Commenter Of The Day, pax britannica, tata, tata motors

Commenter Of The Day: Reversal Of Fortune Edition

Try this on for size: Between the wars, at its pinnacle in the 20th century, Britain exerted dominion over almost half a billion people. Yes, yes, it would all go completely to crap in less than 50 years and leave us associating the UK with the likes of the Spice Girls, Simon Cowell and Amy Winehouse. Imperialists all, in their own ways, but not exactly the same thing. Anyway, the sheer global vastness of the Pax Britannica is not something that exits collectively memory all that quickly, even as the land of King Arthur and Winston Churchill sheds assets like they were going out of style. We hinted at this development in our Question Of The Day, which focused on increasingly mighty Tata Motors and the matter of whom they should next acquire, after Jaguar and Land Rover. Which of course brings us to the realignment of power and influence that's currently afoot, and to our COTD.

We bestow the the honors on Maymar, who in reply to commenter estern, delivered this memorable quip:

They should go after Holden, too, start buying out companies from all of the UK and the colonies. The sun will never set on the Indian Empire!

Who needs former masters to become servants, when you can just buy up all their stuff?

6:15 PM on Thu Mar 27 2008
By Matthew DeBord
1,292 views
19 comments

Comments

Andrewpetty at 06:35 PM on 03/27/08
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That whole list of posts should be COTD. All of the comments (with the exception of mine) were way above par. Jalopnik deserves some props there too. Excellent QOTD. I nominated it for QOTDOTY.
Citroen_SM at 06:44 PM on 03/27/08
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Half a million people? Damn, wow..
lascauxcaveman at 06:47 PM on 03/27/08
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@Citroen_SM: That's like, the entire Omaha metro area...
Red AuerБЯд╒╒ at 06:55 PM on 03/27/08
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@lascauxcaveman:
@Citroen_SM:
Wow! They ruled almost 1/6th the population of Orange County, CA...
pretty wild...
FLAT4-PΩWER ™ at 07:00 PM on 03/27/08
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Congrats! I feel like the guy who threw the home run pitch. Well done Maymar!
leberkäs at 07:03 PM on 03/27/08
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Well, Simon Cowell pushes a Veyron. So, there is that.
charles_barrett at 07:14 PM on 03/27/08
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Hmm... "Reversal of Fortune" edition... kinda like yesterday's "furry Tatas" COTD that got superceded by Armand4's post about D.B. Cooper as COTD...?

Oh well, we all play by the Jalopnik rulebook...
graverobber- Same... at 07:18 PM on 03/27/08
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This is the Indian Empire with which I am familiar:
[www.pechanga.com]
Armand, Star-Spangled... at 07:36 PM on 03/27/08
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@charles_barrett: That was an interesting "Reversal of Fortune" in itself, and I felt a little weird about it. Having said that, I love playing by the rulebook, especially when it benefits me.
And I should probably say that as a student of history, a British car owner and a bit of an Anglophile, I don't think there's any way the Indians can mismanage British industry worse than the British did. At least they still have Morgan and the Rock of Gibraltar.
smoke~ at 07:54 PM on 03/27/08
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@RoyLFuchs:

Yes, considering the only business model they have is British Leyland, 7-11 and Motel 6.
Number_Six at 08:02 PM on 03/27/08
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This reminds me of the time the Mongols conquered China and then got pwned by the Chinese later.
Number_Six at 08:03 PM on 03/27/08
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Incidentally: to paraphrase Chris Rock on Winehouse vs Spears: "at least their crackhead can sing."
Maymar at 08:17 PM on 03/27/08
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@estern: Thanks, although I feel like I should have something substantial or witty to say now!

Bringing it back close to the orignal topic, as I understand it, Maruti still sells the early 90's Suzuki Swift as the Esteem. If that means there's any chance we can get the Swift GTi back, I welcome our Indian overlords.
FLAT4-PΩWER ™ at 08:22 PM on 03/27/08
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@Maymar: Commence basking!
Inverness at 10:52 PM on 03/27/08
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You know, the sun setting on the British Empire is all good and well, but let's take a moment to recall that Land Rover & Jaguar were already sold off to new, "colonial" proprietors a while ago.
Drujon at 12:09 PM on 03/28/08
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Do you think the smell of fine English hides will be replaced with the stench of curry in the new XJ8?
brandegee at 12:28 PM on 03/28/08
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@Drujon: I thought all of England already stank of curry.
charles_barrett at 01:11 PM on 03/28/08
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@Armand4: Oh, I do not wish in ANY WAY to diminish your well-deserved COTD recognition... my arguement would have been to award co-prizes to both candidates... I really hate causing hurt feelings, especially in a forum driven by people doing what they do out of a shared passion and interest. We all interact with civility and consideration, and our only jibes to one another are good-natured, done with a wink and a nudge...
Impalamino at 04:39 PM on 03/28/08
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@lascauxcaveman: The Omaha metro area is significantly larger than that. Screw you, Des Moines.