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Politics is not all about struggle, and I was pleased to be at the Airbus Brabazon Hanger at Filton on Friday to celebrate 100 years of British aviation history. Simon Cook the deputy Leader of the new Lib Dem Authority in Bristol, who bears a striking resemblance to Sir George White, the man who started it all, doned top hat and gave a stirring rendition of Sir George's speech, which was greeted with enough applause to almost raise the roof of the hanger!

Brian Mathew and Simon Cook in front of a Bristol Bulldog

I could not help thinking while listening to this speech, first delivered in 1910, where is the vision for  Britain now? True Airbus is making greener machines than ever before, but the comapany no longer has a British stake, and there are other things that we as a country should be at the forefront of. We should be leading the world in green technology in generating energy from the tides, the waves and from the wind. We still have some of the greatest most inventive minds in the world, but with messed up patient laws our inventors are often ripped off by big business and forced abroad to turn their ideas into reality. Some may argue "thus was always the way" , but we can not aford this in the future, we have a great country and we must regain our confidence and lead the world again in finding engineering solutions for tomorrow's problems.

But enough tub thumping, Paul Harrod the Lib Dem PPC for Bristol North West and I had the chance to meet the good Ladies of Airbus who were raising funds for the Great Western Air Ambulance in the uniforms of Nurses from the First World War. Far too good a photo opportunity!