I can’t figure out why Sadiq and Priti and Keir have all given their support to Dick.
To the extent that it makes you wonder what we’re not being told?
It's a strange one isn't it. Patel you can understand because it would be admitting an error. The other two?
Probably because Starmer and Khan are actually grownups. I think there is a case for Dick going, but it’s not helpful to pile on an individual in situations like this.
I agree that there is some scapegoating going on.
Dick would have a better defence if she made some public statements of intent how she was going to root out misogyny and the people who obstructed the Morgan investigation etc.
The police's response has been, once again, to tell women what they need to do. Women are again being made responsible for stopping male police officers harming them.
They are not telling police officers what to do. They are not telling men what to do. No - women have to once again add "waving at buses" and "knocking on strangers' doors" to the list of other stuff they need to do if they want to go outside their homes without being menaced.
FFS!!
Yes I'm angry. I'm not the only woman to feel this way. Angry and tired of this and utterly contemptuous of this pathetically risible response.
Keir Starmer agreed with you yesterday, quite forcefully. He said the problem with the Met and Ministers is that they are telling women what they should do differently, when they should be telling the police what they should do differently. He's right.
I can’t figure out why Sadiq and Priti and Keir have all given their support to Dick.
To the extent that it makes you wonder what we’re not being told?
It's a strange one isn't it. Patel you can understand because it would be admitting an error. The other two?
Probably because Starmer and Khan are actually grownups. I think there is a case for Dick going, but it’s not helpful to pile on an individual in situations like this.
I agree that there is some scapegoating going on.
Dick would have a better defence if she made some public statements of intent how she was going to root out misogyny and the people who obstructed the Morgan investigation etc.
The police's response has been, once again, to tell women what they need to do. Women are again being made responsible for stopping male police officers harming them.
They are not telling police officers what to do. They are not telling men what to do. No - women have to once again add "waving at buses" and "knocking on strangers' doors" to the list of other stuff they need to do if they want to go outside their homes without being menaced.
FFS!!
Yes I'm angry. I'm not the only woman to feel this way. Angry and tired of this and utterly contemptuous of this pathetically risible response.
Keir Starmer agreed with you yesterday, quite forcefully. He said the problem with the Met and Ministers is that they are telling women what they should do differently, when they should be telling the police what they should do differently. He's right.
Only spoilt by him supporting the woman in charge of the police who gave out that instruction. So what is the point of his criticism if he won't follow through?
Words are easy.
Actions are hard. And no-one wants to take any action.
So their warm words are meaningless and contemptible blather.
I can do nothing sadly. But at least I've made some practical suggestions.
What the fuck do all these MPs, Spads, advisors and civil servants actually DO?
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
There is definitely something going on. I recently bought an engine and transmission for my '80 Firebird (this winter's project). I had them consigned to FedEx in Memphis for shipping then I got my estimate for the freight costs.... $8,000!
Tbf it probably weighs about 3 tons.
Small block 383 EFI stroker and 6 speed T56 so maybe 350kg.
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
Once again the empty shelves? Just been shopping. Meat from the butcher, no issues. Green grocer in the arcade, no problems, although warned about a coming shortage of cob nuts... as the season is ending. Waitrose - I could see no shortages at all. I am not saying there are no shortages in places, but the media is distorting the reality.
Was in Markies food hall in Banbury this morning stocking up essentials for son who is being dropped off at college today. If there were shortages of anything it was not immediately evident.
Have to say that Banbury is a seriously nice place. I have mentioned that we have got to a situation in Dundee that nearly 1/3rd of shops are now sitting empty making the High street and shopping centres look depressing and greatly restricting choice. In Banbury there doesn't seem to be an empty shop, the restaurant we went to last night was superb and the baking where we went for coffee this morning was first class. There was a slightly weird thing that by 8.00am there were at least 4 barbers all doing a roaring trade.
The town has a very prosperous feel to it. It's impressive.
Last time I was in Banbury, I saw a young man in a suit riding a unicycle on his way into work...
So there is even a cycle wheel rationing problem now?
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
Philip and others are rehearsing for their new role at the West End, for a limited run over the Winter for charity, and for pantomime season only. Red Robbo is back - and this time he's a Thatcherite ;.)
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
Is the Guardian suggesting that there are problems anywhere in the world which are not entirely the responsibility of Brexit, Boris, the Tories, the USA and the west? Steady on. Someone needs to get to Polly Toynbee quickly.
Yes. Eg look at how "sorting out social care" became little more than a new iteration of "penny on tax to fund our NHS".
And people have turned out a lot less supportive of even that than they claimed to be when it was merely a hypothetical opinion poll question.
Evidence of this?
As I remember that the polls taken in the aftermath of the NI increase announcement were rather less supportive of it than the "would you be willing to pay more tax to increase funding for the NHS" type opinion poll questions.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
I was going to tickle some twitter remaniacs with that, until I checked it.
Dildo did an accurate-but-slightly-misdirecting piece on it
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
It's not about movement of goods. Wallonie was the industrial heart of Belgium but has been in rapid decline relative to Flanders through industrialisation so any movement of jobs from Wallonie to Flanders will be bitterly resisted.
Eric Zemmour is an absolutely staunch rattachiste so it could be irrelevant if he becomes President of France.
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
If you can remember the 70s by definition you were then a lot younger than you are now. Despite all the books and journalism about what a terrible time they were, if you can remember them they were great; thanks. The 70s covered my years 15-25.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
The problem is for some people we've turned back to the 70s already.
In the 70s there was rampant inflation in goods like food etc which cost the largest portion of a household's budget.
In the past years we've had rampant inflation in housing costs.
The issue is housing costs have replaced food as a the largest share of a household's budget.
So low CPI is fantastic if you don't have to pay housing costs.
But if you think we've had no inflation for those who do have to pay housing costs then you're either in cloud cuckoo land or you are the real Mohammed al-Sahhaf.
Stagflation isn't a potential threat for the future. It's a clear and present environment for anyone who is paying housing costs.
The Queen opening Holyrood live on Sky meeting Nicola and fellow politicians with lots of Union Jack's being waved by the crowds around Holyrood is rather amusing
I'm alright (Union) Jack!
Looks as if they've been bused in from Royal Tunbridge Wells. A more spontaneous crowd would include saltires and the odd Lion Rampant as well.
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
The problem is for some people we've turned back to the 70s already.
In the 70s there was rampant inflation in goods like food etc which cost the largest portion of a household's budget.
In the past years we've had rampant inflation in housing costs.
The issue is housing costs have replaced food as a the largest share of a household's budget.
So low CPI is fantastic if you don't have to pay housing costs.
But if you think we've had no inflation for those who do have to pay housing costs then you're either in cloud cuckoo land or you are the real Mohammed al-Sahhaf.
Stagflation isn't a potential threat for the future. It's a clear and present environment for anyone who is paying housing costs.
I'm reminded of this with the "Omigod inflation has soared to more than 3%".
The interest rate on my first mortgage was discounted to 11.5%. Then went to 15%.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with experiences on our near continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't; and as the polls show, people are doing so.
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
Philip and others are rehearsing for their new role at the West End, for a limited run over the Winter for charity, and for pantomime season only. Red Robbo is back - and this time he's a Thatcherite ;.)
Did Red Robbo want the free market setting pay rises? I do.
Since when we're pay rises meant to be a bad thing?
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
The problem is for some people we've turned back to the 70s already.
In the 70s there was rampant inflation in goods like food etc which cost the largest portion of a household's budget.
In the past years we've had rampant inflation in housing costs.
The issue is housing costs have replaced food as a the largest share of a household's budget.
So low CPI is fantastic if you don't have to pay housing costs.
But if you think we've had no inflation for those who do have to pay housing costs then you're either in cloud cuckoo land or you are the real Mohammed al-Sahhaf.
Stagflation isn't a potential threat for the future. It's a clear and present environment for anyone who is paying housing costs.
You're right. Food is cheap, because of good supply plus competition. Let's do the same with housing.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with those on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
Do you think a peddling little disruption to food and fuel is a greater inconvenience than not being paid enough to afford to even have a home of your own?
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with ours on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
No one is running out of food. I know precisely one person inconvenienced by the fuel issue
We have problems but we’re coming out of a global pandemic
Well off to deepest Sussex now I wonder how many imaginary closed petrol stations I'll encounter?
Sizeable queues at the ones I've seen. Friends and family are reducing their driving because they don't want the hassle of waiting for ages to get petrol. This can't still be panic buying.
The Queen opening Holyrood live on Sky meeting Nicola and fellow politicians with lots of Union Jack's being waved by the crowds around Holyrood is rather amusing
The Queen opening Holyrood live on Sky meeting Nicola and fellow politicians with lots of Union Jack's being waved by the crowds around Holyrood is rather amusing
I'm alright (Union) Jack!
Looks as if they've been bused in from Royal Tunbridge Wells. A more spontaneous crowd would include saltires and the odd Lion Rampant as well.
Nothing says opening of the Scottish parliament like a UJ.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with ours on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
No one is running out of food. I know precisely one person inconvenienced by the fuel issue
We have problems but we’re coming out of a global pandemic
No one is running out of food - yet. Many more than one person have been inconvenienced by the fuel issue, though.
Why shouldn’t he have the right to contest the allegations?
Of course Prince Andrew has the right to contest the allegations, what I find disgusting is that he is leeching off his 95 year old mother and the taxpayer indirectly.
He should get off his arse and get a job, there's a HGV driver shortage and he should apply for those, I mean he's piloted helicopters, driving a HGV should be easy for him.
If he was on Universal Credit he'd get sanctioned for not applying for jobs.
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
In your febrile brain, perhaps. In the minds of others brexit might become associated with, say, higher wages, or more jobs.
Also, this won’t go on for decades. Already many people roll their eyes when Brexit is mentioned - in the real world, not Twitter or PB. In 5 years it will be an issue raised by embittered cranks, as other newer problems, disasters, developments, opportunities intervene
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with those on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
Do you think a peddling little disruption to food and fuel is a greater inconvenience than not being paid enough to afford to even have a home of your own?
Certainly not, and they're both long-terms consequences of nationalistic Thatcherism, in different ways. As will be many more people being evicted from their houses, and others increasing the strain on foodbanks, following the deranged cut in universal credit at a time of high inflation, coming up in the next few weeks.
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
In your febrile brain, perhaps. In the minds of others brexit might become associated with, say, higher wages, or more jobs.
Also, this won’t go on for decades. Already many people roll their eyes when Brexit is mentioned - in the real world, not Twitter or PB. In 5 years it will be an issue raised by embittered cranks, as other newer problems, disasters, developments, opportunities intervene
LOL
;pre vote we were harried by the nailed on prospect of mass unemployment should we vote to Leave.
News from the Cookie household: two out of five of us have positive tests for covid: me and middle daughter. Hers is now six days old, mine five. Being a child, she has had nothing much worse than a bit of a headache; being vaxxed, I have had nothing much worse than a bad cold. Wife and other two daughters seem to have escaped it (two negative PCRs and seven negative LFTs between each) - though both other daughters have had colds.
I don't have an opinion about British petrol shortages but the political point is that even if everybody thinks it's Brexit that's doing it, there will be an indignant argument about whether it's 80% Brexit or merely 65% Brexit, and the people who liked Brexit will feel like Boris is sticking up for them against the insufferable 80%ers. There are more than 40% of these people, and in the British system 40% wins you the election. I don't really have any good ideas for what Labour can do about this.
The Queen opening Holyrood live on Sky meeting Nicola and fellow politicians with lots of Union Jack's being waved by the crowds around Holyrood is rather amusing
I'm alright (Union) Jack!
Looks as if they've been bused in from Royal Tunbridge Wells. A more spontaneous crowd would include saltires and the odd Lion Rampant as well.
Nothing says opening of the Scottish parliament like a UJ.
It is curious. Were they handed out by the (conveniently very close by) Imperial HQ minions? Or is this nothing-but-UJs typical of royal events in Scotland now?
Why shouldn’t he have the right to contest the allegations?
Of course Prince Andrew has the right to contest the allegations, what I find disgusting is that he is leeching off his 95 year old mother and the taxpayer indirectly.
He should get off his arse and get a job, there's a HGV driver shortage and he should apply for those, I mean he's piloted helicopters, driving a HGV should be easy for him.
If he was on Universal Credit he'd get sanctioned for not applying for jobs.
Has this story been stood up?
It's an exclusive in the Times. And we all know they made some up during Covid.
Given Andrew's reported wealth of 10s of millions, the story is perhaps not very credible.
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
In your febrile brain, perhaps. In the minds of others brexit might become associated with, say, higher wages, or more jobs.
Also, this won’t go on for decades. Already many people roll their eyes when Brexit is mentioned - in the real world, not Twitter or PB. In 5 years it will be an issue raised by embittered cranks, as other newer problems, disasters, developments, opportunities intervene
LOL
;pre vote we were harried by the nailed on prospect of mass unemployment should we vote to Leave.
Post vote we have a shortage of labour
You have to admire the Remainer creativity when it comes to their horrors of Brexit...
Why shouldn’t he have the right to contest the allegations?
Of course Prince Andrew has the right to contest the allegations, what I find disgusting is that he is leeching off his 95 year old mother and the taxpayer indirectly.
He should get off his arse and get a job, there's a HGV driver shortage and he should apply for those, I mean he's piloted helicopters, driving a HGV should be easy for him.
If he was on Universal Credit he'd get sanctioned for not applying for jobs.
Has this story been stood up?
It's an exclusive in the Times. And we all know they made some up during Covid.
Given Andrew's reported wealth of 10s of millions, the story is perhaps not very credible.
Depends what the wealth is. If it is grouse moors, it is not very [edit] liquid, except when it is raining of course. The story headline says "no discernible income" (can't read the rest). Of course, there's 'discernible' and 'discernible if you are an UC claimant'.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with ours on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
No one is running out of food. I know precisely one person inconvenienced by the fuel issue
We have problems but we’re coming out of a global pandemic
No one is running out of food - yet. Many more than one person have been inconvenienced by the fuel issue, though.
You are clearly banking on that "yet" doing a lot of heavy lifting.....
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
The problem is for some people we've turned back to the 70s already.
In the 70s there was rampant inflation in goods like food etc which cost the largest portion of a household's budget.
In the past years we've had rampant inflation in housing costs.
The issue is housing costs have replaced food as a the largest share of a household's budget.
So low CPI is fantastic if you don't have to pay housing costs.
But if you think we've had no inflation for those who do have to pay housing costs then you're either in cloud cuckoo land or you are the real Mohammed al-Sahhaf.
Stagflation isn't a potential threat for the future. It's a clear and present environment for anyone who is paying housing costs.
You're right. Food is cheap, because of good supply plus competition. Let's do the same with housing.
Convince the people of Chesham and Amersham of that.
Its noticeable that the areas which report supply problems correlate so closely with those with unaffordable housing.
I don't have an opinion about British petrol shortages but the political point is that even if everybody thinks it's Brexit that's doing it, there will be an indignant argument about whether it's 80% Brexit or merely 65% Brexit, and the people who liked Brexit will feel like Boris is sticking up for them against the insufferable 80%ers. There are more than 40% of these people, and in the British system 40% wins you the election. I don't really have any good ideas for what Labour can do about this.
Shortages in Belgium.
"Belgium is looking for 5,000 lorry drivers to prevent empty shelves"
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
In your febrile brain, perhaps. In the minds of others brexit might become associated with, say, higher wages, or more jobs.
Also, this won’t go on for decades. Already many people roll their eyes when Brexit is mentioned - in the real world, not Twitter or PB. In 5 years it will be an issue raised by embittered cranks, as other newer problems, disasters, developments, opportunities intervene
LOL
;pre vote we were harried by the nailed on prospect of mass unemployment should we vote to Leave.
Post vote we have a shortage of labour
You have to admire the Remainer creativity when it comes to their horrors of Brexit...
They are easily terrified, is all we can deduce.
Im still trying to figure out why Im having gratin dauphinois with ham for lunch when I was assured I be eating grass and carrion by now
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
Nor should it.
It's businesses own responsibility to pay whatever the going wage is to ensure they fill their vacancies. The government doesn't have a role to play here.
I don't have an opinion about British petrol shortages but the political point is that even if everybody thinks it's Brexit that's doing it, there will be an indignant argument about whether it's 80% Brexit or merely 65% Brexit, and the people who liked Brexit will feel like Boris is sticking up for them against the insufferable 80%ers. There are more than 40% of these people, and in the British system 40% wins you the election. I don't really have any good ideas for what Labour can do about this.
Which is why I think "Make Brexit work" isn't a particularly useful slogan for Labour. A chunk of Leavers think Brexit is working perfectly well; another chunk of Leavers can no longer deny reality in the face of evidence to the contrary but that's the fault of various people, and not of Brexit itself; Remainers never expected Brexit to work.
Which comes back to the same perennial problem: there are no votes for damage limitation.
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
In your febrile brain, perhaps. In the minds of others brexit might become associated with, say, higher wages, or more jobs.
Also, this won’t go on for decades. Already many people roll their eyes when Brexit is mentioned - in the real world, not Twitter or PB. In 5 years it will be an issue raised by embittered cranks, as other newer problems, disasters, developments, opportunities intervene
LOL
;pre vote we were harried by the nailed on prospect of mass unemployment should we vote to Leave.
Post vote we have a shortage of labour
You have to admire the Remainer creativity when it comes to their horrors of Brexit...
They are easily terrified, is all we can deduce.
And leavers stuborness in denying that any of these issues have anything to do with Brexit despite all the evidence to the contrary.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
Are you using the tax break on investment on machinery for this?
I don't have an opinion about British petrol shortages but the political point is that even if everybody thinks it's Brexit that's doing it, there will be an indignant argument about whether it's 80% Brexit or merely 65% Brexit, and the people who liked Brexit will feel like Boris is sticking up for them against the insufferable 80%ers. There are more than 40% of these people, and in the British system 40% wins you the election. I don't really have any good ideas for what Labour can do about this.
Shortages in Belgium.
"Belgium is looking for 5,000 lorry drivers to prevent empty shelves"
Definitely more to this petrol shortage than panic. Service stations that had fuel are now empty again. A genuine supply chain problem.
Not around here
I wonder if any disruption is regional based upon customer behaviour, or brand-related based on a company being incompetent?
No hint of any issues anymore here. No queues, no disruption.
Ah, Mr Thompson - the man confidently asserting that the Government's temporary visa scheme wouldn't be extended - when today it already has!
I don't recall confidently asserting it wouldn't be. I do recall saying it was all meaningless media fluff for the media's benefit - which it is - do you really think 5,000 visas is a gamechanger economically?
You also asserted the fuel crisis was more-or-less over by last Saturday evening/Sunday morning. I believe you assured us that as everyone had a full tank the need for panic buying was over, and diveries would catch up quickly. I pointed out an issue with a finite supply of vehicles and drivers, which you dismissed.
Remind me never to take betting tips from you!
If I get another tip like Sunak at 200/1 (or 250/1 with odds boost) then if you wish to miss out on that, that's on you. 🤷♂️
I never said by last Saturday evening, I said within a week and probably by Wednesday last Saturday. There's a difference. And I stand by that, there's a tiny minority that's different but for most of the country its already normal.
I've given you a "like" for your Sunak tip.
I am tempted to "unlike" for your fake news "crisis, what crises?" Come back and tell me that on Wednesday when it finally is over and you'll get another "like".
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
As Farooq has mentioned, there's no evidence for wage rises across the board and outside very specific sectors at all, so far. If or when that may be the case, this argument will be worth paying longer attention to.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with those on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
Do you think a peddling little disruption to food and fuel is a greater inconvenience than not being paid enough to afford to even have a home of your own?
Certainly not, and they're both long-terms consequences of nationalistic Thatcherism, in different ways. As will be many more people being evicted from their houses, and others increasing the strain on foodbanks, following the deranged cut in universal credit at a time of high inflation, coming up in the next few weeks.
Au contraire, Thatcherism led to more people having the security of their own home than ever before.
Fifty years ago it was the unions like the NUM trying to rig the market. Now it's NIMBYs and people who expect others to only work for a government mandated minimum wage.
Either way the vested interests need standing up to.
Why shouldn’t he have the right to contest the allegations?
Of course Prince Andrew has the right to contest the allegations, what I find disgusting is that he is leeching off his 95 year old mother and the taxpayer indirectly.
He should get off his arse and get a job, there's a HGV driver shortage and he should apply for those, I mean he's piloted helicopters, driving a HGV should be easy for him.
If he was on Universal Credit he'd get sanctioned for not applying for jobs.
Has this story been stood up?
It's an exclusive in the Times. And we all know they made some up during Covid.
Given Andrew's reported wealth of 10s of millions, the story is perhaps not very credible.
He's getting sued in Switzerland over not paying for some house. He's on the bones of his arse.
Imagine being in your 60s and having to ponce money off your 95 year old mother to pay the bills associated with your noncery related legal difficulties.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
A high wage economy that is not also a high productivity economy rapidly loses competitivness. That is what the PB Tories are condemning us to. Wage rates that are higher than our competitors are wages that we can not afford. The fact that we just took on a great deal of regulatory burden by leaving the single market is imposing further costs on our industries. The result is rapid inflation and a weaker Pound, leaving us with a structural deficit that we can not address: its a surprisingly quick way to poverty, just ask any Argentinian.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
Are you using the tax break on investment on machinery for this?
Were putting it in the mix, but the prime reson for the capex is on paperI is I can improve profitability by about £500k a year if I do it. The tax break might help get the rest of the board over the line of the project.
I don't have an opinion about British petrol shortages but the political point is that even if everybody thinks it's Brexit that's doing it, there will be an indignant argument about whether it's 80% Brexit or merely 65% Brexit, and the people who liked Brexit will feel like Boris is sticking up for them against the insufferable 80%ers. There are more than 40% of these people, and in the British system 40% wins you the election. I don't really have any good ideas for what Labour can do about this.
Yup. As someone upthread said, Brexit is a religion. 40% are fundamentalists. Under FPTP, that means a theocracy.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
Point out that inflation is forecast to be 3.9% by early next year. 3% wage increase is a decrease in real terms.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
A high wage economy that is not also a high productivity economy rapidly loses competitivness. That is what the PB Tories are condemning us to. Wage rates that are higher than our competitors are wages that we can not afford. The fact that we just took on a great deal of regulatory burden by leaving the single market is imposing further costs on our industries. The result is rapid inflation and a weaker Pound, leaving us with a structural deficit that we can not address: its a surprisingly quick way to poverty, just ask any Argentinian.
Says someone who supports unrestricted immigration of the low skilled.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
As Farooq has mentioned, there's no evidence for wage rises across the board and outside very specific sectors at all, so far. If or when that may be the case, this argument will be worth paying longer attention to.
Inflation is gping to push wages up as is the tight labour market. Iv alrady started giving merit pay rises to key employees I want to keep.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with those on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
Do you think a peddling little disruption to food and fuel is a greater inconvenience than not being paid enough to afford to even have a home of your own?
Certainly not, and they're both long-terms consequences of nationalistic Thatcherism, in different ways. As will be many more people being evicted from their houses, and others increasing the strain on foodbanks, following the deranged cut in universal credit at a time of high inflation, coming up in the next few weeks.
Au contraire, Thatcherism led to more people having the security of their own home than ever before.
Fifty years ago it was the unions like the NUM trying to rig the market. Now it's NIMBYs and people who expect others to only work for a government mandated minimum wage.
Either way the vested interests need standing up to.
It can't be escaped from, or denied; Britain's much lower wages and poorer conditions than Germany or Sweden are long-term results of Thatcherism, and Thatcher's total and unqualified victory over organised labour, much more than, forty and fifty years hence, how obstructive or not the NUM may have been in 1978 or 1984.
The result is rapid inflation and a weaker Pound, leaving us with a structural deficit that we can not address: its a surprisingly quick way to poverty, just ask any Argentinian.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
Are you using the tax break on investment on machinery for this?
Were putting it in the mix, but the prime reson for the capex is on paperI is I can improve profitability by about £500k a year if I do it. The tax break might help get the rest of the board over the line of the project.
Yeah - a relative is investing in machinery on the old basis - a machine, needs one operator. Costs about the pay of one worker (running costs, loan to buy, depreciation to replacement). Does the work of 6 people.
The tax break was very nice to reduced the initial costs.
I would suggest you ready yourself for Boris in full @Philip_Thompson mode to take this argument head on this week and accusing labour and others of wanting much more immigration (100,000 HGV drivers alone) at the expense of decent wages
Enjoying all the Brexit supporters explaining how it was all about higher wages all along when they could've just raised the minimum wage in increments without causing massive disruption / shortages + losing the advantages of being in a huge trade bloc. https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1443886402215743500
And still the gullible idiots cheer...
Oh don't be a f***ing dingbat!
So you want to stick people nailed down to the floor of minimum wage? Have you ever considered that minimum wage is supposed to be a minimum not a maximum?
The leap from Corbynism to Johnsonism was just a tiny, tiny footstep away.
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But Brexit can and will be blamed for everything that goes wrong. It's going to have to be continuously defended for decades. It has already become synonymous with 'shit'.
In your febrile brain, perhaps. In the minds of others brexit might become associated with, say, higher wages, or more jobs.
Also, this won’t go on for decades. Already many people roll their eyes when Brexit is mentioned - in the real world, not Twitter or PB. In 5 years it will be an issue raised by embittered cranks, as other newer problems, disasters, developments, opportunities intervene
LOL
;pre vote we were harried by the nailed on prospect of mass unemployment should we vote to Leave.
Post vote we have a shortage of labour
You have to admire the Remainer creativity when it comes to their horrors of Brexit...
They are easily terrified, is all we can deduce.
And leavers stuborness in denying that any of these issues have anything to do with Brexit despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Alternatively Leavers aren't bothered by these so called "issues" and have other issues they care about.
Whether someone has disruption in getting bottled water from Waitrose, or fuel from BP when ASDA has it, is much lower down my hierarchy of concerns than the issues about pay etc that I'm interested in.
Indeed far from being bothered by a little bit of disruption I view it as working as intended.
Why shouldn’t he have the right to contest the allegations?
Of course Prince Andrew has the right to contest the allegations, what I find disgusting is that he is leeching off his 95 year old mother and the taxpayer indirectly.
He should get off his arse and get a job, there's a HGV driver shortage and he should apply for those, I mean he's piloted helicopters, driving a HGV should be easy for him.
If he was on Universal Credit he'd get sanctioned for not applying for jobs.
Has this story been stood up?
It's an exclusive in the Times. And we all know they made some up during Covid.
Given Andrew's reported wealth of 10s of millions, the story is perhaps not very credible.
Well it is an exclusive in The Telegraph.
It is well known that Prince Andrew is asset rich but not cash rich.
Hence the default on his chalet, which is now being resolved and will leave him with no properties in the UK or abroad.
Yup. As someone upthread said, Brexit is a religion. 40% are fundamentalists. Under FPTP, that means a theocracy.
Brexiteers are our very own Taliban
Scott, I’m no Leaver but that’s a daft and very offensive comment. If you think Leavers have anything in common with the Taliban you have a truly warped sense of reality.
If Ivanka Trump ran I think everybody would breathe a sigh of relief. The Trump people would be happy because it was a Trump and liberals would roll their eyes and think it was ridiculous but at least she wasn't going to be one competent advisor away from ending democracy or accidentally blow up the world.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
A high wage economy that is not also a high productivity economy rapidly loses competitivness. That is what the PB Tories are condemning us to. Wage rates that are higher than our competitors are wages that we can not afford. The fact that we just took on a great deal of regulatory burden by leaving the single market is imposing further costs on our industries. The result is rapid inflation and a weaker Pound, leaving us with a structural deficit that we can not address: its a surprisingly quick way to poverty, just ask any Argentinian.
what effing nonsense
the chancellor as pointed below is trying to get capex moving this year and is holding the line on lazy bastard CEOs who havent bothered training and upskilling their workforces.
Somehow wage rates that are higher than our competitors never seem to apply to Bankers and senior executives. Thats calledd called recruiting talent.
We have one independent chain of garages with its own trucks and depot in Shoreham. They are keeping going, but do not have the capacity to pick up the slack left by gaps elsewhere.
We were told this would be over in a few days. It isn’t. It’s not just panic.
Yup, a similar story in my part of London. The independent garage that I was relying on until last week empty later on yesterday. Got up early today and found fuel elsewhere, but quite a reasonable way away.
London and the South East are having issues and I have said that and so have the media
I am not selfish or complacent, but it is fair to comment on our local issues and as I said on Thursday the Asda driver delivering our order said that there was only one car filling up when he left and in his words 'it is over' and to be fair he works for Asda
Shortly after Sky were reporting from Chester again from a service station with no queues
Furthermore yesteday there were posts again saying they were able to obtain fuel
There is a need to recognise some will be having issues but it is also fair to say many are not
Just filled up (in Oxfordshire) - 5 min queue, no limits on purchases. Does seem to be very variable experience in terms of disruption with London seemingly hardest hit from the anecdotes friends have shared
London:
- larger population in small area - Most drivers are occasional so would assume, on balance, more partially empty tanks - Scarcity of petrol stations given (a) lower demand in normal times; (b) cost of land; and (c) alternative uses - Greater exposure to Twitter (?) - Plenty of alternative transport options
So not surprised they are disproportionately affected
1m non resident journeys into the city each day, a lot of whom are commuting regularly so filling up repeatedly as and when they can.
Harder and less economical to resupply as takes many more hours per filling station refuelled due to slow traffic.
Those are the main reasons and nothing that can be done about them apart from waiting for things to get closer to normal.
Serious aside question: are new residents of Central London (CC Zone) now driving less since Sadiq increased their congestion charge by 900% 'during COVID'?
I live on the edge of the zone so it makes no sense to go in. I used to drive in sometimes on evenings or weekends, when it was free, a few times a month but now it will be more like once or twice a year. In order those journeys replaced with use tube instead, go to a venue outside the zone or stay home.
I dont think Sadiq had any choice on the matter, it was a central government diktat as far as I remember.
Diesel cars will have to pay to go inside the North and South Circular Roads from later this month. Expansion of the "Low Emission Zone".
If Ivanka Trump ran I think everybody would breathe a sigh of relief. The Trump people would be happy because it was a Trump and liberals would roll their eyes and think it was ridiculous but at least she wasn't going to be one competent advisor away from ending democracy or accidentally blow up the world.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with those on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
Do you think a peddling little disruption to food and fuel is a greater inconvenience than not being paid enough to afford to even have a home of your own?
Certainly not, and they're both long-terms consequences of nationalistic Thatcherism, in different ways. As will be many more people being evicted from their houses, and others increasing the strain on foodbanks, following the deranged cut in universal credit at a time of high inflation, coming up in the next few weeks.
Au contraire, Thatcherism led to more people having the security of their own home than ever before.
Fifty years ago it was the unions like the NUM trying to rig the market. Now it's NIMBYs and people who expect others to only work for a government mandated minimum wage.
Either way the vested interests need standing up to.
It can't be escaped from, or denied; Britain's much lower wages and poorer conditions than Germany or Sweden are long-term results of Thatcherism, and Thatcher's total and unqualified victory over organised labour, much more than, forty and fifty years hence, how obstructive or not the NUM may have been in 1984 or 1978.
It absolutely 100% can be denied.
Britain's wages and conditions improved relative to Germany's from 1979 to date thanks to Thatcherism.
The unions abusing their position hurt their own members in the long term.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
A high wage economy that is not also a high productivity economy rapidly loses competitivness. That is what the PB Tories are condemning us to. Wage rates that are higher than our competitors are wages that we can not afford. The fact that we just took on a great deal of regulatory burden by leaving the single market is imposing further costs on our industries. The result is rapid inflation and a weaker Pound, leaving us with a structural deficit that we can not address: its a surprisingly quick way to poverty, just ask any Argentinian.
what effing nonsense
the chancellor as pointed below is trying to get capex moving this year and is holding the line on lazy bastard CEOs who havent bothered training and upskilling their workforces.
Somehow wage rates that are higher than our competitors never seem to apply to Bankers and senior executives. Thats calledd called recruiting talent.
No, no, no....
Wages for the villeins are set at 4d for summer and 5d for winter.
It's all there in Magna Carter. Poor old Magna.....
I don't have an opinion about British petrol shortages but the political point is that even if everybody thinks it's Brexit that's doing it, there will be an indignant argument about whether it's 80% Brexit or merely 65% Brexit, and the people who liked Brexit will feel like Boris is sticking up for them against the insufferable 80%ers. There are more than 40% of these people, and in the British system 40% wins you the election. I don't really have any good ideas for what Labour can do about this.
Yup. As someone upthread said, Brexit is a religion. 40% are fundamentalists. Under FPTP, that means a theocracy.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
what absolute dross
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
Point out that inflation is forecast to be 3.9% by early next year. 3% wage increase is a decrease in real terms.
3.9 and forecast to drop. My wage bill will go up by more than 3% as Im giving merit rises on top.
“‘A perfect storm’: supply chain crisis could blow world economy off course From Liverpool to LA, shortages of energy, labour and transport are threatening recovery from Covid”
There’s a quiet panic happening in the US economy. Medical labs are running out of supplies like pipettes and petri dishes, summer camps and restaurants are having trouble getting food, and automobile, paint and electronics firms are curtailing production because they can’t get semiconductors. One man told me he couldn’t get a Whopper meal at a Burger King in Florida, as there was a sign saying “Sorry, no french fries with any order. We have no potatoes.”
Imagine that, no french fries in America.
The problem seems to be getting worse, as the shortages pile on top of each other like a snake eating its tail. For instance, the inability to fix trucks means that truck drivers can’t haul boxes of goods, which might actually contain the parts needed to fix the trucks, and so forth.
...
Then there’s trucking. Talk to most businesspeople who make or move things and they will complain about the driver shortage. This too is a story of deregulation. In the 1970s, the end of public rate-setting forced trucking firms to compete against each other to offer lower shipping prices. The way they did this was by lowering pay to their drivers. Trucking on a firm-level became unpredictable and financially fragile, so for drivers schedules became unsustainable, even if the pay during boom times could be high. Today, even though pay is going up, the scheduling is crushing drivers. The result is a shortage of truckers.
These are all true to differing extents, especially the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the cargo ships stuck off the californian coast, but there are no major petrol or food shortages in the rest of western europe as yet, nor, from what I can gather, anywhere on the Northeastern or western coastal United States.
There were pictures of food shortages in Brussels supermarkets this week
Though they have problems because of Walloon / Not Walloon politics. It seems that bringing goods into Wallonia from the rest of Belgium is verboten. Or something.
Too late, it's already gone viral amongst the ultra-Brexiters on social media, with no information providing that crucial supporting context. I've heard that one mentioned already elsewhere today ; the need for complete normalisation of whatever is going on is very strong.
But the exact same process happens in the heads of Remoaners like Scott. Shortages in UK filling stations and the odd supermarket are all Brexit, only Brexit, and prove yet again that Brexit is an apocalyptic disaster yada yada
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
But you also need to look at it in terms of a hierarchy of daily inconveniences. Food and fuel are near the top of that, and they're not happening for our neighbours at the moment. There are certainly global issues, but until or unless these issues align with those on the continent, people will very reasonably and predictably ask why they aren't doing so; as the polls are also already showing, too.
Do you think a peddling little disruption to food and fuel is a greater inconvenience than not being paid enough to afford to even have a home of your own?
Certainly not, and they're both long-terms consequences of nationalistic Thatcherism, in different ways. As will be many more people being evicted from their houses, and others increasing the strain on foodbanks, following the deranged cut in universal credit at a time of high inflation, coming up in the next few weeks.
Au contraire, Thatcherism led to more people having the security of their own home than ever before.
Fifty years ago it was the unions like the NUM trying to rig the market. Now it's NIMBYs and people who expect others to only work for a government mandated minimum wage.
Either way the vested interests need standing up to.
It can't be escaped from, or denied; Britain's much lower wages and poorer conditions than Germany or Sweden are long-term results of Thatcherism, and Thatcher's total and unqualified victory over organised labour, much more than, forty and fifty years hence, how obstructive or not the NUM may have been in 1984 or 1978.
It absolutely 100% can be denied.
Britain's wages and conditions improved relative to Germany's from 1979 to date thanks to Thatcherism.
The unions abusing their position hurt their own members in the long term.
Absolute nonsense, and with that, I bid you all farewell to go off to a rainy restaurant lunch ;.) !
Yup. As someone upthread said, Brexit is a religion. 40% are fundamentalists. Under FPTP, that means a theocracy.
Brexiteers are our very own Taliban
Scott, I’m no Leaver but that’s a daft and very offensive comment. If you think Leavers have anything in common with the Taliban you have a truly warped sense of reality.
It's a revealing comment, because he cannot possibly believe it so it is just an attempt to troll and get a reaction. Which is a shame, because I appreciate his very sincere criticisms of Brexit, and it will make it harder to figure our which ones are sincere and which ones are just trolling.
If Ivanka Trump ran I think everybody would breathe a sigh of relief. The Trump people would be happy because it was a Trump and liberals would roll their eyes and think it was ridiculous but at least she wasn't going to be one competent advisor away from ending democracy or accidentally blow up the world.
Would she run as Trump, or Kushner?
Trump. Definitely Trump. She just needs his vote plus 1%.
I don't have an opinion about British petrol shortages but the political point is that even if everybody thinks it's Brexit that's doing it, there will be an indignant argument about whether it's 80% Brexit or merely 65% Brexit, and the people who liked Brexit will feel like Boris is sticking up for them against the insufferable 80%ers. There are more than 40% of these people, and in the British system 40% wins you the election. I don't really have any good ideas for what Labour can do about this.
Yup. As someone upthread said, Brexit is a religion. 40% are fundamentalists. Under FPTP, that means a theocracy.
FBPE is also a religion, with its own nutters.
I would say 40% are confirmed non-believers. With their own Dawkins'. Whose views border on the fanatical. Yes.
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
A high wage economy that is not also a high productivity economy rapidly loses competitivness. That is what the PB Tories are condemning us to. Wage rates that are higher than our competitors are wages that we can not afford. The fact that we just took on a great deal of regulatory burden by leaving the single market is imposing further costs on our industries. The result is rapid inflation and a weaker Pound, leaving us with a structural deficit that we can not address: its a surprisingly quick way to poverty, just ask any Argentinian.
what effing nonsense
the chancellor as pointed below is trying to get capex moving this year and is holding the line on lazy bastard CEOs who havent bothered training and upskilling their workforces.
Somehow wage rates that are higher than our competitors never seem to apply to Bankers and senior executives. Thats calledd called recruiting talent.
I wonder how many of the people who froth angrily about pay rises for the low paid have ever refused a pay rise themselves.
We have one independent chain of garages with its own trucks and depot in Shoreham. They are keeping going, but do not have the capacity to pick up the slack left by gaps elsewhere.
We were told this would be over in a few days. It isn’t. It’s not just panic.
Yup, a similar story in my part of London. The independent garage that I was relying on until last week empty later on yesterday. Got up early today and found fuel elsewhere, but quite a reasonable way away.
London and the South East are having issues and I have said that and so have the media
I am not selfish or complacent, but it is fair to comment on our local issues and as I said on Thursday the Asda driver delivering our order said that there was only one car filling up when he left and in his words 'it is over' and to be fair he works for Asda
Shortly after Sky were reporting from Chester again from a service station with no queues
Furthermore yesteday there were posts again saying they were able to obtain fuel
There is a need to recognise some will be having issues but it is also fair to say many are not
Just filled up (in Oxfordshire) - 5 min queue, no limits on purchases. Does seem to be very variable experience in terms of disruption with London seemingly hardest hit from the anecdotes friends have shared
London:
- larger population in small area - Most drivers are occasional so would assume, on balance, more partially empty tanks - Scarcity of petrol stations given (a) lower demand in normal times; (b) cost of land; and (c) alternative uses - Greater exposure to Twitter (?) - Plenty of alternative transport options
So not surprised they are disproportionately affected
1m non resident journeys into the city each day, a lot of whom are commuting regularly so filling up repeatedly as and when they can.
Harder and less economical to resupply as takes many more hours per filling station refuelled due to slow traffic.
Those are the main reasons and nothing that can be done about them apart from waiting for things to get closer to normal.
Serious aside question: are new residents of Central London (CC Zone) now driving less since Sadiq increased their congestion charge by 900% 'during COVID'?
I live on the edge of the zone so it makes no sense to go in. I used to drive in sometimes on evenings or weekends, when it was free, a few times a month but now it will be more like once or twice a year. In order those journeys replaced with use tube instead, go to a venue outside the zone or stay home.
I dont think Sadiq had any choice on the matter, it was a central government diktat as far as I remember.
Diesel cars will have to pay to go inside the North and South Circular Roads from later this month. Expansion of the "Low Emission Zone".
Convert some of those diesel pumps to unleaded whilst they are at it!
Rod McKenzie, managing director of the Road Haulage Association, said that a promise by ministers a week ago of three-month visas for 5,000 drivers, “simply does not work.”
The "we're transitioning to a high wage economy, deal with it" rhetoric is just that: rhetoric. Maybe the transition will happen; maybe it will not. In the meantime the government will not lift a finger to address the shortages, the economic and societal damage or even ensure higher wages.
A high wage economy that is not also a high productivity economy rapidly loses competitivness. That is what the PB Tories are condemning us to. Wage rates that are higher than our competitors are wages that we can not afford. The fact that we just took on a great deal of regulatory burden by leaving the single market is imposing further costs on our industries. The result is rapid inflation and a weaker Pound, leaving us with a structural deficit that we can not address: its a surprisingly quick way to poverty, just ask any Argentinian.
what effing nonsense
the chancellor as pointed below is trying to get capex moving this year and is holding the line on lazy bastard CEOs who havent bothered training and upskilling their workforces.
Somehow wage rates that are higher than our competitors never seem to apply to Bankers and senior executives. Thats calledd called recruiting talent.
I wonder how many of the people who froth angrily about pay rises for the low paid have ever refused a pay rise themselves.
No, no, no. The logic is quite simple..
1) People are receiving pay rises as a result of BREXIT 2) This means they are benefiting from BREXIT 3) Therefore they are essentially BREXITers and so are NeonNaziCommunistRacistScum. 4) Therefore they shouldn't be getting pay rises.
On the other hand
5) I am virtuous. 6) My pay rise is therefore virtuous.
...so FBPE doesn't have nutters because it doesn't have a figurehead?
Also, I don't think Brexit or FBPE is a religion, even though they are ideologies, but I'm sure you can have religions with High Priests.
The FBPE brigade are completely insufferable, but we're certainly worse off with Brexit - a vote which HAD to be acted on in order for the UK to remain a democratic nation.
Rod McKenzie, managing director of the Road Haulage Association, said that a promise by ministers a week ago of three-month visas for 5,000 drivers, “simply does not work.”
All of which reminds you of how bad the BBC etc are at interviewing police chiefs, rarely asking the right questions.
That a police officer who shouts loudly that he will make something up when challenged will keep his job and his anonymity – and will presumably carry on policing citizens and providing evidence to courts – is an absolute counterpoint to the assertions that citizens when confronted with an arresting officer can do anything other than comply.
That case was a bloody embarrassment. Threatening, openly and without fear, to abuse your power, should be an instant dimissal. Even if it was merely a threat and he's never actually done it, that itself is an abuse. And abuse of power is far less up for correction than a procedural cockup or lack of knowledge and sensitivity. It's not something he can have thought was acceptable, and so the choice to behave so and think he can continue to serve is inexplicable.
Some jobs, some offences, have to be zero tolerance.
The head of the Food and Drink Federation said that when businesses first raised problems at Easter, ministers only wanted to talk about Covid and Brexit transition. “There was also a degree of scepticism about what we were saying. Remember most politicians never go shopping.” https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1444271828063735814
I would suggest you ready yourself for Boris in full @Philip_Thompson mode to take this argument head on this week and accusing labour and others of wanting much more immigration (100,000 HGV drivers alone) at the expense of decent wages
Enjoying all the Brexit supporters explaining how it was all about higher wages all along when they could've just raised the minimum wage in increments without causing massive disruption / shortages + losing the advantages of being in a huge trade bloc. https://twitter.com/Samfr/status/1443886402215743500
And still the gullible idiots cheer...
Oh don't be a f***ing dingbat!
So you want to stick people nailed down to the floor of minimum wage? Have you ever considered that minimum wage is supposed to be a minimum not a maximum?
The leap from Corbynism to Johnsonism was just a tiny, tiny footstep away.
Yes, I'll be amazed if Boris doesn't soon legislate to give the government power to set specific wages within individual companies. These days the Tories look not to Thatcher for inspiration but to Tony Benn.
We may need temporary visas to deal with the fuel supply issues.
However if the answer to skill shortages is always more migration we're a failed state.
No, we are ageing one.
The UK has been an ageing state for generations.
What we're seeing is a concentration of wealth in the hands of the oldies.
Much of which needs to be shifted back down the age ladder.
And the best way of doing that is through pay rises for the lower paid in the younger generations with the oldies having to pay more for what they consume.
Absolutely 💯% agreed.
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
My old mentor used to talk about getting two pay rises a year as routine, made the 70s sound brilliant.
If you can remember the 70s by definition you were then a lot younger than you are now. Despite all the books and journalism about what a terrible time they were, if you can remember them they were great; thanks. The 70s covered my years 15-25.
Comments
Words are easy.
Actions are hard. And no-one wants to take any action.
So their warm words are meaningless and contemptible blather.
I can do nothing sadly. But at least I've made some practical suggestions.
What the fuck do all these MPs, Spads, advisors and civil servants actually DO?
The time for pay deflation and cost/asset inflation needs to be over.
It's time for pay inflation. If someone wants a good or service then pay for it.
More horse-dancing.
https://twitter.com/JamesWard73/status/1444234690597113859
Dildo did an accurate-but-slightly-misdirecting piece on it
https://order-order.com/2021/10/01/new-brussels-shop-shelves-empty-despiteeu/
Eric Zemmour is an absolutely staunch rattachiste so it could be irrelevant if he becomes President of France.
Whereas anyone with an IQ in double figures can see there are massive global supply and energy issues, a chain reaction of problems across the planet. All because of Covid, or the way Covid has exposed underlying weaknesses (like a lack of truck drivers - everywhere).
Is Brexit causing special or unusual glitches in the UK? Probably. But as the IRISH Times says, Brexit as a problem is dwarfed by this planet-wide turbulence. Brexit is not causing the power cuts across swathes of China
In the 70s there was rampant inflation in goods like food etc which cost the largest portion of a household's budget.
In the past years we've had rampant inflation in housing costs.
The issue is housing costs have replaced food as a the largest share of a household's budget.
So low CPI is fantastic if you don't have to pay housing costs.
But if you think we've had no inflation for those who do have to pay housing costs then you're either in cloud cuckoo land or you are the real Mohammed al-Sahhaf.
Stagflation isn't a potential threat for the future. It's a clear and present environment for anyone who is paying housing costs.
The interest rate on my first mortgage was discounted to 11.5%. Then went to 15%.
Since when we're pay rises meant to be a bad thing?
We have problems but we’re coming out of a global pandemic
He should get off his arse and get a job, there's a HGV driver shortage and he should apply for those, I mean he's piloted helicopters, driving a HGV should be easy for him.
If he was on Universal Credit he'd get sanctioned for not applying for jobs.
Also, this won’t go on for decades. Already many people roll their eyes when Brexit is mentioned - in the real world, not Twitter or PB. In 5 years it will be an issue raised by embittered cranks, as other newer problems, disasters, developments, opportunities intervene
;pre vote we were harried by the nailed on prospect of mass unemployment should we vote to Leave.
Post vote we have a shortage of labour
It's an exclusive in the Times. And we all know they made some up during Covid.
Given Andrew's reported wealth of 10s of millions, the story is perhaps not very credible.
They are easily terrified, is all we can deduce.
Its noticeable that the areas which report supply problems correlate so closely with those with unaffordable housing.
"Belgium is looking for 5,000 lorry drivers to prevent empty shelves"
https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/187453/belgium-is-looking-for-5000-lorry-drivers-to-keep-shop-shelves-filled/
as wages rise businesses will be obliged to look at productivity to enable high wages to be paid
Im doing that right now and budgeting for a 3% salary hike next year, but also pitching for new machinery which will give me more output with the labour Ive got
I never undestamd the logic of lefties who oppose decent wages, why is employment market rise increase a bad thing but a minimum wage jump good ? Its the same people who have to pay the wages.
It's businesses own responsibility to pay whatever the going wage is to ensure they fill their vacancies. The government doesn't have a role to play here.
Which comes back to the same perennial problem: there are no votes for damage limitation.
5000 can be transferred from Germany or Poland, neither of which has any shortages.
I am tempted to "unlike" for your fake news "crisis, what crises?" Come back and tell me that on Wednesday when it finally is over and you'll get another "like".
Fifty years ago it was the unions like the NUM trying to rig the market. Now it's NIMBYs and people who expect others to only work for a government mandated minimum wage.
Either way the vested interests need standing up to.
Rodrigo Duterte: Philippine president announces retirement from politics
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58772586
Imagine being in your 60s and having to ponce money off your 95 year old mother to pay the bills associated with your noncery related legal difficulties.
Definitely not Brexit!
So how do we fix them?
Reverse a key part of Brexit.
But...
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-09-30/dollar-s-upswing-pounds-home-a-zero-sum-divide-in-foreign-exchange?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=bloomberguk&cmpid==socialflow-twitter-bloomberguk https://twitter.com/MikeTaylor/status/1443929943042400258/photo/1
The tax break was very nice to reduced the initial costs.
Whether someone has disruption in getting bottled water from Waitrose, or fuel from BP when ASDA has it, is much lower down my hierarchy of concerns than the issues about pay etc that I'm interested in.
Indeed far from being bothered by a little bit of disruption I view it as working as intended.
It is well known that Prince Andrew is asset rich but not cash rich.
Hence the default on his chalet, which is now being resolved and will leave him with no properties in the UK or abroad.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/prince-andrew-on-verge-of-selling-disputed-17m-swiss-chalet-r856g2vnt
the chancellor as pointed below is trying to get capex moving this year and is holding the line on lazy bastard CEOs who havent bothered training and upskilling their workforces.
Somehow wage rates that are higher than our competitors never seem to apply to Bankers and senior executives.
Thats calledd called recruiting talent.
Britain's wages and conditions improved relative to Germany's from 1979 to date thanks to Thatcherism.
The unions abusing their position hurt their own members in the long term.
Wages for the villeins are set at 4d for summer and 5d for winter.
It's all there in Magna Carter. Poor old Magna.....
https://www.ft.com/content/1e93fab0-916e-4697-be8a-af02bde94411 https://twitter.com/PickardJE/status/1444269181860524035/photo/1
There is no High Priest
Nobody has been expelled for blasphemy
Unlike Brexit
Anyone who has watched anything to do with this Government should know by now that decisions are only made when they can't leave things any longer.
By not manufacturing a crisis in June and waiting for one to actually appear this was always going to be the end result..
Also, I don't think Brexit or FBPE is a religion, even though they are ideologies, but I'm sure you can have religions with High Priests.
Another major retail boss was blunter: “5,000 drivers is pissing in the wind.”
https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1444270683211587586
1) People are receiving pay rises as a result of BREXIT
2) This means they are benefiting from BREXIT
3) Therefore they are essentially BREXITers and so are NeonNaziCommunistRacistScum.
4) Therefore they shouldn't be getting pay rises.
On the other hand
5) I am virtuous.
6) My pay rise is therefore virtuous.
Noone's changed their mind, we are where we are.
https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1444271828063735814