Systemic Collapse Watch - First Signs

[tank]

On 03/10/2023 at 12:38, Harley said:

A legacy of Blairism?

No.

It was going on long before him but with less organisation.

The entire Yes Minister series was based around quangos and bureaucratic interference. The difference now is the that the civil service mandarins and both the major parties are bought for and paid for by the same vested interests. I've got to laugh at that backbench Tory MP trying make out their hands were tied. They're all on the take. 

Edited March 13 by tank

[King Penda]

1 hour ago, tank said:

No.

It was going on long before him but with less organisation.

The entire Yes Minister series was based around quangos and bureaucratic interference. The difference now is the that the civil service mandarins and both the major parties are bought for and paid for by the same vested interests. I've got to laugh at that backbench Tory MP trying make out their hands were tied. They're all on the take. 

All ?  I suspect most are too stupid too. Realise that

[HousePriceMania]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/12/morrisons-posts-1bn-loss-debt-interest-payments-soar/

Morrisons posts £1bn loss as debt interest payments soar

[TNS]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-13191109/Metro-Bank-axes-jobs-losses-narrow-cost-cutting-efforts.html?ito=whatsapp_share_article-top

Metro Bank in the shit

[ashestoashes]

much gnashing of teeth that the attendance at the Cheltenham racing festival was down by 12,000, poor weather, pricey food blamed, maybe it's something else.

[Wight Flight]

32 minutes ago, ashestoashes said:

much gnashing of teeth that the attendance at the Cheltenham racing festival was down by 12,000, poor weather, pricey food blamed, maybe it's something else.

Ditching Ladies' day?

[leonardratso]

surely trans day should have balanced it nicely.
ADHD day would blow it away.

[Joncrete Cungle]

On 16/03/2024 at 16:02, ashestoashes said:

much gnashing of teeth that the attendance at the Cheltenham racing festival was down by 12,000, poor weather, pricey food blamed, maybe it's something else.

Expensive tickets, rip off food and drink prices. Huge queues for food, drink, toilets and bookies. Lads from town that used to go every year now just gather in a pub in town to watch and bet on their phones.

[Noallegiance]

Anybody else noticed shop shelves less full and stuff being out of stock?

[Frank Hovis]

10 hours ago, Noallegiance said:

Anybody else noticed shop shelves less full and stuff being out of stock?

 

Not in Cornwall.

We had this either last year or the year before, during the summer when it was busy, and when I asked it was a shortage of lorry drivers to deliver to the stores.  They were making the one delivery a day which is fine when it's quiet but they need two when it's busy.

I have noticed a fair few bus cancellations so I would say we're back to the shortage of HGV and Bus drivers generally because neither job pays enough.

About £31k with shift work and all the responsibility of driving and operating a huge bus.  Nein danke.

[Noallegiance]

1 hour ago, Frank Hovis said:

 

Not in Cornwall.

We had this either last year or the year before, during the summer when it was busy, and when I asked it was a shortage of lorry drivers to deliver to the stores.  They were making the one delivery a day which is fine when it's quiet but they need two when it's busy.

I have noticed a fair few bus cancellations so I would say we're back to the shortage of HGV and Bus drivers generally because neither job pays enough.

About £31k with shift work and all the responsibility of driving and operating a huge bus.  Nein danke.

That had crossed mind.

As an ex lorry and dust cart driver, nein danke indeed.

[Wight Flight]

3 hours ago, Frank Hovis said:

 

Not in Cornwall.

We had this either last year or the year before, during the summer when it was busy, and when I asked it was a shortage of lorry drivers to deliver to the stores.  They were making the one delivery a day which is fine when it's quiet but they need two when it's busy.

I have noticed a fair few bus cancellations so I would say we're back to the shortage of HGV and Bus drivers generally because neither job pays enough.

About £31k with shift work and all the responsibility of driving and operating a huge bus.  Nein danke.

Same. But we only pay £24k and now have a female driver recruitment campaign, so not much chance of getting any recruits (we already seem to have a lot of female drivers though maybe not over 50%)

[Frank Hovis]

3 minutes ago, Wight Flight said:

Same. But we only pay £24k and now have a female driver recruitment campaign, so not much chance of getting any recruits (we already seem to have a lot of female drivers though maybe not over 50%)

 

£31k is for bus driving in Cornwall to be clear, I expect the lorry drivers are in similar but don't know.

[Bilbo]

After reading that the HMRC were going to shut helplines for six months of the year and let some customers service staff work three days per week in the summer, I thought what's next ...today

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/mar/20/compensate-teachers-in-england-for-inability-to-work-from-home-report-says

Teachers want more pay because they can't work from home .

 

[sleepwello'nights]

On 12/03/2024 at 21:55, Boglet said:

Agree with this. We've got a costco card but go there fairly rarely. Nothing really appears that cheap in there, I always feel like I'm missing something.

One thing it does seem to be good for is electricals - you get a 5 year warranty on TVs and 2 years on pretty much everything else.

Their packs of toilet rolls are cheap. 

I buy stuff from Costco and usually the savings make membership worthwhile. Stuff we buy is tins of baked beans, a bulk pack lasts a year or two, cigarettes, my wife smokes despite my efforts to make her stop that saves £5-10 per 100 and that alone makes the membership worth it. The meat they sell is very good.

But yes I agree the bulk you have to buy is a negative and often the special offers in the supermarkets are more competitive than Costco's prices.

[Kendo]

3 hours ago, Bilbo said:

After reading that the HMRC were going to shut helplines for six months of the year and let some customers service staff work three days per week in the summer, I thought what's next ...today

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/mar/20/compensate-teachers-in-england-for-inability-to-work-from-home-report-says

Teachers want more pay because they can't work from home .

 

Maybe all other workers should be compensated for not having about 12 weeks off work compared with the standard 4-5 weeks. Yes I know they can end up doing long hours in term time but still, tough titty, they’ve got other ‘perks’.

[Mandalorian]

8 hours ago, sleepwello'nights said:

Their packs of toilet rolls are cheap. 

I buy stuff from Costco and usually the savings make membership worthwhile. Stuff we buy is tins of baked beans, a bulk pack lasts a year or two, cigarettes, my wife smokes despite my efforts to make her stop that saves £5-10 per 100 and that alone makes the membership worth it. The meat they sell is very good.

But yes I agree the bulk you have to buy is a negative and often the special offers in the supermarkets are more competitive than Costco's prices.

The savings from buying 5 tanks of Costco petrol pays for the membership when compared to other petrol stations.

[Loki]

14 minutes ago, Mandalorian said:

The savings from buying 5 tanks of Costco petrol pays for the membership when compared to other petrol stations.

They're just returning your money back to you though

[nirvana]

2 minutes ago, Loki said:

They're just returning your money back to you though

 

[wherebee]

11 hours ago, Kendo said:

Maybe all other workers should be compensated for not having about 12 weeks off work compared with the standard 4-5 weeks. Yes I know they can end up doing long hours in term time but still, tough titty, they’ve got other ‘perks’.

then again, looking after other peoples kids must be living hell, year in year out.  I know sometimes I even deserve a fucking pay rise for looking after mine!

[Kendo]

10 minutes ago, wherebee said:

then again, looking after other peoples kids must be living hell, year in year out.  I know sometimes I even deserve a fucking pay rise for looking after mine!

Quite. I don’t envy them. Depends on the school and area too, of course. But you take the rough with the smooth in my view. The number of people who think they’re hard done by and conveniently ignore the privileges they receive really grates on me sometimes.

[Mandalorian]

16 hours ago, Loki said:

They're just returning your money back to you though

But then after the 5, you're getting real savings