Warehouse - United Kingdom Warehousing Association

Association News 3Founded 1944The United KingdomWarehousing Association,418-422 Strand,London WC2R 0PT.Tel: (020) 7836 5522Fax: (020) 7438 9379Web: www.ukwa.org.ukEmail: dg@ukwa.org.ukMission StatementThe UKWA provides a serviceto Logistics Service Providersby helping to establish afavourable operatingenvironment, by providing aforum for discussion onnon-competitive issues and byproviding information toassist them in theirbusinesses.Management BoardStephen Basey-FisherNigel CookDerek CooperPhil CullingRichard DaviesJoanne DolanDouglas FearnleySteve GauglerMel Grainger, Vice PresidentMike HodgeAndy LawrenceJulia LucasJohn Maguire, ChairmanDavid PalmerDuncan Pannell, Vice PresidentDerrick Potter, Vice PresidentMike PottsAlan PowellGwynne RichardsDale StokesIain Speak, Vice PresidentCharles WattEDITORIALWe need Germany toplay a fuller roleI am not a Greek. To my knowledge, Idon’t have a drop of Greek blood in mybody. I have no Greek relations. I havesome wonderful Greek Cypriot friends, but Iknow no one from the Greek mainland.Their financial crisis therefore should be amatter of complete indifference to me. Butevery day I am reminded of their plight. Iam told repeatedly that it’s not their fault!It’s not their fault that successive Greekgovernments have borrowed more thanthey knew they could repay; it’s not theirfault that successive Greek governmentshave failed to apply a tax regime thatensures everyone pays who should! It is nottheir fault they have a bloated civil servicewith gold plated pensions; and it is not theirfault they have a trades union structure thatgives organised workers a disproportionatepolitical influence.Well, you may ask, who’s fault is it?Perhaps it is the Eurozone for not havingstricter entry standards, and for not beingwilling or able to show decisive leadership.An earlier decision to either bailout Greeceor to throw them out of the Eurozone mightprove to have been better options than theponderous and painful tooth pullingprocess we are observing at the moment.The interesting aspect of all this is theposition of Germany, and their de facto roleof the leader of the eurozone. Germanyholds all the cards, but is unable to playthem as it would like. Chancellor Merkelknows full well how little time it would takefor the rest of Europe to default to the..... “Hello..... , Germany is trying to take overthe world again” ...line, if she took a morerobust leadership role.But how long should we retain a sensitivityto events that occurred over 70 yearsago? I’m told that Nazi satire is growingpopular among the younger generation ofGermans, and features high on the agendaof up and coming young comics. If that isthe case, such a trend would seem to indicatethat Germans are emerging from anera of collective guilt. If so, we can expectthem to play a fuller role on the worldstage, and in the case of the Eurozone, Ithink that would be good for all of us, (butperhaps not Greece)Members are reminded that UKWA’s 13thAnnual Awards for Warehousing presentationceremony takes place on Wednesday4th July alongside the Association’s AnnualLuncheon in the Ballroom Suite of theDorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London.The UKWA Awards for Warehousingenjoy a high profile and every UKWA membercompany is urged to enter. There arenine Awards categories in total and theTechnology/ Innovations Award is open tonon-members as well as members. As youwill read in this issue, past winners haveenjoyed tremendous benefits from their success,so member companies - large andsmall - really should consider entering atleast one of the categories.Further details are available on page 5and on the UKWA website.EDITOR: Lloyd Arkill Tel: +44 (0) 1923 770455 ADVERTISING SALES: Daren Thomas Tel: +44 (0) 771 974 0736 Email: ukwa@btconnect.comwww.ukwa.org.uk February 2012