China has signed an educational framework with the UK

I just read an article on official Chinese site:
 2015-10-25 21:42:26    CRIENGLISH.com      Web Editor: Chu Yiming

Xi's UK Visit Roundup: Red Flags, Red Carpets and Red Envelopes for People's Benefits 

1) Britain will start to issue a two-year multiple-entry visa for Chinese tourists beginning in 2016 according to the British embassy in Beijing.
It is prompted by an increasing number of high net worth tourists from China.
2) The Chinese and British governments have already signed an ambitious framework to expand collaboration in higher education, vocational training and secondary education, on top of closer collaboration in sports education.
As part of his time in the UK, Chinese President Xi Jinping took time out to tour the Imperial College in London.
Observers are suggesting the tour could be a sign the Chinese government may be preparing to make education a higher priority in China-UK ties in the future.
3) The Bank of China (BOC) has announced the establishment of the London Trading Centre for the Chinese yuan and launched the BOC-yuan Bond Trading Index.
4) A branch of the Legoland amusement park is to open in Shanghai. It is a joint venture between Britain's Merlin Entertainments Plc. and China Media Capital. Merlin is the world's second-biggest theme park operator behind Walt Disney Co.

I found item number 2, most interesting:
2) The Chinese and British governments have already signed an ambitious framework to expand collaboration in higher education, vocational training and secondary education, on top of closer collaboration in sports education.

I have added my television interview with Bernama. In it I mention China. I certainly see China as a market for my proposal:

The political landscape is changing, and as far as my proposal is concerned, changing favourably.

Just a thought.

Enjoy the video

I thought I would post the TV advert for Britains Football based University.
Going to Wembley Stadium to learn football marketing/other must be novel. Some might call it 'Unique'.
I am suprised that this learning template, now proven to work, has not been adopted by others.
Just a thought.

Todays my birthday!

Well, its here, I'm 60.
Mila sent me this photo via facebook.
Two weeks ago I met Mila, Jimmy and family in London.
Its twelve years since I worked with Jimmy in KL. The children have all arrived since.

Its nice that I still have contacts in Malaysia.
I am still confident of returning and making a positive difference in my professional and personal life.

Malaysian PM cleared of any wrong doing. (Selfishly) maybe I can get some attention!

This is not a political blog.
 Proton until recently considered the Malaysian National car and chaired the ex Malaysian PM, Tun Mahathir.
Tun Mahathir and Malaysia's present PM appear to have had a disagreement over funds in the PM's personal bank account.
The BBC says this has been settled.
Malaysia agency says Najib Razak funds 'were donations'

Malaysia's anti-corruption agency has said hundreds of millions of dollars found in Prime Minister Najib Razak's personal accounts were donations, effectively clearing him of wrongdoing.

But it did not disclose who the donors were or what the donations were for.

This has been a bit of a distraction it would seem for the Proton Chairman.

Selfishly (yes I can be selfish) I now hope things will settle down, justice is seen to be done, and the good Doctor can run his eye over my proposal.

I'm not perfect, but I'm pretty honest and have a workable plan I'd like to implement.

Not that I'm an attention seeker!

Proton paid off Group Lotus £203.81 million debt.

In todays online edition of the EDGE

This year Abdul Harith expects Lotus to have a positive operating cashflow, with an aim to break even in FY16...
Lotus group currently has zero borrowing as all of its debts, which amounted to £203.81 million (RM 1.22 billion) was settled by Proton last year.
(This was on page 8).

The article refers to the Lotus SUV Project in Fujian province China.
 So Lotus is once again debt free. Proton did a similar thing when Mike Kimberley was CEO.

DRB Hicom, Proton's owner appear to be in for the long haul.

Hopefully, things will turnaround commercially for Group Lotus in the not to distant future.

Incidentally, the same article the investment in China is quoted as 10billion yuan (RM6.16 billion) over £1 billion at todays exchange rate.

I don't have any comment really, other than Group Lotus appear to have a really poor commercial history!

I wish them all the best.

Proton and new local competition. Perhaps they could consider an additional revenue stream?

Lotus, who I am hoping to interest in my proposal... Are owned by a Malaysian company DRB Hicom, who have many divisions, Defence, Post, Automotive etc...
Proton was started by Tun Mahathir, and was recently owned by the Government. It is now privately owned.
Up until now taxis in Malaysia were mostly Protons. Now that is about to change. Toyota products have now received official blessing.
Toyota Innova MPV officially unveiled as TEKS1M cab - (Paul Tan)

Tun Mahathir is now the Chairman of Proton and Lotus. I cannot speak on his behalf, but I suspect that he will not welcome the competition!

Protons Malaysia market share in the past 10 years has dropped considerably, this won't help.

In England, my local garage stopped selling Protons a couple of years ago.

Proton, have agreements in place with Honda and Suzuki to share platforms and technology, and their new vehicles will reflect that...

Lotus will be building their next new vehicle, an SUV in China. Here is a small portion of todays Malaysian Reserve article:
The market presence of Lotus cars in China was done via Goldstar Lotus Automobile Co Ltd, a JV company between the three parties. Proton, Lotus and Goldstar will own 40%, 10% and 50% respectively in the JV company, which will cost up to 10 billion yuan (RM6.15 billion).

I am not an insider... So I don't know for sure if this is being based on an existing platform, Proton Exora being the most obvious, or with the Lotus Toyota connection, they use their engines, possibly a Toyota platfom, or as Proton have agreement with Honda and Suzuki possibly something they currently use...

Building from scratch would only make sense if it were to be a global platform possibly, selling it back to one of their OEM partners. Car Makers do that, but I'm not sure that is going to happen. You would really need an agreement up front to do that. The Platform would then have to be designed around your needs and that of the sharing OEM.

I certainly wish them all the best!

It would be nice if they could leverage their brands, particularly Lotus in a more out of the box way. My proposal does that... However, it seems a lot of people think I'm out of my box proposing it!

Here's a video showing a couple of losers talking about something similar.

Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair's media man, and Brian Barwick was the CEO of the FA.
The College is now a physical entity, here is a promo Video.

Lastly, I saw this video on youtube: I attended an ASLI conference with Alex. He was the most photographed man there!

I know a couple of other drivers from my time in Malaysia who would love to driving in this!

 

Old friends from Malaysia

This blog is project related, however it is also a little (not facebook) social.
I met some friends from my time in Malaysia this week.

Bernita (left), is the founder of Lekker Travel LTD based in South Africa.  She is a lovely smart person, who will soon return to South Africa to carry on with her project...
Tilo and Curtney, Tilo runs some Backpacking sites, Plays in a band, and works in Leipzig, Curtney is from Terengganu, and is married to Tilo, she works as an Interior Designer.
The unseen photographer is Florian, now a Principle at Lodestone and based in London.
We all met in Red Palm KL. A fantastic hostel that made loads of people welcome and forged long lasting friendships.
Sadly, due to its size (small) it didn't make money and recently closed. It made the tourist section of the Guardian in England, and was voted best hostel in Asia by hostelworld.
We all miss the Red Palm team, and wish them well. Shame they weren't with us!!
Earlier in the day we met Jimmy, who I met in Proton and Mila, who I holidayed with in Redang Malaysia...

Along with my father, they also stayed with us in Basildon.

We went to Stonehenge, among other places.
Mila, like Curtney is from Terengganu, she is actually part of the Royal family!
You couldn't hope to meet a nicer person. She came with Jimmy, the kids, and a family friend. No photo's sad to say... They are now in Paris.
Bon Voyage!!