Derwent was a brand of the Cumberland Pencil Co. which was an old established but small manufacturer. In the mid 60's early 70's I worked for the Eagle Pencil Company which had several leading quality pencil brands such as 'Mirado' (trade) 'Turquoise' (technical) 'Graduate' & 'Verithin' (educational) I visited schools, colleges and local authorities in the north of England giving talks and demonstrating the various products to teachers and specifiers. If ever the name of 'Cumberland pencils' came up I would mention the 'Staedtler' take over in my best German accent which was enough to prick a hole in the comfy Lake District image they tried to float.

Eagle had a large pencil factory in Tottenham (purpose built in 1906) which was an amazing place with bespoke machines with very active pulleys, belts, cedarwood and laquer smells and noise over three floors. Here they made a range of pencils with 17 degrees from 6B to 9H (including and F) and were the leading supplier to schools (each with grosses of pencils each year) and the likes of Rolls Royce technical drawing offices. I think the factory relocated to Kings Lynn in the 90's. In the 60's Eagle bought out Hardmuths (German), Margros (paint and art products) and Venus Esterbrook-Papermate and rebranded the group as Berol It is still selling its brand leading products.

I'm not clear what this bit means.
Did Staedtler own Cumberland back then?

Great memories, there's nothing quite like taking a new pencil out of the box for the first time, better still if its one of those pencils that are just sticks of wood with no sharpened end yet, better even still if you have one of those old pencil sharpeners that clamp to a desk and mechanically grip the pencil while you turn a handle to sharpen it - the points you get on those are lethal

And there is a world of difference between a cheap pencil and a "good" one and you usually find that out when you try and sharpen it - its all trivial and silly I know but they are tools to me and a good one is like finding a good chisel that you never want to lose or lend to anyone.

Am I right in saying that in GB the shareholders, by law, come first, re profits, whilst in Germany the workers, the home base i.e keeping work within the town etc, all have to be taken into consideration before cutting wages / hiving off the profitable portions of the company to overseas.
If so, it's a no brainer why things are better for the workers over there.

Anyone know if this is true ?

Don't know about the above but it is certainly harder to lay people off. Can't remember whether it's 6 or 12 months notice and the company has to help the employee find new work either within their organisation or elsewhere. Rules in Switzerland are similar.

All that regulation must be killing the Swiss and German economies! (Not).

Not sure this is 100% reliable but it chimes-in with conversations I've had with German colleagues ... worldemploymentlaw.com/Germany-N ... eriod.html

Not sure this is 100% reliable but it chimes-in with conversations I've had with German colleagues ... worldemploymentlaw.com/Germany-N ... eriod.html

I had completely lost interest in this thread after Mintball completely boshed it as usual when anyone doesn't bow down to her pronouncements!!

Back on topic - I have stated my view on zero hour contracts i.e. completely unnecessary - a sympton of lazy management.

You have omitted to comment on why Germany, despite having many, many of the sort of rules that, in your opinion would ruin a country's economy, is nonetheless nowhere near being an economic basket case.

Yes in late 60's or early 70's

Germany is not here, the culture is very different to compare is like comparing apples to oranges, yes they are fruit but that is as far as meaningful comparison goes. Why not compare Germany to China? it simply cannot be done with any sense of gravitas. What works in one country is not necessarily transferrable to another.