Here's a random story about machining, with a political connection (and something positive to say about Brown's government)
When they started restreamlining the Duchess of Hamilton in 2008, they hit a snag that delayed them for many months. They needed large sheets of 3mx2m steel for the cladding, at 1.5mm thickness. No-one makes it any more in that size, with that thickness steel only coming in 1.5m rolls. Using smaller sheets, or thicker ones, would spoil the effect. A supplier in China would only accept a 1,000 tonne order!
So a former Bromsgrove MP, Baron Snape, had a word with Gordon Brown's PPS, Ian Austin. Austin talked to Corus' owners, Tata, and their South Wales plant was given special permission to make some 1.5mm thick sheets.
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