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Nope. Germany most definitely has a secret sauce: the education system. It is structured very differently from the UK system with a heavy emphasis on high levels of technical skills. Cheap Russian gas has nothing to do with it. But it sure helps of course.

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And respect for engineering as a discipline. Tell a German that an engineer came to install your internet cable and they'll look at you like you've grown a second head. Actual quote: "what could be wrong with it that needs an engineer to come out?"

Meanwhile, someone British who heard I studied engineering: "are you going to do TV repair?"

Yep agree. You can measure how well a nation is doing by how it treats technical skills. The finance industry that the UK is so proud of is actually a negative thing for the nations prosperity overall. It looks good on paper but creates very little real value.

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