Are you still pro-Brexit?

[Fatasfooook]

Brexit will have soon cost the UK more than all its payments to the EU over the past 47 years put together

www.businessinsider.com/brexit-will-cost-uk-more-than-total-payments-to-eu-2020-1?fbclid=IwAR3E3Xc8p0bgNF06hCJZzr61Ak-6VetNbFv5vrfsV041nPvDZeFSCnjHcdg&r=US&IR=T

And what will this miracle of modern engineering cost upfront?

And what will this miracle of modern engineering cost upfront?

Expensive probably - Hull Hunter [field tests] supply Waitrose and Marks and Spencer etc.

The European Regional Development Fund (UK contributions sent back to us) is part funding a robot system to harvest cauliflowers;

"A project to develop robot systems to harvest cauliflowers has received £216,000 from Agri-Tech Cornwall, a three-year, £9.6 million initiative part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, with match-funding from Cornwall Council."

"Dr Stoelen is also working on a tomato-picking project in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which has received funding from the Agri-Tech in China: Newton Network+ (ATCNN) fund."

They can't all be wasting their money.

Raspberry picking robot in action - 25 seconds here;

www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/university-spinout-secures-equity-funding-to-enhance-development-of-robot-fruit-harvesters

But according to its inventors, when operating at full capacity

So why demonstrate it to journalists when it’s not working at “full capacity”? Sounds more like its inventors had their fingers crossed behind their backs.

That article was taken from a Guardian piece:

But [Nicholas] Marston [chairman of the British Summer Fruits (BSF) trade body] cautions: “It will be 10 years before robots will work as effectively as people.”

www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/26/world-first-fruit-picking-robot-set-to-work-artificial-intelligence-farming?utm_source=headtopics&utm_medium=news&utm_campaign=2019-05-26

Of course it will be expensive! And European labour is cheap so you’ve just scored a spectacular own goal. Next?

Yes, and more pro-Brexit with every passing day

And European labour is cheap so you’ve just scored a spectacular own goal.

I disagree - the larger farms will invest in the robots initially - they won't need new robots every year - just maintenance. In 2018 55% of large farms with horticulture used seasonal labour, 23% of medium sized farms and 18% of small farms.

The government is running a seasonal workers pilot in any case - until the end of December 2020;

www.gov.uk/government/news/seasonal-workers-pilot-opens

Robotic apple harvester debuts in New Zealand;
www.geekwire.com/2019/apple-picking-robots-gear-u-s-debut-washington-state/

Cav - Coronavirus may well drastically change the movement of labour around Europe, not least in healthcare staff, there is now going to be tremendous pressure on HCPs, countries are going to do what is necessary to keep them.

We don't know how many waves of this infection there will be, in the 1918 pandemic there was 3.

Its somewhat premature for the UK to say we will get XX foreign workers....do you really think the UK is going to welcome 10k workers from other countries hit with CV ?

Coronavirus may well drastically change the movement of labour around Europe

I agree - but that's the same for every country - Brexit or no Brexit -
Spain and Germany had problems recruiting fruit pickers last year;

www.freshplaza.com/article/9073933/spain-solutions-requested-for-shortage-of-strawberry-pickers/

If the situation is that bad more UK farms may be forced to offer PYO or we may have to import more fruit from Southern Africa for example - they don't appear to be much affected by Coronavirus at the moment.

there is now going to be tremendous pressure on HCPs, countries are going to do what is necessary to keep them.

Last week it was announced that the number of nurses in the NHS was up by 8,000 compared to last year. But yes, Coronavirus is very worrying for everyone.

That's exactly what i meant, CV affects all of Europe and RoW, i'd hope we'd be trying to lower our carbon footprint.

S.Africa and indeed the rest of the continent, wont be testing too much for CV, they've not the resource, given the Chinese involvement in Africa, who knows what the true picture is?

Can only find that nurse numbers rose 1100 to 37000, in 2019, so still 39000 short......

It's ironic how a lot of the "who will pick the fields" is but a one word change as to the resistance of abolishing the slave trade.

The funny thing is that preparing for Brexit has prepared us for the surviving the Covid-19 virus. Being more self sufficient is proving to be a really good thing. Bring on more Brexit.

Of course it will be expensive! And European labour is cheap so you’ve just scored a spectacular own goal. Next?

I thought you Remainers liked to pretend that it was nonsense that European labour drove down British wages?

Are you in favour of exploiting people from poorer countries then? That’s not very socialist of you.

Op you are getting boring. Yes I am still pro Brexit, and have become more so as time goes on

This is the kind of statement pro Brexit people make. Despite the enormous economic impact they think its 'boring' or 'whinging' to be concerned about it.

You cant argue with stupid.

Last week it was announced that the number of nurses in the NHS was up by 8,000 compared to last year. But yes, Coronavirus is very worrying for everyone

NAO reports that nurse numbers up by 5,000 comparing 2010 to 2019, but that still leaves a shortfall of 43,590 across the UK, including 15% vacancy rate in London.

Years ago - hundreds - kids helped with harvesting. It’s why the school year is the way it is. They’re also the only people who don’t have to worry about not getting a wage for the rest of the year

Let’s be clear ‘working holidays’ on hop farms and missing school to harvest was not ‘kids helping’. It was some children. It was poor children helping families survive ( harvest) and a chance for poor families to escape the inner cities (hop picking). It certainly wasn’t the rich children who continued on their predestined path towards a very comfortable life whilst little Tommy the tenant farmers child or little Jean the daughter of a travelling family were put to work aged seven.

Surely nobody is so blinkered about the past that they are seriously suggesting it’s appropriate for children to miss school to pick hops?

I am a remainer but I am not a Socialist. The two things are not intrinsically linked.

Oh, and I'd much rather we benefit from the collective wisdom of the EU on Covid rather than "stand on our own".

The arrogance of believing that the UK is somehow better off battling through things alone rather than in collaboration with like minded neighbours is astounding. We are not special.

I realise that Sunshine but I was responding to AlsoHuman Who is a socialist, I believe.

yawn

Yes, I would still vote for Brexit. I was actually 50-50 when I voted but the Remainer angst has made me more pro-Brexit than I was before. Insulting other people's intelligence or values is never a good way to promote your cause.

Insulting other people's intelligence or values is never a good way to promote your cause.

But this thread proves that the insults go both ways. Whichever way you voted the opposite side will always insult you.

I voted to Remain. I'd vote to Remain every day of the week and twice on a Sunday. I've seen nothing compelling since the Referendum to convince me that Leave can offer anything I'd willingly vote for or want.

Matt Hancock tweet last week;
"NEWS: figures just out show record numbers of nurses in the NHS - up 8,000 on last year."

but that still leaves a shortfall of 43,590 across the UK, including 15% vacancy rate in London

Obviously there are nurses covering the shortfall but they are agency nurses;

"2018 The NHS is spending almost £1.5bn a year on temporary nursing staff to cope with shortages, research has found."

Who did those jobs before freedom of movement within the EU?

Actually, who did that? Was it possibly the windrush generation and the Irish, e.g. immigrants....?

The white working class? They were toiling the fields and being peasants, serfs and slaves to the upper classes for hundreds of years but apparently their efforts and existence are to be written out of history. And the UK was more or less ethnically homogenous for hundreds (thousands) of years until approx 1950s when the first larger wave of immigration started (I know there has been very small amounts of immigration throughout its history).

And European labour is cheap so you’ve just scored a spectacular own goal

It's cheap because poverty wages are heavily subsidised by other (often pretty poorly paid) taxpayers via benefits (tax credits, housing benefits etc) basically so that big companies and the rich can make huge profits from slave labour without having to pay towards it.

The "I was 50:50 but because remainers keep on about it I'm all for Brexit" argument is similar to those who say they'll smoke for an extra 6 months every time someone tries to persuade them to stop.