in free trade agreement with Japan - it should not be about increasing exports (particularly in sensitive areas like food/agriculture) it should be about protecting Japan's investments in UK and therefore jobs. 1/6 rudlinconsulting.com/uks-priority-i… Japanese jobs in UK that UK could protect through FTA with Japan are:
Automotive
Infrastructure - Hitachi Rail etc
Regional HQs
Services used by Japanese regional HQs - ICT, legal, financial, marketing, consulting, engineering, design, training 👋
2/6

Watched Reservoir Dogs for the first time in > 20 years last night. I thought the point about everyone having to call each other by Mr (colour), not to reveal any personal details was more than just a "cool" thing, second time round. By not doing this, they do not build trust 1/ So in the end (spoiler alert) Nice Guy Eddie stands by Mr Blonde, because although he's not family, he is well known + has been loyal to the family. Mr White trusts Mr Orange (foolishly) because Mr Orange has asked him his name, where he's from. 2/

I developed a model of building trust across cultures for my latest book - it was aimed at Japanese companies in Europe, but I think is applicable now to politics in the UK. 1/6 It starts with communication - very difficult to build trust if you can't communicate with the other people - not just a common language but being able to convey clearly what you want to say - use visuals if necessary. Current government communications not very clear. 2/6

"Inexplicably, the final sentence of the March 2 video message has been lopped off the version posted on the prime ministerial Twitter page." 1/2 thetimes.co.uk/article/three-… "It was: “I wish to stress that, at the moment, it’s very important that people consider that they should, as far as possible, go about business as usual.""

UK is at make or break point in remaining an attractive place for manufacturing - depends on whether talks with EU break down or not, if tariffs are then reintroduced, says Nikkei 1/ nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO… Manufacturers are of course having to shift to electric vehicles, but if UK cannot maintain attractiveness for manufacturing, will lead to further withdrawal of foreign capital. UK government moving goal posts on timeline for banning diesel/petrol cars did not help either 2/5

A summary of previous threads on A-Z of Japanese automotive manufacturers in UK. 6 plants which were dependent on Honda are being shut down - around 1,500 jobs. 1/7 Undeclared Honda supplier is G-TEKT, 26% owned by Honda - 4 plants in UK including 1 new one. 860 employees = record high. New factory started in Slovakia in 2019. 2/7

The final part of an A-Z of Japanese automotive manufacturing in the UK - U: 1/4 UK-NSI (Nippon Seiki) was only European production site, with 430 employees in Redditch, opening heads up display factory in Poland, operational from 2020. Sales offices in Netherlands, Poland, Germany, France 2/4