Westminstenders: How many Dead Cats Do You Get In A Thunderstorm?

[RedToothBrush]

It never rains. It only pours.

What I wouldn't give for a bit of old fashioned drizzle right now.

4 years on and we are facing a torment of calamities. Brexit, serious political instability in the USA ahead of an election that Trump will refuse to lose even if he does, trade deals with the rest of the world put on 6 week deadlines, anger within the commonwealth, a sick weak dependent PM on the back foot and ill briefed, rampant growing corruption in the Tory party, woke nut jobs out of touch with reality, councils on the brink of bankruptcy and the whole covid-19 crisis.

TaLking BRiTaiN DoWN!

@ListeningQuietly i agree about many people Who will work from home rather than going to work, at least some of the time .
Thé problem that I have with that is space. Space for those people to have an office and be able to work on something else than the kitchen table for days in end. I think many people have been happy with that during lockdown. But long term, this would be an issue (and that’s wo talking about HSE ie having appropriate chairs/desk, computers at the right hight etc... when you don’t have a desk as such).
We’ve ended up having to actually invest to upgrade our conservatory because of that (DH will work from home or mainly from home for the forgeable future). Im very aware that any people will not be able to have either q spare bedroom or the money to do what we have done. And then what?

@TheElementsOfMedical

TaLking BRiTaiN DoWN!

Question we had to buy a new desk to take the screen mounts, but otherwise have been ok. But that's because we have a spare bedroom, which is obviously far from the norm.

Questionmark
I do not think that most people will remain WFH full time
some will go back full time
many part time
so the way each person configures their work will be to best match their commitments and capacity

what has changed for EVERYBODY is that bosses have had to accept that staff they cannot see are getting on with the job

ALSO, if people are only having to go to an office two days a week for the needed hours
they will be willing to spread more evenly across the country

I'm already seeing what were dormitory villages come to life
because the residents are there in the day
and with that come facilities and different opportunities

on the other hand one lady I was working with had gone into the office every day on the lovely quiet roads as her four kids were using every available surface at home

its going to be interesting

I'd also hazard a guess that the Venn diagram of Great Science-type Space People being squirrelled lauded and the Glorious Brexit-type Brexitannian True People looks approximately like:

O .......... O

Yes it’s a pain. Because DH is tall, he has an ‘adapted desk’ at work (higher tan your usual desk) with the associated hair. At home, he is on dinning table working on a laptop all day long. Cue for shoulder and neck pain etc....

We ARE lucky that we have the spare cash to do the work AND buy a new desk for him. But if we hadn’t, im wondering how his company was expecting him to work.....

Questionmark
His employer SHOULD have provided a flexible desk and proper chair
employment law you know
and in the long term, the saving they will make on reduced office costs HAS to be diverted into making sure people can work effectively at home.

My friend’s employer paid for her to get a proper office chair to allay her back pain from using her kitchen chair.
My previous employer used to survey staff every year to ask if they needed different chairs/desks/mounts/footrests/gel wrist rests etc. to protect their health.
Isn’t this a HSE legal requirement for computer-using staff, and wouldn’t it still apply to those WFH?

I am not sure Listening
DH has had no input on whether he can or want to work from home. He has been told he IS working from home. There is no configuring things so it works best etc....
So yes things will get reconfigured to it works best for companies, just like they have done in Spain some years ago. I doubt that atm this will automatically mean a better situation for the employees.

As for place who were dormitories becoming alive.... if people are actually wfh, sureLy they will be at home rather than out and about anyway? In places with a long commute, I get that it means more people around for longer period each day. For people who have much shorter commute (like myself or dh) I don’t think it’s going to make a huge difference. It will depend a lot of where you live...

@ListeningQuietly the issue though is that we have NO SPACE for a desk or chair in the house atm. There is no point for a company to provide one because DH couldn't use it!!
And that’s my point. To benefit from that, you need to already be well enough to have the space to put an additional desk and chair in your house. Not everyone will be able to.

DH has had no input on whether he can or want to work from home. He has been told he IS working from home. There is no configuring things so it works best etc....
His employer is breaking the law - he should give HR a call to check what their policy and insurance cover is

As for place who were dormitories becoming alive.... if people are actually wfh, sureLy they will be at home rather than out and about anyway?
What I've seen is that people who used to be away from 6am to 8pm
are now having a morning stroll in the village
looking to buy lunch in the village
having their afternoon stroll in the village
looking to buy supper in the village
doing top up shops in the village
because they are online from 8.45 to 5.30 with 45 minutes for lunch ....
that level of extra footfall makes a HUGE difference to communities

And
back to accountable government
BUGGER
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53210773
Sedwill is walking

Sedwill has resigned.

Effective September

Looks like forced out.

...

Tsk, I wasn't mocking horizontal launch - just noting that our best option was Newquay - which isn't exactly accessible for large transports.
(& vertical launch from there carries the risk of tourists beneath the debris field - south westerly winds and all that)

At 50N it doesn't change the basic issue with economically viable payload/orbits options. Oito is at 33N which may well put geostationary orbits in reach without having the carrier aircraft fly too far (ie less fuel, more payload)

With the whole continent of Europe available there is a reason why Ariane launches from French Guyana. Its cheaper to ship payload halfway round the world than build a much bigger/riskier rocket. (Baikonur is at 46N - which is why Russian rockets for equatorial targets are bigger and why Ariane uses it for polar targets.)

The point is the reasons we stated for wanting a launch capability don't fit with a UK launch site - fine if we want to get into earth observation - crap for telecoms, GPS and most spook uses.

I wonder if the rise in WFH is going to see a house price adjustment, as the shoeboxes built in the past 30 years suddenly become totally unfit for purpose ?

(Ponders the possibility of using the unheated outside storage units some modern houses come with. Maybe there's a growth market in fitting them out as offices ?)

@DGRossetti

I wonder if the rise in WFH is going to see a house price adjustment, as the shoeboxes built in the past 30 years suddenly become totally unfit for purpose ?

(Ponders the possibility of using the unheated outside storage units some modern houses come with. Maybe there's a growth market in fitting them out as offices ?)

Definitely - a number of our neighbours have spent lock down converting garages as their needs require - home office, gym, etc. I know two families in my estate extending for ground floor space rather than move too.

guacamole dip on the side
Not mushy peas, Clav?

DH pointed out the ill-fated "Beagle" was from Leicester - that ended

oops, may have posted too soon

...not well

So that’s the Foreign Office, Home Office and Cabinet Office permanent secretaries that have been forced out now.

Re WFH, architects are already spotting a need for flexible home spaces with moveable walls rather than the open plan spaces that have been all the rage for the last few years.

@TheElementsOfMedical

launch from the UK doesn't get to any useful orbits without excessive fuel = lower payload

Ah, but maybe if you BeLeave hard enough, that literally re-writes the laws of physics?

Ye cannae break the laws of Physics, laws of Physics, laws of Physics...

sorry to all the regular Scottish posters, prettybird etc

@DGRossetti

I wonder if the rise in WFH is going to see a house price adjustment, as the shoeboxes built in the past 30 years suddenly become totally unfit for purpose ?

(Ponders the possibility of using the unheated outside storage units some modern houses come with. Maybe there's a growth market in fitting them out as offices ?)

DGR do you mean the "garage" which is about big enough for a"goodies" tandem and a decent duty free wine rack?

The biggest problem with these "modern" detached single garages is the tandem drive in front, and having to do the car shuffle every morning/evening.

Re wfh. Late MIL's house - with garden - is about to go on the market. EAs confidently expecting interest from flat dwellers suddenly wishing they had a garden, based on recent enquiries.

My office is expecting staff to wfh where possible, as long as possible. Management are expecting a flood of requests for flexible working, especially compressed hours.

I would like to think that Mark Sedwill's departure could be seen positively - he is getting out before the shit really hits the fan, and he is made one of the fall guys. Let's see how Priti Patel's apparatchik fares.