In May 1968, when an Old Labour government under Harold Wilson was in office, a Swedish company, SKF, announced its intention to take control of Ransome & Marles, the leading British ball bearings manufacturer. Fearing that the ball bearings industry would pass into foreign control, the government, through the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, organised an all-British merger, thus creating a national champion in what was seen as a strategic sector.

How times have changed! The concept of strategic industries has gone out of fashion, at least in the UK, and a long list of industrial companies, many bigger than Ransome & Marles, have been taken over by foreign acquirers. This is generally seen as an example of the UK's enthusiastic embrace of globalisation. Yet some industrialists are uneasy. Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, recently warned that allowing the UK to become "an aircraft carrier" for foreign-owned businesses had some dangers, not least because decisions about investments and disinvestments would inevitably be influenced by the owner's nationality.