snipped:
>"When Raleigh stopped making machines in Nottingham, it died..."

i'm with you in spirit, but in my mind subcontracting is
subcontracting. i don't think geographic borders help
or hurt the quality. the bicycle industry, like most others,
is market driven. in the raleigh example it wouldn't be
incorrect to assume that the decision to move manufacturing
from nottingham to "wherever" was made by englishmen.
e-RICHIE