As mentioned in an earlier article, I’m getting old. Far too old to understand the younger generation. But with experience comes cynicism (maybe that should be a TTAC slogan?). The more things change, the more things stay the same. In the recent cutbacks, which the new UK government introduced, a fund called the “Grant for Business Investment Scheme” (GBI) is to be phased out by 2012. The fund was used by Nissan for their plant up in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Production of the Leaf came to the UK on the back of a £20.7m grant from the GBI fund. Well, Nissan didn’t take too kindly to the news of the dry money well, says the Daily Mail.

“The UK has a clear choice of whether it wants to fight for new business, new jobs and rebalance the economy, or allow the opportunity of this business to go elsewhere” said Nissan in a statement issued to Parliament.

The UK government has its own take on the abolition of the GBI fund: It’s for the common good. It said that the aim of ending the grant scheme was to move UK companies away from their “dependence on public sector money and toward private sector financing”. In other words, go into rehab, and find your own money.

It’s funny how companies bemoan government interference, but squeal like a pig when government interferences, like grant funds, get taken away. The more things change…