Scrutable

Shortages and hoarding in the US https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/sign- ... r-shortage

Dutch bluntness on Radio 4: "The EU workers we speak to will not go to the UK for a short-term visa to help the UK out of the sh.t they created themselves."

Brightonian wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 12:49 pm Dutch bluntness on Radio 4: "The EU workers we speak to will not go to the UK for a short-term visa to help the UK out of the sh.t they created themselves."

There's a brilliant pause just after that, as the presenter says "<sigh>... thank you, not ideal language, but we, we, we get the message."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00101j8 (about 1:57:25)

I’m in Penzance this week for work. No signs of queues at Sainsbury’s petrol station (£1.29/l unleaded) and the shelves were well stocked in the store.

headshot wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:21 pm I’m in Penzance this week for work. No signs of queues at Sainsbury’s petrol station (£1.29/l unleaded) and the shelves were well stocked in the store.

Any pirates?

Brightonian wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 3:08 pm

headshot wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:21 pm I’m in Penzance this week for work. No signs of queues at Sainsbury’s petrol station (£1.29/l unleaded) and the shelves were well stocked in the store.

Any pirates?

No, lots of orphans though...

Brightonian wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 3:08 pm

headshot wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:21 pm I’m in Penzance this week for work. No signs of queues at Sainsbury’s petrol station (£1.29/l unleaded) and the shelves were well stocked in the store.

Any pirates?

Maybe they are nicking stuff off the passing Irish mega-ferries to keep the supermarkets of Penzance stocked.

The FT ran this piece a couple of days ago, which opened with a couple of paragraphs of satire:

Boris Johnson has urged Tory MPs to hold their nerve as fears over supply shortages rise up the political agenda and ministers worry that the party may run short of excuses by Christmas. Several top party figures have been spotted panic-buying explanations, while others were seen queuing for hours amid reports of emergency supplies of mitigation.

Ha ha. And yet, over at the Mail, they have turned it into this:

Yes, they are actually claiming that "Senior Tories are panic buying". Brandon Lewis down at his local Tesco getting the pork pies in or something.

(Other amusing points include a picture taken in "Middlesex", which AFAIK hasn't existed since 1974, and a woman emerging from Costco with the smallest possible amount of toilet paper and bottled water that you can buy there.)

And I suspect that "One in six Britons have been unable to buy essential food items" probably means "One in six people polled said that one or more items that they wanted had been out of stock in the first shop they tried", which is not quite "no bread or milk to be found".

But I can't help feeling that stories like this bring the tipping point closer. Perhaps the equilibrium is less finely balanced with food than with fuel, but I'm not going to be on it.

I interpret that story as a deliberate attempt to trigger panic buying.

sheldrake wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 7:13 pm I interpret that story as a deliberate attempt to trigger panic buying.

I don't (because I don't see what the Mail gains from that), but it's certainly not going to reassure people.

sTeamTraen wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:35 pm

sheldrake wrote: Sun Oct 10, 2021 7:13 pm I interpret that story as a deliberate attempt to trigger panic buying.

I don't (because I don't see what the Mail gains from that), but it's certainly not going to reassure people.

The mail could have advertisers or shareholders who would love to see panic buying. The mail's editor might want to see disorder to vindicate their opinions. They might just have wanted to give you a little adrenalin spike to make you click on it so they could sell more ad space and f.ck the consequences. Journalists do sh.tty, irresponsible things all the time, especially in the UK.

sheldrake wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 4:39 pm Journalists do sh.tty, irresponsible things all the time, especially in the UK.

They certainly do.

squid game though yeah?

eta if things ‘tip’ I don’t think it’ll be in the UK first.

The UK bus and coach industry has become the latest sector to be hit by labour shortages, resulting in a reduction in some scheduled services and local authorities scrambling to provide children with school transport.

Andy Warrender, operations manager for coaches at the Road Haulage Association, a trade association, said the number of vacancies across the bus and coach industry topped 5,000 and that some operators had begun rescinding on contracts for school services because of a lack of drivers.

https://www.ft.com/content/8a2a86a7-d25 ... 3223709863

It’s going to be an interesting winter if there aren’t enough drivers for gritter trucks.

headshot wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 5:49 am It’s going to be an interesting winter if there aren’t enough drivers for gritter trucks.

People can grit their own roads. Big society, innit.

After "bung a bob for Big Ben's bongs" you can have "grab some grit for Great Britain's ground" or something.

Bird on a Fire wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 10:13 am

headshot wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 5:49 am It’s going to be an interesting winter if there aren’t enough drivers for gritter trucks.

People can grit their own roads. Big society, innit.

After "bung a bob for Big Ben's bongs" you can have "grab some grit for Great Britain's ground" or something.

I think the local ones are generally council employees who get shifted onto the gritters when it gets a bit parky. If there's going to be a shortage of gritter drivers in the near future there probably should be a shortage of, say, refuse collection operatives or gardeners now. Though now that I think of it, there might be. I mean, it's not like I've been keeping an eye on bin emptying or watching the grass grow.

Here's an anecdote for you:

My father drives a gritter during the winter. He owns a landscaping company and work naturally dries up a little during winter so thats one of the jobs he subcontracts out to. There are a few like him who have real jobs too but most of them are the guys you see leaning on a shovel at roadworks during the summer.

jdc wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 7:02 pm If there's going to be a shortage of gritter drivers in the near future there probably should be a shortage of, say, refuse collection operatives or gardeners now. Though now that I think of it, there might be. I mean, it's not like I've been keeping an eye on bin emptying or watching the grass grow.

Does a strike count? If so: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -continues

https://mobile.twitter.com/lewis_goodal ... 8506445827

Maybe this.

Millennie Al wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 11:55 pm

jdc wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 7:02 pm If there's going to be a shortage of gritter drivers in the near future there probably should be a shortage of, say, refuse collection operatives or gardeners now. Though now that I think of it, there might be. I mean, it's not like I've been keeping an eye on bin emptying or watching the grass grow.

Does a strike count? If so: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... -continues

I used to help a disabled person, who was married to a waste operative, with her garden. This was 10 years ago and her partner was on a work to rule schedule and rightly so I thought. Nothing changes. We cannot live without waste operatives and they make our lives so much better. Plus they take our recycling and garden waste.

I hate the name garbage, it's rubbish.