Westminstenders: a feature of the system not a bug

[RedToothBrush]

Tests on the new queuing system in Kent have revealed that lengthy tail backs are a feature not a bug.

We should get used to them because thats normal not the system malfunctioning, but the planned system working as designed.

Today we have found out that there's no money left. The economy is fucked. And tomorrow we will probably all be in T3 with the Isles of Wight, the tip of Cornwall and inner Westminster the only places left in T1.

Christmas has apparently been 'saved' though. Well if you are dumb and lacking in functional brain cells its 'saved'. Trade for Christmas is already thoroughly goosed and indoor family gatherings may come with a extra side of covid. The BBC have done an epic job of 'doommongering project fear' style graphics on this wonderful subject.

Tis the season to be jolly. Jolly fucked.

This is my experience working in hospitality in Tier 1 Cornwall right now. Since re-opening a few days ago we are 50% down on last years takings for the same week, and hearing the same from colleagues in other businesses

Increases in food prices are already being flagged by our suppliers. We don't know how much by yet but it scuppers our planning. How are we supposed to write a menu for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, plan staffing, cost our menus. I'm struggling with New Year's Eve planning as it is.

After that how on earth do we tempt our customers to eat out in the Jan - Easter period, when we're already out of our usual Summer tourist bonus that keeps us going all Winter normally?

The massive EU funded fish market down the road has trucks every day going to France / Spain full of fish and seafood that we don't eat here in significant quantities, even in the Summer when tourists are more adventurous. We don't even know how to pick a crab or fillet a fish. The crab pickers are mostly Eastern European, as are the people here right now picking sprouts, daffs, swede etc. They will be ok here this Winter but probably not next.

I just can't see how it's going to work. I'm at the end of the road with it and I can't stand the thought of working through all that to end up working 60-80 hrs a week next Summer to try and catch up.

I'm sitting here trying to predict what ingredients will be available from Dec 27th when we go back to work. It's a nightmare.

Worthwhile article in Prospect magazine:
t.co/DmKtVR11ma?amp=1

In looking back to old & familiar dangers, we may miss the new forces that are eating at the foundations of our democracy

Getting tempted to put a subscription on my Christmas list... 🎄

Wrt Ornua Foods -

How the heck did a company that began as an Irish semi state body manage to establish itself as a global dairy products behemoth with Ireland in the EEC and then the EU? Surely the EU only holds business back?

1973 was a big year for Ireland. We became a member of the EEC, opening up new trade opportunities for our little island. Kerrygold was exported to member states including Germany. It was the start of a special relationship.
nice use of language there... www.ornua.com/history/

Oh sweet Jesus! Is Andrew Bridgen really this thick?

@HannibalHayes

Oh sweet Jesus! Is Andrew Bridgen really this thick?

Yes.

Does he have his Irish passport yet?

@DGRossetti

In the same way that Canute didn't really try to hold back the tide - he was trying to show that even the King's power was limited.

The weirdest thing is I learned that so young (and at school) that it's a mystery to me that anyone could not know it's point.

And isn't it Cnut ?

Yes, as in Jeremy Cnut.

See also Aethelred the Unready. Was not unready he was ‘unraed’ or ‘redeless’ - ‘without counsel’.

@Arborea

Worthwhile article in Prospect magazine: t.co/DmKtVR11ma?amp=1

In looking back to old & familiar dangers, we may miss the new forces that are eating at the foundations of our democracy

Getting tempted to put a subscription on my Christmas list... 🎄

Nice seeing all the worms on hooks. Fair made my day.

If people stop stockpiling then there will be less shortage imo. I can't afford to stockpile anything now as I've broke my knee I'm paying out for a dog walker. ( Even without that I could not afford to stockpile). There are.millions who cannot stockpile anyrate. There are millions who cannot afford to eat let alone stockpile. So I'm completely against stockpiling. I don't eat fancy stuff cos of cost though I did enjoy jar of lemon curd from fortuan and Mason's my Dgd sent me from London! What I eat is easily obtained ( by someone else cos I can't go out) so am not worried. Soup and baked beans will do me with the odd tin of salmon lol!

Oh and “Military Planes To Fly Vaccines In To Avoid Ports Hit By Brexit”

Move along, nothing to see here ...

So why is the UK described as a 'hostile environment' if EU rules require EU citizens to apply for a residence permit within 14 days and prove they have enough money to support themselves?

The 'hostile environment' isn't a description of the UK by others, or a misreading of what is basically a EU policy with a new name.

It is an actual government policy, announced with that specific name. It is a broad, sweeping endorsement of racism and bigotry and discrimination against people perceived to be different, whose aim is to 'encourage' people to pack up and leave 'voluntarily' after many push factors have been put in place, including but by no means limited to a requirement that HCPs investigate the legality of a patient's presence in the UK. It has been rebranded as 'the compliant environment'. Same racist, inhumane shit, different bucket.

HMRC vows to keep customs check to the minimum.

Great, we're becoming a smuggler's paradise. And presumably people smuggling too. Which we know the Breshitters are so fond of...

"And isn't it Cnut ?"

I thought he was a Berliner polar bear? No that was Knut

Stockpiling when supplies are plentiful and JIT is working is not problematic and means less demand in January when the shit hits the fan. People who can stockpile should, so that those who could not stockpile have less competition when JIT has been smashed to pieces in January.

The Ornua foods depot is what I used to know 50 odd years ago as Adams butter. I used to live very nearby.

So I assume that the Irish concern bought out the British factory.

Yes, the Leek plant and the Adams Butter distribution network were bought in 1972.

Daily Mail furious that in urging people to vote to give away their freedom of movement, people no longer have freedom of movement...

It's hard to see how it came to this, but Boris as Nero is pretty much the feeling I get.

@HannibalHayes

Daily Mail furious that in urging people to vote to give away their freedom of movement, people no longer have freedom of movement...

It's hard to see how it came to this, but Boris as Nero is pretty much the feeling I get.

What do you think the chances are of the DM urging a "Better Deal for Britain", as soon as the cash has been trousered from the fallout in January?

Whatever else you you may say about that paper, shame, honour or respect is not a consideration for their campaigns.

Frankly, nothing would surprise me from the Daily Heil anymore.

The fact that people still read it, and believe it, is so far beyond my comprehension that I want another world to live in.

Unashamedly stashing although I have mainly finished. Mostly tidying away now.

If there are food shortages in January, is it better that I am home not shopping (or only buying milk), or better that I am in the shop competing for what little is left?

Stock piling well in advance makes it easier for those who can't.

I think we can take it for granted that the government is expecting serious disruption at ports, given that they are apparently planning to bring the Covid vaccine in on military planes.

Will they do the same for insulin, cancer drugs, medical isotopes?

Apologies, should have scrolled back sooner.

As for the hostile environment

• all countries have immigration rules
• they don't all have 'hostile environments' for both illegal and legal migrants as is the case in the U.K.

Indeed, the hostile environment in the U.K. is exceptional in that it has even been applied to people with a legal right to British citizenship.

Sos I think you are mixing up stockpiling and panic buying.

It's just so shit, all of it.

@DGRossetti

In the same way that Canute didn't really try to hold back the tide - he was trying to show that even the King's power was limited.

The weirdest thing is I learned that so young (and at school) that it's a mystery to me that anyone could not know it's point.

And isn't it Cnut ?

You listened, DGR. Most people (and children) don’t. They take away what they thought they heard, or wanted to hear, instead, which is part of the reason we’re in this predicament right now.

Re King Canute (or Cnut) I learned that very young and also thought that obviously he was trying to prove even a king can't stop the tide.
It's only since reading (eg) the aibu threads on mumsnet that I've realised how literal many people are.