Mark Andrews: Rover regrets, Harry's travels, and mis-spelled brand names

Twenty years ago this week, the administrators were called in at the end of the MG Rover group, marking the end of 100 years of car production at Longbridge, and the end of one of Britain's most famous brands.

And it still makes me sad. Sad when I see cabinet ministers rolling up outside No. 10 in BMWs rather than Rovers, sad when I see the Royal Family pottering about in Audis. I feel it diminishes us as a nation.

This week, production also ended at Vauxhall's plant in Luton, again after 100 years. Still, on the positive side, they're now going to get a Universal theme park up the road, and we're all supposed to be excited about that. 

Britain was once the workshop of the world. Now the future rests on dressing up in Harry Potter gear and checking people's tickets on the Big Dipper.

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I'm a hypocrite, of course. I only ever bought one Rover car, an 800  back in the 1990s, and grew quickly to hate it. Transmission problems, head gaskets, it was constantly back at the dealer. After less than two years I ran out of patience, took a hit in depreciation and traded it in for a Saab, which was better in every way. Sad but true.

Saab, of course, also went bust. I guess the moral is don't buy shares in any car brands that I drive. 

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The collapse of MG Rover, though, is also a lesson in the danger of pinning your hopes on people who promise the impossible. 

Back in 2000, when BMW was trying to offload the ailing Rover Group, venture capitalist Jon Moulton entered an agreement to take Longbridge over. His proposals were blunt and hard-nosed, to say the least: Rover had no future as a volume manufacturer, he said. and instead planned to cut the workforce by two-thirds. 

He was branded an asset stripper, berated by the unions, and before you knew it half the Midlands was planning a demonstration against him.

John Towers and the Phoenix Four on the other hand, promised that everything would be fine if he took over. It could carry on churning out cars that people weren't buying, and retain most of the workforce. The unions loved him.

At least they did until he ran out of other people's money to cover the losses. Then everyone lost their jobs, and there was nothing left for severance pay. 

Moulton's message wasn't popular, but it was right. If people had listened to him, we would probably still have a British car industry today.

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Good to see Prince Harry back in town again. This time he's here for a legal challenge about the reduction to his security, which he says places him at great risk every time he visits the UK. Last year he was in London for a charity event., the year before for a court case against the Daily Mirror.

You can't help but think, for somebody who doesn't feel safe in this country, he doesn't half spend a lot of time here, doesn't he?

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As it happens, my personal view is that the Met Police should provide him with the security he wants - and charge him an inflated price for the privilege.

The guy's not short of a bob or two, he can afford to pay through the nose. Take a few million off him and put it to good use, you know, raiding a few more Quaker meetings, pursuing a few more 'non-crime hate incidents', or maybe nicking some shoplifters. 

Sorry, the last one was a little facetious.

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Going back to cars, what passes for 'research' in a press release this week reckons that 'Mercedez' is the most mis-spelled car brand. 

I'm not convinced. I used to know a blonde lady - you know the type - who never had any problem spelling Mercedes at all. BMW on the other hand....