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.

I’ll give an example. I set homework to be handed in on, say Thursday at the beginning of the lesson (so it won’t get missed if the end of the lesson is delayed for any reason). The task and deadline are written in planners (copied off board) under supervision.
Come Thursday, beginning of lesson:
Me - homework in the box please.
Replies:
Did we have homework?
I didn’t know we had homework!
I thought it was in for tomorrow/next week/sometime/never
I thought it was online
I handed it in on Tuesday
I thought it had to be handed in at the end of the lesson so when did you plan to do it?
I thought it was voluntary really?
You told me I didn’t need to do it because spurious reason here
etc. etc. mind bogglingly infuriating.

Sorry forgot to add- some of them are downright lying but some of them really believe their excuses.

@HoneysuckIejasmine

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

It's just so shit, all of it.

I stockpile you panic buy... panic buying is last minute stockpiling... stockpiling is long term panic buying.

I rather agree with Sos, but at the same time if you have the space and can afford it, it makes sense to stockpile if you can.

I am very concerned about the people which can’t stockpile. The community systems set up for Covid to get food to vulnerable will help. But anyone who can afford to increase their donations to food banks should give as much as they can. I don’t know if anyone has used the Olio app for food ‘recycling’ - but it’s good.

Stockpiling and panic buying. Same thing. You stockpile cos you frightened u won't be able to get supplies in the future. You panic buy because you frightened you won't get any supplies in the future. Yes it's all shite for those who cannot do either.

which can’t stockpile

Who not which

You stockpile so you won’t have to panic buy.

I'm sorry that you're in this situation Sos Not getting involved in the stockpiling discussion as it's been done to death elsewhere.

I don't see stockpiling and panic buying as the same thing. My parents always had a cupboard full of tinned food, in case they got snowed in and in later years because with declining health, they found it difficult to get out. That's stockpiling.

Panic buying is going out and buying a whole trolley load of loo rolls for a family of four, enough to last a whole year, which obviously did happen at the beginning of the pandemic.

Stockpiling and panic buying. Same thing. You stockpile cos you frightened u won't be able to get supplies in the future. You panic buy because you frightened you won't get any supplies in the future. Yes it's all shite for those who cannot do either.

Buying now, when shops still have time to replenish stocks, doesn't impact post-Brexit availability.

From about the third week of December, stock piling and panic buying essentially become the same thing, in the sense that they both draw upon stocks of food already in the country that may not be able to be replenished before the end of the transition.

It’s not that clear cut. Some people cannot stockpile in advance because they don’t have the room to store the stuff.

Some people “panic buying” for Covid were ill and elderly people doing a big shop just before lockdown because thereafter they couldn’t go out so it had to last.

Not getting involved in the stockpiling discussion as it's been done to death elsewhere.

Brexit in a nutshell though, isn't it? Having to have the same conversation again and again because people are failing to understand. Nuance is lost, dead and buried and putting fingers in ears and saying la la la isn't going to stop you being wrong.

I usually don't do a good shop in January. I use it to clear out all the half a portion of that and dreggs of this lurking in cupboards and freezers. This year I've purposefully built it up so I can prob avoid going to shops for even longer. Thereby allowing those without space or means to have easier access to what is in the shops. I can't understand why that's a bad thing.

There were some people who went a mad as Covid hit and panic bought 1000 loo rolls. But some were last minute stockpiling.

Maybe they hadn’t seen the signs or were too busy at work - that happened to a lot of NHS workers who were overwhelmed with work at the time everyone else was shopping.

@TatianaBis

It’s not that clear cut. Some people cannot stockpile in advance because they don’t have the room to store the stuff.

Some people “panic buying” for Covid were ill and elderly people doing a big shop just before lockdown because thereafter they couldn’t go out so it had to last.

It is that clear cut though - logistically, stockpiling and panic buying are different things. What you're arguing is that those of us who can stockpile should not do it because other people can't - for reasons of space or finance. That's a moral argument.

I've always kept my freezer and my cupboards full. For years and years - because when it snows around here, the roads and the people on them get stupid. I'm not going to change that now.

Irregular verbs innit?

They panic buy
You stockpile
I buy the essentials for my family.

Yes I do have a Brexit stash, which came in handy when Covid struck. What is left on the shop shelves in Jan will be available for those who did not stockpile by choice or by necessity. Anything not used will go to the food bank.

Re 'let them eat cake' Lucy Worsley in her series 'Royal History's Biggest Fibs' - stated that the saying was not attributed to Marie A until 50 odd years later.

It is that clear cut though - logistically, stockpiling and panic buying are different things. What you're arguing is that those of us who can stockpile should not do it because other people can't - for reasons of space or finance. That's a moral argument.

I’m not actually if you read my posts. I have stockpiled, I’ve not said people shouldn’t do it. Logistically stockpiling nearer the time is still stockpiling. Last minute stockpiling has more impact on current supply so it’s to be avoided if possible.

I've always kept my freezer and my cupboards full. For years and years - because when it snows around here, the roads and the people on them get stupid. I'm not going to change that now.

You’re lucky to have a freezer and cupboards and the funds not to live hand to mouth - many people don’t.

Stockpiling/panic buying is actually a rational response to uncertainty/fear of shortages. Just because it has negative effects at the community level doesn't make it any less rational at the individual level.

And therein lies the problem. It takes real leadership to get people to agree to behave in a way that benefits the community even if doing so carries the risk of negative impacts for the individual or family.

I agree.

It takes leadership and rationing. During the first lockdown it was the supermarkets that rationed and no doubt will do again.

Is anyone else concerned about the current bird flu outbreak and the impact on chicken imports from January? There's an outbreak of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza all over Europe right now. All birds in Britain need to be kept indoors from the 14th December and there have been farms infected dotted all over the country: www.bbc.com/news/uk-55201167

I think under current UK/EU rules, movement of birds is banned around a farm where there has been an infection. However, third countries usually get really unhappy about imports from countries that have outbreaks of livestock disease (i.e. foot and mouth disease). Will we care about imports of chicken from EU infected countries from January or will we just shrug and let it in anyway?

@Peregrina

I don't see stockpiling and panic buying as the same thing. My parents always had a cupboard full of tinned food, in case they got snowed in and in later years because with declining health, they found it difficult to get out. That's stockpiling.

Panic buying is going out and buying a whole trolley load of loo rolls for a family of four, enough to last a whole year, which obviously did happen at the beginning of the pandemic.

Rhod Gilbert did a bit about that in one of his shows ...

In times of genuine emergency people don't go shopping .... I expect you think the gift shop on the Titanic was rammed as the ship was going down ? "Man the lifeboats !!!!!" - "I will, but first he's got my giant Toblerone" ...

(I appear to be able to memorise entire standup shows after a single viewing. Apparently that's "not normal" ?)

There were some people who went a mad as Covid hit and panic bought 1000 loo rolls.

Which did - and still does - strike me as a little odd. It's the least needed item in the house. Bucket and sponges or flannels and you're set. (What the fuck have all these students being doing on their exotic gap years ? Clearly not learning how 70% of the world has to live.)

JRM nailing it, as usual.

@Clavinova

Clav Out of interest and I'm not trying to be snarky, if you are quite rural (guessing from the farm shop but could be wrong

Edge of rural and town - I can walk to Waitrose as well.

It must be pretty affluent if it has a Waitrose. I've lived in a similar but slightly more urban area and it was like living in a bubble. House prices skyrocket making residents feel richer and every Chancellor's budget makes it worse if you are poor and better if you are more well off. If you are lucky enough to be more fortunate, it makes it seem that things are going great. If I walked around the local area, I would think things were all well. If I went further afield, I would see how strained things have become.

@Mistigri

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.

Yep. And this is the reason why, even after 20 years and the SS, I don’t feel safe. This is also the reason why I still wouldn’t feel safe if I had a british citizenship. The U.K. is just too keen on removing it/being difficult when it comes to renewing your passport (and decide there was a mistake in the first place and. You’re not BRITISH).

And they are now going after the lawyers who are preventing the HO from doing illegal stuff re immigration.

How can anyone feel safe in those conditions??

This came on my kitchen iPod earlier and almost had me in tears. An English folk singer's prescience, although since it was recorded about 40 years ago I expect she'd seen it all before:

We were traveling north to sing and play
For friends that we had never met
Been working hard and didn't speak
The sky was grey and threatened wet
And I dreamed that I saw unicorns
Dreamed I saw them wild and white
Their sudden beauty lit the world
Like a star will light a winter's night
Pure as love with manes of milk
They danced and pranced and cried aloud
Bright as rainbows round the stars
Their eyes were soft and sad and proud
And I wept for the wild and dirty world
To which this beauty now was lost
And cursed the hungry mind of man
That feeds the future at such cost
My head was bowed, my eyes were closed
When in my ears their voices rang
And these few words lodged deep inside
And in my very soul they sang
We never went away
You always knew that we were near
Remember how to look for us
You'll see we were always here
I raised my eyes to seek them out
The world was empty all around
The rain came tumbling from the sky
It drowned all dreams upon the ground
And when they asked me why I wept
Like one who for his dead love mourns
The only answer I could give
I dreamed that there were unicorns
We never went away
You always knew that we were near
Remember how to look for us
You'll see we were always here