James Moore: German industrial music sounds rather familiar

Outlook British business has been complaining about the quality of education in this country for so long it has become like a scratched record. Which gets left on the shelf.

Will anything change now that the Germans have started up their turntables?

German Industry UK, a trade body for German businesses operating here, complains that applicants for technical and commercial positions require significant in house training before they are capable of successfully performing the duties for which they have been hired. And it complains that the situation has deteriorated since the last time it conducted a similar survey in 2007.

The Germans would very much like to see a system of vocational training set up here, modelled on the system back home. It sounds like a good idea, and you might think it would be given some consideration. Sadly, the education secretary, Michael Gove, has already been downgrading some half-decent vocational schemes that had (after much huffing and puffing) been set up here in conjunction with industry. Expect the complaints of German industry to be filed alongside those of its British allies.