to think what Boris Johnson has said today is unacceptable?

[NoviceNewMN]

first he has said (I'm guessing as a sop to commercial landlords complaining about properties being abandoned by businesses) that everyone needs to go back to work because they will be gossiped about:

"You have got to be able to come in, you have got to know what everyone else is talking about – otherwise you are going to be gossiped about and you are going to lose out"

Really? Firstly so what? and secondly, it's basically condoning bullying as a reason to get back to work.

Then he has said

'It's not the job of government to come in and try and fix every problem in business and industry."

Boris says it is 'not my job to fix all of the UK's problems': PM’s astonishing claim as he denies nation is in 'crisis' and DISMISSES inflation spike fears, fuel shortages and empty supermarket shelves as 'just part of his new approach'

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10060043/Boris-denies-claims-supply-chain-chaos-just-ending-UKs-low-wage-economy.html

Who gives a fuck about people supposedly gossiping about you when you don't have a 100 mile, 3 hour, round commute to do every day. Not my DH that's for sure.

There is a certain irony in Johnson saying 'It's not the job of government to come in and try and fix every problem in business and industry." and in the next breath be telling employees where they should be working from. So we can conclude he's happy to stick his oar in when it suits him.

Some of us are literally going in to sit on Teams/Zoom with other people in the office. There are no face to face meetings and doesn't look like there will be any for quite some time. There aren't any communal places to sit in for coffee/food or anything either, so we are basically just burning fuel for the sake of burning fuel at this point.

Oh and before anyone says anything, no, no one is buying coffee/sandwiches to support the economy. Everyone drives, there isn't anything like that in the building anymore and no one is driving off to get any either.

@JesusIsAnyNameFree Everyone drives, there isn't anything like that in the building anymore and no one is driving off to get any either

Is that because no-one has any fuel to drive off anywhere?

That's up to businesses/organisations. Funny he should wade in, apart from what I've already mentioned re: commercial property values.

£11m a year to the party coffers can buy an awful lot of rhetoric and nonsense.

I’ve been approached by headhunters for quite a few roles lately, at everything from startups to regulators to multinationals.

None is promoting a full time return to the office. Most are hybrid (some with an upper cap on office attendance as well as a floor) and some fully flexible.

I don't disagree with him either.

There is an increasing culture of learned helplessness - I see it a lot in my own workplace, we have teams of people seemingly incapable of resolving basic issues for themselves without involving their manager, or his/ her manager. We have whole teams of support staff, yet many people cannot take any form of personal responsibility, it's up to their manager to sort it for them. In the same way I see so many people saying oh it's the council's fault, it's the government's fault. Some things yet, but not everything. A lot of things we as individuals are responsible for and can change, or at least change the manner of our response. So on that count I think he's right.

The working from home debate, some companies including the one I work for has moved to permanent home working. However it's not true to say people are working as hard, I can say many colleagues of mine definitely are not; our workloads reduced by about 50% during lockdown...many staff got used to an easy life. Work is now about 75% of what it was and we have people going off with stress as they are overworked (except they're not - they just can't or won't work as hard as they used to in the office now they're at home. Some are now refusing to come in even for any kind of keeping in touch day quarterly as 'it's a waste of time'. Those people are definitely not doing themselves any favours.

@AttaGirrrrl

I’m no Boris fan, but I can’t see an issue with either of those. Yes, most people should be back at work now. No, the government can’t solve all issues. What’s wrong with that?

They're issues of his making

[quote RumblyMumbly]**@JesusIsAnyNameFree* Everyone drives, there isn't anything like that in the building anymore and no one is driving off to get any either*

Is that because no-one has any fuel to drive off anywhere? [/quote]
Well I am sure trying to conserve what I have left just in case

But mainly, it's because we all tend to take 30 minute lunches at best and you would have to spend that whole half hour rushing to get yourself a sandwich and eat it during the drive back. I certainly couldn't be arsed!

@JassyRadlett Just wanted to acknowledge your comment

So it's not the job of the government to ensure the population have food, that there is energy and basic amenities like fuel are available?

What is their job then?

People do need to be going back into the offices. I work with local authorities and various large suppliers. There is a lot of skivving going on. People who are hiding at home, who refuse to come in because its not 'safe' yet they go on holiday, meet up with friends etc.

I worked for over 30 years for a FTSE company who did embrace home working but only for the ones to be frank were to be trusted. Too many people took advantage of this and they learnt to pick and choose who to allow to wfh.

Now that everyone was doing it during the pandemic surprise, surprise productivity has gone down. You can often take upwards of 45 mins to an hour to get through to certain institutions. Look at how well the working at home for GP's (and hiding behind 'we will call you some time on Tuesday type appointments has worked out'.)

My DS had lectures on line and pre-recorded at university by some lecturers who often couldnt give a stuff.

[quote RumblyMumbly]@MintJulia but when we look at the current problems - HGV driver shortages, empty shelves, pigs being killed without entering the food chain, the public being more financially stretched for everyday life(and the NI increase is yet to be implemented) - Johnson & co are busily pointing to industry, the public, the media, basically anywhere but at their policies and actions.

Johnson is right that it's 'not my job to fix all of the UK's problems' However, as he has been absolutely instrumental in creating many of the current problems, I don't think he should get off the hook that lightly![/quote]
Precisely this.
It's like his Bullingdon days - trashing restaurants and walking away, leaving someone else to clean up his mess, except this time he's trashing the nation, and trying to blame us for it. It's outrageous. The particular form Brexit took is entirely down to him. He's the one who, in Feb 2016, was promising lower gas prices because of Brexit. He's the one who, in December 2020, was bragging that the deal realised every promise he had ever made. He shouldn't be allowed to just wash his hands of the mess and pass it onto others now, but I have a nasty feeling the great British public will allow him to do precisely that. Again.

@Porfre To maintain their hold on power.

@GoWalkabout

So he's saying workers need to keep their best interests in mind to get ahead and that businesses need to be in control of their own affairs? Sounds pretty Conservative to me.

Except that most businesses are struggling with issues created by the current government, both historically and because of the way the (badly) handling the different crisis.

Getting more HGV drivers might not be the government responsibility generally but it is when it also means the country is getting into a halt, shelf’s are empty etc…

He is once again blaming someone else for the government responsibilities. He is preparing us to have a go at companies/public/whatever for things going bad rather than holding him into account.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t think this is normal and usual tory attitude.

bully gonna be bullying

he should know

"free market" philosophy less evident when his government have been awarding public-sector contracts in past 2 years...

No thank you Boris, I'll continue to work from home and the minute I'm asked to go back into the office I'll be contacting recruitment agencies.

@Rosebel Maybe people are refusing because all the new hires are home based and the only ones left with office based contracts are those pre-covid? My department hasn't said anything about return to office because we have a staff shortage issue and all the new jobs around are mostly home based too.

@Rosebel it's called the free market economy. Why is Boris telling us to go back to the office? He's saying it's not the UK govt issue and he should keep his mouth shut how companies want to manage their employees working location.

YABU. Nothing he said was anything other than standard Conservative policy. The pandemic forced the govt to get much more involved in the lives of citizens than it ever wanted to be. His speech is signalling the end of the pandemic, to all intents and purposes, and a return to normal life, which includes going back into work for many people. Some employers have told their employees they can continue to WFH, but I'm guessing that many others are actually pretty eager to get people back in and that yes, those that continue to demand to WFH when it's no longer warranted will not be favour with their colleagues or their bosses - they'll be seen as shirkers. The govt has given everyone a chance to get vaccinated for free. This is as good as it gets. Covid is not going away - probably ever. It's here to stay and we have to get on and live with it.

Well if employers don't want people to go back to the office why keep the office?
BILs company sold their offices last year and will keep everyone working from home
No point having empty offices.

Well we know what good old Bojo is up to when he's at work then don't we? Never mind trying to fix the economy, did you see those hideous shoes Gove had on the other day

@Rosebel

Well if employers don't want people to go back to the office why keep the office? BILs company sold their offices last year and will keep everyone working from home No point having empty offices.

Ours are doing the same. We've been able to finally recruit more staff with the money saved on buildings.

Whether it's true or not why is he making these statements about being gossiped about? What does this have to do with running the country?

Did he include telling GPs to start seeing patients face-to-face again as a default? He should have done - if everyone else is expected to be back to 'business as usual', I don't see why it's still, apparently, GPs privilege to decline face-to-face appointments.

I'm not surprised he's shitting himself about commercial landlord's being out of pocket, though, there seems to be plenty of them mentioned in the Pandora Papers sitting on a hella load of prime London commercial real estate that's going idle.