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It's refreshing to see different viewpoints on this subject, and Adam's notably young mind is fresh to ideals I believe. The problem with Alcan, and all businesses as such, is that it is there primarily to make money for its owners. When it gets to the point where it is no longer economically viable it will inevitably fall by the wayside. Nationalising it - and other businesses in trouble - is a lovely idea, but it isn't free. It costs a lot of money to sustain nationalised industries, and it bears thinking that we have very little going spare in this country right now. I'm with the bit about governments not being able to create jobs: it's true, they can't. I have great sympathy with Adam's question as to 'the others on the dole', but the fact remains jobs do not simply come out of nowhere. There is a reason why we no longer build ships, mine coal and so on, beyond it being 'Thatcher's fault'. It can all be done for cheaper elsewhere. Sad, and if we had a government with oodles of cash to subsidise the industries concerned, not beyond repair, but we don't. Take note of this: Europe has had it's day where the world economy is concerned. We are mere bit-players now, with China and - more quietly - South America coming to the fore. To dwell on the past and talk of nationalised industries is simply using hindsight as a fine thing. It's not the way forward. Before I'm challenged, I'm no economist and don't know what the way forward is, in terms of businesses such as Alcan, but I'm sure someone out there has an idea. Malcolm's comment: "True, in just the same way you cannot blame the likes of a council for not opening shops on the high street. They can however be blamed for not having a commercially friendly infrastructure in place to attract new business start ups and/or retain the businesses they have..." is a telling one. I saw a news programme recently in which a man with money to spare had bought up half a dozen, or so, closed shops in his local town, and slashed the rent. He figured, quite rightly, that this would give local people the chance to start up in the retail industry. All are now taken, and thriving. I can tell you first hand, as I was involved in a prospective venture last year, that rents on Bedlington Front Street are colossal (as I'm sure Malcolm knows); we managed to negotiate one unit - the one now selling beds by the roundabout - down from £12,000 p.a. to £10,000. Still expensive, especially given the location. The other preferred unit, the Johnson's Shoe Shop currently under renovation, was expected by those marketing it to inspire a bidding war! These people have pie in the sky ideas. Then there's the rates....... I'm lucky, of course, as I work from home.