Is Britain great or broken?

David Cameron has been banging the drum for Britain during an event in New York showcasing UK business, enterprise and culture.

Mr Cameron listed the delights of the UK at the launch of the “Great” campaign designed to promote Britain as a place to visit and do business as well as generate long-term growth from London 2012.

The campaign features various images including Olympic sites, Richard Branson and Henry VIII designed to highlight Britain’s credentials in a variety of fields.

But in August, following the riots, David Cameron was listing the problems in the country under his “Broken Britain” banner.

He said: “In my very first act as leader, I signalled my personal priority: to mend our broken society – that passion is stronger today than ever.”

“Broken Britain” is a phrase which has been repeated by a number of senior Conservative politicians prior to, and after, the riots broke out.

Picture Gallery: London's burning

In contrast, the prime minister told invited British guests at the campaign launch: “We have turned understatement into an art form, we have hidden our light under a bushel. We are too tongue-tied about celebrating what is great about our country.”

He continued: “Britain today is simply a great place to visit, study and work, a great place to invest and do business. We want to extend an invitation to the world to take a fresh look at everything we have to offer.”

How does brand Britain rank?

In terms of value, the UK brand ranks 5th in the world at $1.8tr according to analyses by Brand Finance. It puts the US top followed by China, Germany and Japan.

But the UK does not fare as well in terms of brand strength, where it comes 24th behind Chile, Thailand and Qatar.

Brand Finance Managing Director David Hensley told Channel 4 News this latest campaign does not seem to be saying anything fresh.

“Henry VIII and the Beatles are nothing new so as a campaign – is it trying to get awareness? Most people are already aware of Britain so you have to question is it worth it? It’s harmless enough but are we missing an opportunity?”

David said that the timing of the campaign, coming so soon after the riots, was questionable.

He said: “Do we need a message to counter the riots? Yes we do. Do we have that? I’m not sure we do.”

How great is Britain? FactCheck checks out Cameron’s reasons to invest:

Claim 1: Innovation “Innovation lies at the heart of our culture. British ideas and inventions have helped shape our world: from the telephone to the World Wide Web.”

Alexander Bell invented the telephone in 1875; the World Wide Web was developed in 1989 by Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, an English scientist.

Claim 2: Entrepreneurship “You can now set up a company in Britain in less than two weeks.”

The World Bank found that it takes 13 days to set up a business in the UK, compared to the European average of 32 days. It ranks the UK as the first in Europe, and fifth in the world, as the easiest place to operate a business.

Claim 3: Creativity “The UK has the largest creative sector per head in the world.”

The UK does have the largest creative sector in the EU. It accounts for 6.2 per cent of the economy and relative to GDP “probably” is the largest in the world, according to the Work Foundation. Yet analysis suggests that without the taxpayer-funded BBC, revenues would plunge by £500m. In 2010/11, the Beeb invested more than £1.1bn of its £2.5bn content spend in the UK creative sector. Alongside domestic growth, BBC Worldwide is a key player in driving export led growth – helping creative sector exports increase 9 per cent to £1.34bn in 2009.

Claim 4: Knowledge “We have four of the top ten universities in the world.”

If you take The Times’ word for it, we can only claim to have three of the world’s top ten: Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London. However, the QS World University Rankings for 2011/12 adds University College London (UCL) to the list. QS also ranks Cambridge as number one in the world, while The Times puts it at number six.

Claim 5: Green “Britain is a world leader in offshore wind energy and is home to the biggest wind farm in the world off Thanet in Kent.”

Britain is currently the world leader in offshore wind energy but new research suggests the Germany will usurp us by 2015. Technology and consultancy company Enventi claims the current government policy is stalling development. However, between January and June we built more offshore windfarm than any country in the world – 101 of the 108 offshore turbines that cropped up around Europe were built off our shores.

More on the riots

• 
  

  Could the Tottenham riots have been prevented?

  19 August 2011

• 
  

  Riot sentences criticised as ‘out of proportion’

  17 August 2011

• 
  

  Riots victims panel to be set up

  16 August 2011