Brexit slowly becoming a Farce.

[HTG]

 

[Soapy FFC]

19 minutes ago, Bob Mahelp said:

We've went from 'oven ready deal' and 'easiest deal in history', to 'transition period where problems were expected'. 

It says everything you want to know abour Johnson, the Tories, and their right wing lapdogs in the press that this is being trumpeted without even the blink of an eye, as if all the promises made 5 years ago about Brexit never even existed. It honestly is taking brass necks to a new level. 

God, how I detest the UK.

 

 

“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

1 hour ago, HTG said:

 

'levelling up'

[BigDoddyKane]

There seems quite a lot of logistics problems around the world at the moment, if any good comes from it. It will mean production jobs closer to where the goods are sold, more diverse supply chains that are more equally spread between global and local. 

It would be good for Europe and UK if more production jobs appear and good for Asia to build a more sustainable economy thats not completely reliant on providing cheap goods to the west

ofcourse that also means everyone paying a fairer price for things

Edited October 5, 2021 by BigDoddyKane

[Suspect Device]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fuel-crisis-eu-drivers-visa-b1932336.html

27 applications for emergency visas. 

Not only that but I'd guess they might not be the best of applicants if they can't get a job in their own country when there's a global shortage.

[williemillersmoustache]

13 minutes ago, Suspect Device said:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/fuel-crisis-eu-drivers-visa-b1932336.html

27 applications for emergency visas. 

Not only that but I'd guess they might not be the best of applicants if they can't get a job in their own country when there's a global shortage.

This is something that has been missing from the labour shortage/low wage debate. Low numbers of applications inevitably means a reduction in quality/suitability of candidates. Ask any hotel or bar manager and they'll tell you that a good KP or Housekeeper is worth his or her weight in gold, despite these positions and similar being classed as low or unskilled. So hiring managers are often forced to take on absolute jobbers which leads to an increase in staff turnover as more of their recruits inevitably fail. Just look at the number of UK citizen farm labourers and pickers who sacked it after less than a couple of weeks. This leads to increased costs, lower productivity and the cannibalising of resource from within an industry

There will be increased competition for candidates in terms of wages and working conditions but ultimately these costs will be borne by the consumer negating and often outstripping any benefit from an increase in wages and it doesn't solve the problem of there not being enough suitable warm bodies to do the job.  Global Britain. Total f**k up.

[Dunfermline Don]

“The past was alterable. The past never had been altered. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Oceania had always been at war with Eastasia.”

I have just finished reading 1984 and it was frightening how relevant it is today especially when you consider how long ago it was actually written.

[Soapy FFC]

1 hour ago, Dunfermline Don said:

I have just finished reading 1984 and it was frightening how relevant it is today especially when you consider how long ago it was actually written.

It does seem at times that some people have taken it as an instruction manual, rather than a warning.

[coprolite]

4 hours ago, BigDoddyKane said:

There seems quite a lot of logistics problems around the world at the moment, if any good comes from it. It will mean production jobs closer to where the goods are sold, more diverse supply chains that are more equally spread between global and local. 

It would be good for Europe and UK if more production jobs appear and good for Asia to build a more sustainable economy thats not completely reliant on providing cheap goods to the west

ofcourse that also means everyone paying a fairer price for things

We'll be fucked for meeting our CO2 targets if we have to make our own stuff. Let China do it and take the flak for our excessive consumption 

[Paul Kersey]

2 hours ago, Dunfermline Don said:

I have just finished reading 1984 and it was frightening how relevant it is today especially when you consider how long ago it was actually written.

The only thing that Orwell didn't predict is that we'd be buying the cameras ourselves and that the biggest fear for many people is that nobody is watching.

[Dan Steele]

The UK PM: 

a difficult winter of the petrol crisis, shortages on supermarket shelves and soaring energy bills were symptoms of the economic path the country was on that would tackle a long-term lack of productivity, low wages and under-investment in energy and infrastructure. 

Meanwhile, a Govt. Minister:  

GREEN PORTS in Scotland will be uncompetitive if they have a mandatory requirement to pay the real living wage, the secretary of state for Scotland has said. 

 

 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

2 hours ago, The Skelpit Lug said:

The UK PM: 

a difficult winter of the petrol crisis, shortages on supermarket shelves and soaring energy bills were symptoms of the economic path the country was on that would tackle a long-term lack of productivity, low wages and under-investment in energy and infrastructure. 

Meanwhile, a Govt. Minister:  

GREEN PORTS in Scotland will be uncompetitive if they have a mandatory requirement to pay the real living wage, the secretary of state for Scotland has said. 

 

 

I'm 65 years old and I have never in my lifetime heard ANY Tory campaign for higher wages.  In fact it was always their philosophy to have a pool of unemployed scrapping for jobs to deptress wages, so this pish from Johnson and Co is yet another blatant lie.

The fact remains though that the only thing which will bring them to account is when the Southern English middle-class begins to feel real economic pain; at that point the Lib Dems not Labour would be the electoral beneficaries.

[Dan Steele]

7 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

have never in my lifetime heard ANY Tory campaign for higher wages.

Yup, but it just highlights the empty gestures and soundbites that will gather traction in certain quarters but, as with the Jack quote, the mask is never far from slipping. 

 

[Soapy FFC]

3 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I'm 65 years old and I have never in my lifetime heard ANY Tory campaign for higher wages.  In fact it was always their philosophy to have a pool of unemployed scrapping for jobs to deptress wages, so this pish from Johnson and Co is yet another blatant lie.

The Tories were the main driving force behind outsourcing jobs in the public sector to 'increase competition and reduce costs'. That only resulted in low wages and crap working conditions for the employees. in the past a hospital cleaner would have been employed directly by the NHS, have a decent wage, a decent pension and all the other benefits of a decent job. Now they have minimum wage and possibly a zero hours contract.

[BFTD]

Back in the Nineties, the Tories were absolutely howling about any attempt to bring in a minimum wage. Businesses bankrupted, mass unemployment, economy in tatters, we were told. I think they're quite keen on it now since they realised it's essentially the state paying a percentage of what their mates' businesses should be paying their employees.

They'd have had people working for their dole money by now if they'd been allowed to get away with it, so the idea that they're into higher wages is hilarious.

[NotThePars]

1984 is utter dogshit. I wish I could remember who wrote an article where the general gist is that everything Orwell imagines is the opposite of how it actually operates in real life.

Obligatory reference to the Isaac Asimov review though: http://www.newworker.org/ncptrory/1984.htm

[Thistle_do_nicely]

52 minutes ago, Soapy FFC said:

The Tories were the main driving force behind outsourcing jobs in the public sector to 'increase competition and reduce costs'. That only resulted in low wages and crap working conditions for the employees. in the past a hospital cleaner would have been employed directly by the NHS, have a decent wage, a decent pension and all the other benefits of a decent job. Now they have minimum wage and possibly a zero hours contract.

This rings true yeah, I think Yanis Varoufakis talks on it too and finds it profoundly sad. Gist was that he used to be on first name terms with the cleaner when he was a lecturer and built up a rapport with them, now wherever you go its a revolving door of faceless low level wageslaves.

33 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Back in the Nineties, the Tories were absolutely howling about any attempt to bring in a minimum wage. Businesses bankrupted, mass unemployment, economy in tatters, we were told. I think they're quite keen on it now since they realised it's essentially the state paying a percentage of what their mates' businesses should be paying their employees.

They'd have had people working for their dole money by now if they'd been allowed to get away with it, so the idea that they're into higher wages is hilarious.

Was it a court challenge that killed that? iirc there was a pilot scheme a few years back where people were indeed sent on some kind of shite like "skills development placements" at Poundland and the like for 2 - 3 weeks, with the threat of sanctions for not turning up, under the promise that once they completed the placement they might get given a contract... except that never happened because Poundland etc just got a new raft of claimants in for a while to get some sweet unpaid labour from.

[BFTD]

4 minutes ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

Was it a court challenge that killed that? iirc there was a pilot scheme a few years back where people were indeed sent on some kind of shite like "skills development placements" at Poundland and the like for 2 - 3 weeks, with the threat of sanctions for not turning up, under the promise that once they completed the placement they might get given a contract... except that never happened because Poundland etc just got a new raft of claimants in for a while to get some sweet unpaid labour from.

Yeah, it was a trial for the long-term dream of a return to the workhouses, but they were slapped down by the appeals court.

Never mind; they'll get there eventually.

[Salt n Vinegar]

3 hours ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

........ 

Was it a court challenge that killed that? iirc there was a pilot scheme a few years back where people were indeed sent on some kind of shite like "skills development placements" at Poundland and the like for 2 - 3 weeks, with the threat of sanctions for not turning up, under the promise that once they completed the placement they might get given a contract... except that never happened because Poundland etc just got a new raft of claimants in for a while to get some sweet unpaid labour from.

Aye, was that the place Kevin Bridges talked about having folk working for the dole? Something about how the workers would feel if they realised that everything in the shop was worth a pound except them...

[Baxter Parp]

https://theloadstar.com/its-all-going-tits-up-at-uk-box-ports-and-despite-what-boris-says-we-cant-fix-it/

It's all going 'tits-up' at UK box ports and, despite what Boris says, we can't fix it

The UK’s main container ports are overwhelmed with unclaimed imports and starting to refuse the restitution of empty boxes urgently needed back in Asia.