WHEN the Empire existed we were, as suggested in a book, "a giant trading conglomerate''. We are currently experiencing an economic slowdown, apparently, so why not trade our way out of it?

We all moan about China and India taking manufacturing, and increasingly service, jobs from the UK but people purchased our goods/services because of where they (goods/services) originated from.

An Indian company, Tata, has purchased Land Rover and Jaguar. These are two extremely well known British brands, purchased because of this fact. We can, and should, rebuild our manufacturing industry and retake our place in the World.

The City of Southampton could be the engine of this industry if we all want it to.

Stephen Phillips, Economic Planning & Development Limited.