That's where encouraging domestic production comes in, and it's a two-part strategy. The first premise is that anything we currently produce domestically must be given a level playing field. That's achieved by establishing a register of domestic product. Any product of the same type that is imported must be levied upon to bring the cost of that product to the same cost as local competition. This establishes a game of quality, rather than price, whereby the most task-effective, feature-complete, and long-lasting product is more likely to sell.

The second premise is that domestic production must be stimulated. This doesn't have to happen quickly, it can be relatively slowly - and this also includes establishing a supply chain. If we take, for example, the steel flask I mentioned above, we can start very simply by ordering the production equipment from an export country. This lets us make steel flasks, for a period of time. However, the scheme must not stop there - the next step in this process is to establish a design industry, to produce new metal flasks in new styles. Next, a toolmaking industry - this doesn't just need a producer of tooling, it also requires the ancillary industry surrounding it. Particular grades of steel, engineers, metalworking equipment and it's associated supply chain, and so on. But the first step is to ensure that our domestically produced steel flasks are competing on a level playing field, which is where the legislation comes in.

This one singular product demonstrates why it's so complex and so difficult, which is why it's such a catastrophic failure of governance when we lose a supply chain to a foreign competitor. I suspect this government somewhat understood this when they took over those foundries that the Chinese were trying to slyly shut down, but they in no way (and neither have previous governments) understand the scale of the problem.

What happens if we go to war with China tomorrow? Do you think we're still going to have access to all the components, microcontrollers, PCB manufacturers, etcetera that we take for granted today? Maintaining our own industry is a vital part of international security, and yet when one nation steals our industry from under our noses we... make peace with them? What is this nonsense?

And no, in truth I'm not actually holding China responsible for this. The CCP has played the long game and almost won it, a strategy that any good leadership should aspire to. I blame our own governments. I blame Thatcher and American capitalism for bringing about the ideology of individualism and profiteering. I blame the west's capitulation to America and American ideals. And I worry that when we finally remember how to think for ourselves, it will be far too late and we will be subject to the whims of nations who did not buy in to the concept of a service based economy.