OK, this isn't funny any more. Where's the army?

[Orangejuicemarathoner]

One quarter of staff and students late to school this morning, and 10% didn't get there at all. It has been announced that, excepting physical disability, any student within 4 miles or adult within 6 miles will be expected to walk in, but Its expected to be worse tomorrow with a good chance we will be closed by Wednesday.

AA reporting over 100 "incidents" on the road within a 10 mile radius of the school - mostly roads blocked, and mostly by queues outside petrol stations.

I struggled to get home by bike, because of the chaos on the roads - I got off my bike and walked several miles of it.

I called in at a supermarket on the way home. The shelves were more than three quarters empty. No bread or milk. So I'm sitting here drinking black tea planning rice for dinner instead of cheese on toast.

I know its not a catastrophe that I spent an extra hour getting home, and dont have milk in my tea, but what is that saying about the state we are in?

AIBU to say the army should be called in. What have we got an army for? Surely, an organisation of thousands of fit, capable, organised individuals, with vehicles and capacity and skills in logistics is exactly what we need to be utilised in this situation right here right now.

PS, is it ok to feed dog food to cats? does anyone know?

Especially when I remember all the posts on Mumsnet from pro-Brexit posters who were just glad that the cheap workers were going home because they can finally get jobs and everything

Heaven forbid people have work and affordable secure housing!

You don't have to be a Brexiter to emphasise with people who (shocking I know) needed jobs - and needed those jobs to be above poverty wage and with fair working conditions.

Exploitation of 'cheap labour'whoever that labour is, is never ok.

Unlimited freedom of movement would have been fine. Had Tony Blair and his successors funded the necessary additional infrastructure, housing, and public services. And protected the rights and pay of workers - British and migrant alike.

Brexit vote was 5 years ago. Why weren't government and employers preparing for this? It doesn't take 5 years to train HGV drivers and improve their working conditions.

@EerieSilence

*I have spent the morning On a zoom call to Germany They find it very funny that we can’t get any fuel*

TBH, considering the macho attitude of British politicians regarding the Brexit, there's definitely a huge fun factor to the whole fuck up.
Especially when I remember all the posts on Mumsnet from pro-Brexit posters who were just glad that the cheap workers were going home because they can finally get jobs and everything is going to be better, cheaper, more plentiful .... Bet they're saying it's just teething problems as they are preparing for the HGV certification.

One of things that many people in Britain never understood when the UK left the EU is that EU share resources. There is a shortfall of HGV drivers across Europe but until Brexit, the UK share those resources a a member. With Brexit, aside from visas and lack of freedom of movement, came more paperwork, longer waiting times and tougher personal conditions at ports making it not their while to come to the UK anymore.

I was reading with interest today that the chief of the Bank of England is warning about tough times ahead. Considering that next year the UK is going to implement full custom checks on all EU imports from health to animal to agriculture, I think the warning should be taken seriously.

Consumers are going to see a sharp increase in prices from medication to tomatoes.

@CraftyGin

They find it very funny that we can’t get any fuel

But plenty of people are getting fuel!

I can’t

@Tealightsandd - it's not about being spiteful. It's about all the macho behaviour previously:

• the racism
• the xenophobia
• the cheap workers taking British jobs
• there are whole streets in my home town which are Polish, you can't even speak English there!
• I was shopping in Lidl and the shop assistant was speaking Polish to her colleague, how dare she! She must have been talking about me!
• EU are bad and they don't want to see us succeed

Yep, there's a real fun factor to it.

More issues are now showing up from the legacy of Blair.

The furore over government proposals to cut down the costs of higher education, by lowering the threshold of repayment on student loans.

Blair's 'Education, education, education' aka loadsa debt for the taxpayer and the graduate - all for a job that doesn't actually require a degree. It was a big con pushed by the ultimate snake oil salesman.

It's a huge burden - on the taxpayer and student/graduate alike. More than 50% of the loans never get paid back - because the graduate never earns enough.

We have high unemployment.1 million+ - with numbers due to rise soon, once furlough ends.

Meanwhile we have a shortage of essential workers. Because Tony Blair and his heirs (Brown, Cameron, and May) stopped respecting and valuing very important vocational occupations.

We used to have good and well-funded adult education opportunities. Part-time, evenings, and weekends.

The problems of today were 30-40 years in the making.

Crap government voted for by stupid people
Brexit
Covid
Bad planning
Twats buying more than they need

Poor army having to deal with that lot

Brexit vote was 5 years ago. Why weren't government and employers preparing for this? It doesn't take 5 years to train HGV drivers and improve their working conditions

Because a) you have an incompetent government and b) there are consequences to improve their working conditions - consumers will pay more for basic necessities, which is something Boris doesn't want to do.

You have had a Tory government for the last 11 years, they were the ones driving Brexit, signed the Brexit agreement and have had 5 years to prepare the country for the changes that needed to happen to a country standing on its own. They've done none of it.

Oh it's Tony Blair's fault. Silly me. There I was thinking the Tory party has been in government since 2010. Personally, I blame Keir Hardie for stirring up the minions in the first place.

Tony Blair was the one insisting that 50% of the population went to university instead of encouraging youngsters to train for skilled jobs which weren't academic, but which could offer a perfectly good living. Instead, we've been telling on cheap migrant labour and providing really nasty working conditions and bureaucracy so only desperate people would want those jobs. The country is reliant upon ordinary workers as they keep things going. It's time we valued them.

Petrol & diesel must be about the only things you can't buy on Amazon, I'm surprised they haven't seen a gap in the market.

[quote EerieSilence]@Tealightsandd - it's not about being spiteful. It's about all the macho behaviour previously:

• the racism
• the xenophobia
• the cheap workers taking British jobs
• there are whole streets in my home town which are Polish, you can't even speak English there!
• I was shopping in Lidl and the shop assistant was speaking Polish to her colleague, how dare she! She must have been talking about me!
• EU are bad and they don't want to see us succeed

Yep, there's a real fun factor to it.[/quote]
People need jobs - and they need those jobs to pay above poverty wage and with fair working conditions.

It's not racist to want employers to not exploit cheap labour.

We have been flooded - on here and in the media - with articles and posts complaining about priced out Londoners and people from the south east moving to other parts of the country and 'taking' homes from 'locals' (always of course ignoring that the displaced southerners are only moving because other people including many many from the rest of the UK 'took' their jobs and homes).

Replace 'Londoner' or 'Southerner' with 'Eastern European'...

The majority of people in the UK are not racist (more insular, maybe, if outside of London).

It's all very well for the affluent profiteers who do very nicely indeed out of it. The Lib Dems recently won a by-election on NIMBYism. They vocally support freedom of movement... except to the leafy shires they live in.

Minority of genuine racists excepting, people would've been fine with freedom of movement had Blair and his successors ensured that it didn't become a race to the bottom. Like I said, they should have provided the necessary additional infrastructure, public services, and housing - and protected the rights and pay of all the workers - migrant and British.

@rocklamp

Tony Blair was the one insisting that 50% of the population went to university instead of encouraging youngsters to train for skilled jobs which weren't academic, but which could offer a perfectly good living. Instead, we've been telling on cheap migrant labour and providing really nasty working conditions and bureaucracy so only desperate people would want those jobs. The country is reliant upon ordinary workers as they keep things going. It's time we valued them.

This must be sinking to the bottom in blaming a party that has not been in power for 11 years for encouraging their young to go for tertiary education. With people like you the UK is seriously in trouble.

@rocklamp

Tony Blair was the one insisting that 50% of the population went to university instead of encouraging youngsters to train for skilled jobs which weren't academic, but which could offer a perfectly good living. Instead, we've been telling on cheap migrant labour and providing really nasty working conditions and bureaucracy so only desperate people would want those jobs. The country is reliant upon ordinary workers as they keep things going. It's time we valued them.

That doesn’t stack up. Because if some of that 50% couldn’t get jobs after graduating, then they would into training for other skilled jobs. Now I’m not saying that all graduates are currently employed in fields where they needed their degree. Plenty - most? - are not. But having the degree did not stop them for training for other work. They’ve not choosing to train as HGV drivers because (a) they don’t need to, they have other jobs and (b) they don’t want to - the conditions aren’t worth it.

Cheaper drivers definitely drove down wages - but they didn’t stop British born university graduates choosing to take those wages and conditions also.

And btw racism is far more prevalent in Eastern and Central Europe. Not that the majority of Eastern Europeans are racist.

Hungary has again recently had to play a national football match behind closed doors because of it.

I have a Polish friend in a biracial relationship. They live in the UK, despite having the option of a better quality of life in Poland. They faced too much racist abuse over there.

@rocklamp

Tony Blair was the one insisting that 50% of the population went to university instead of encouraging youngsters to train for skilled jobs which weren't academic, but which could offer a perfectly good living. Instead, we've been telling on cheap migrant labour and providing really nasty working conditions and bureaucracy so only desperate people would want those jobs. The country is reliant upon ordinary workers as they keep things going. It's time we valued them.

I agree We should respect jobs that don’t require a degree as much as ones that do. Of course everyone should have the opportunity to go to FE if they want but setting a 50% limit suggested that it was the only career path worth considering. In some countries you can become a master craftsman and so called “manual” trades attract as much respect as those needing a degree I would much rather one of my DC get proper training in a job than a pointless degree and lots of debt. Skilled jobs are as important if not more than a degree

Don't worry OP, the current administration's asset stripping of the country will end up in rioting sooner or later, & you'll end up with all the military presence you could shake a junta at.

They’ve not choosing to train as HGV drivers because (a) they don’t need to, they have other jobs and (b) they don’t want to - the conditions aren’t worth it.

Yes. And that's the consequences of 40 years of bad government. Both sides of the political divide (and the Lib Dems). It started with Blair and his successors continued down the same disastrous road.

Like with many bad practices, it takes time for the consequences to become apparent.

We need to start valuing the important vocational jobs again. Decent pay and conditions.

would much rather one of my DC get proper training in a job than a pointless degree and lots of debt. Skilled jobs are as important if not more than a degree

Yes it's the better option for many. We used to have very good well-funded adult education colleges. People trained on the job in apprenticeships and junior positions, but had the option also, if they wanted, of part-time, evening, and weekend study. It's perfectly possible to work whilst separately, in leisure time, broaden the mind/learn new skills/pursue an interest.

Also we have just welcomed 20,000 Afghan refugees, and many desperate migrants arrive at Dover weekly.

Some will be unable to work for various reasons but many can and want to. Instead of leaving them languishing in hotels waiting for increasingly scarce social housing, we should instead offer them training opportunities. Most people (wherever in the world they're from) prefer the chance of self respect and being able to fund and house themselves and their families.

They are just as capable as white EU workers.

We should also support our increasing numbers of unemployed with training/retraining.

Of course it will be essential that the jobs offer above poverty wage and fair conditions for all - British and migrant.

@Alondra

… there are consequences to improve their working conditions - consumers will pay more for basic necessities, which is something Boris doesn't want to do.

Very much agree…..that’s the reality but never mind “Boris”, I suspect that when push comes to shove paying more for basic necessities will be something that many people here don’t want to do either.

QueenoftheKarens
”Please stop blaming Brexit.

It's down to covid as well. DVLA need to get their arses into gear and fast!”

I’m in Scandinavia. We had covid like the rest of the world, but we have no shortage of food or fuel. At least not yet.

A major part of the answer is buying and building a lot more social housing. Employers can only afford to increase wages by so much. In many cases it still won't be enough to meet the spiralling costs of housing.

The public health housing emergency costs the taxpayer hugely. Its impact is felt across society. The direct costs - massive benefts bill to pay extortionate rents and top-up poverty wages, plus billions of taxpayer money spent on expensive temporary accommodation. But also indirectly - including the understandable reluctance of people to pursue low paid occupations with current shortages, including hospitality.

Where I live there are several new build developments for shared ownership and Help to Buy. Overpriced, and not as urgently needed as social rented homes. We should build some to buy homes but we've currently got the balance wrong. Not a single one of those new builds near me are social rent. And this is an area with huge social housing waiting lists and very high levels of homelessness.

[quote notimagain]@Alondra

… there are consequences to improve their working conditions - consumers will pay more for basic necessities, which is something Boris doesn't want to do.

Very much agree…..that’s the reality but never mind “Boris”, I suspect that when push comes to shove paying more for basic necessities will be something that many people here don’t want to do either.[/quote]
If they got higher wages - and access to badly needed affordable housing - they'd be able to afford the increased costs.

We cannot continue on a exploitative race to the bottom model. Long term it causes serious consequences for society. As we are now seeing.

If they got higher wages - and access to badly needed affordable housing - they'd be able to afford the increased costs.

True, but that’s not going to happen short term in the UK and yet it’s become fashionable (with good reason) to call for Drivers T&Cs to be improved to attract people to the job……the cost of doing that will be hitting people’s’ pockets obvious well before any government sorts out affordable housing.

As one or two pps have pointed the balance in many other countries is different…basic necessities, including food in the supermarkets can often be more expensive than the UK but housing costs are generally lower…and I have no idea if you could ever shift the balance towards that model in the UK, or even if there would be popular support for doing so,

*If they got higher wages - and access to badly needed affordable housing - they'd be able to afford the increased costs.

We cannot continue on a exploitative race to the bottom model. Long term it causes serious consequences for society. As we are now seeing*

Which is true. But long term reform means serious fiscal reform - bigger taxes for multinationals and high income people which no conservative government is prepared to do.

Reality is that unless a progressive fiscal reform is made the ones paying for their higher wages are going to be average consumers paying more for housing, groceries and energy when their own salaries stall and can't keep up with inflation.