When Britain was hot on manufacturing – and kettle design

‘It is a pity that the postwar generation of British design innovators have been forgotten.’ Photograph: Alamy

I was pleased to read Edward Posnett’s review (19 February) of Tim Minshall’s Your Life Is Manufactured . Little attention is currently paid to manufacturing, perhaps because it comprises only 8% of British GDP.

The opening of the review focuses on the domestic kettle, Posnett emphasising that the “tocks” of automatic kettles switching off are as significant for us as the nightingale’s song was for John Keats. But despite this cultural significance, no electric kettles are made in Britain now.