RICK JACKSON: Will Vauxhall continue in UK post-Brexit?

My Vauxhall Mokka has just been in for its first service. This is my first experience of Vauxhall since I owned a Chevette when I was 19.
Vauxhall has moved on a bit since the ChevetteVauxhall has moved on a bit since the Chevette
Vauxhall has moved on a bit since the Chevette

I’ve owned Mercedes, BMWs, VWs, Hondas, you name it, I’ve had it, so it was interesting to compare the brands and so far I have been very impressed.

I received excellent service, my car was returned fully valeted and the tyre pressures corrected. Not all dealers do all this.

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What really impressed me was the fact the courtesy car was not their smallest, bottom-of-the-range model, but a top-notch Astra with automatic gearbox.

What a fantastic car. Fully loaded, it had everything you could think of on it, including a superb sound system and an impressively punchy 1.6-litre diesel engine, I didn’t want to give it back!

It feels like Vauxhall has very much got its act together in the past few years and with new ranges like the Grandland X being introduced, things are looking up.

But I fear for Vauxhall, still very much a British brand. If only the Astra was built here.

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Last year, American firm GM Motors, which has owned Vauxhall/Opel since 1925, sold to the French PSA Group. PSA are of course Peugeot and Citroen, with a percentage owned by the French government.

With Brexit, how secure is the future of Vauxhall and its Ellesmere Port factory?

Peugeot bought Chrysler in 1978 then closed the UK Talbot brand in the early 1980s, then closed the Coventry plant in 2006.

Is the end nigh for this famous British brand? Apparently not, for the French see the German/UK brand as the key to their future success, especially in America where they’ve never sold cars.

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They also feel that with the German pedigree of engineering and motorsport, they will sell cars to people who wouldn’t consider buying French.

So maybe a more streamlined operation in Liverpool will see the Astra remain a British car.

With the word coming from PSA saying it wants to push Vauxhall to ‘new heights’, let’s hope its true.

NEW KITCHEN? THAT’S WOMEN’S WORK

After looking at a few houses, we’ve decided not to move.

Some have been very tempting, but they all lack some of the charms of our current house.

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When you have a west-facing 100ft back garden, that’s hard to give up, so we are improving instead.

I’m not getting involved at all in the redesigning of our kitchen this summer. Sarah has done everything from talking to the designers, fitters and builders.

Don’t think for a minute the kitchen is not my place, it is; I do most of the cooking. But in the Jackson household, I know it’s Sarah who loves choosing colour schemes and layouts more than me. Very 21st

century man indeed!

SPOT THE WEIRDO

Now I know you are going to think I’m strange and will probably judge me, but a friend shared a post on Facebook and now I’m following it as it’s so compelling.

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It’s called Doctor Pop and it shares videos from beauticians squeezing, tweezering and pulling out blackheads, spots and cysts.

I try not to, but I could watch it for hours. There is something so satisfying about it. I see a blackhead and cannot wait to see it go pop.

Seeing a face cleared of spots and the new holes they have left is also very satisfying. There is clearly something wrong with me but apparently I’m not alone.

Millions follow such pages on Facebook and I’ve even found colleagues at work who do...

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