Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Useless was on Marr today, sliming away. Cameron's dodgy dealings? Quite legal, nothing to see here. Handcock's secret drinkies (and other meetings) - transparency doesn't mean telling you everything (really).
Millions to donors - Rachel Reeves is Labour so you can't believe her.

Marr did go for it to an extent, but the ex-UKIP 40W bulb had a car crash.

It seems that the Pick For Britain initiative is being scrapped, with a good deal less fanfare than Eustice announced it with.

At least we're not alone in recognizing this wastrel collection of dust in a suit:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/carr ... -n7xr7sdt5

Oblomov wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:10 am At least we're not alone in recognizing this wastrel collection of dust in a suit:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/carr ... -n7xr7sdt5

"...according to Dan Hodges".

People buying fuel when they do not need it are the cause of queues at petrol stations and empty pumps, the environment secretary has said.

George Eustice said there was "plenty of petrol" and urged people to buy it in the way they usually do.

He said the situation would "calm down" and the lack of HGV drivers was not a "huge problem" for petrol stations.

There were no plans at the moment to bring in the Army to drive tankers, he said.

The Petrol Retailers Association, which represents nearly 5,500 of the UK's 8,000 filling stations, warned on Sunday that up to two-thirds of outlets were out of fuel, with the rest of them "partly dry and running out soon".

But Mr Eustice said the UK's fuel supply was at normal levels and the fears of disruption which had led to panic buying over recent days were unfounded.

"The only reason we don't have petrol in forecourts is because people are buying petrol when they don't need it," he said...


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58707455

So, people who need to use petrol, who have been panicked into buying petrol by our lying Cretinocracy telling them not to panic, are entirely to blame for petrol stations running out of petrol. There is no tanker driver shortage. Fuel is being delivered at least 9 days a week. It's all the petrol-users' fault for not trusting the lying Cretinocracy* and rushing out to buy petrol.

Glad that's cleared up.

Oh. While you're here, I have this lovely bridge I no longer need. Reasonably priced, too.



*If there *really* is no cause for alarm why did the fuckers even mention it in the first place?

I'm only going to worry if I can't get a tank full tomorrow evening, as that will see me right for the next three days at work.

If I can't, I'll be waving a lot of money goodbye - the joy of the 'gig economy'.

How dare a politician talk down to the people!!!

Oh, is that not what we say at this point in time??

The annoying thing is, they're technically correct (and they fucking know it in the words they pick) - there is no petrol shortage. It's all in the wrong place and there's no one to deliver it, but there's a lot of it

Crabcakes wrote: ↑Mon Sep 27, 2021 4:11 pm The annoying thing is, they're technically correct (and they fucking know it in the words they pick) - there is no petrol shortage. It's all in the wrong place and there's no one to deliver it, but there's a lot of it

Exactly. If the fuel's at a refinery in Milford Haven, it might as well be in Saudi Arabia for all the use it is to the motorist on empty staring at a "No fule" [sic] at their local garage.

But hey, it's nothing to do with Brexit, it's all the BBC's fault.

Useless Eustice has a stopped-clock moment

Migrant fruit-pickers are skilled workers, says ex-minister George Eustice

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-66056038.amp

The government currently prioritises what it defines as "skilled workers" for migration to the UK.

People who are good with their hands like fruit-pickers should not be deemed "low-skilled", George Eustice said.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has previously said there is "no good reason" why the UK can not train its own fruit-pickers to cut immigration.

In a BBC interview, the MP for Camborne and Redruth in Cornwall, a former strawberry farmer, said he "completely" disagreed - and the UK needed a long-term seasonal workers scheme...

Anyone who packs their bags for foreign lands to start again in tedious low paid work, is highly skilled in gumption and forethought that’s absent from their haters.

Just because fruit picking is not very technical doesn't make it easy. You probably need to be pretty fast to make it work within the low margins, and the people available in the local labour market might not be up to that. I certain never would have been. Doubtless Danny Kruger would propose collectivising the farms or something, but barring that, farm produce is a market, and if we'll import it if we can't produce it at the right price.

Physical fitness, mobility (as in ability and willingness to get to different sites), willingness to rough it, and psychological resilience (all weathers, early starts, long days). Lots of mud. No wiping of OAP arses, but no picnic.

Tubby Isaacs wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 6:58 pm Just because fruit picking is not very technical doesn't make it easy. You probably need to be pretty fast to make it work within the low margins, and the people available in the local labour market might not be up to that.

Sure I saw a report on the TV where someone was invited to pick soft fruit - and they lagged waaaay behind the migrant workers for speed and care.

As ever - if someone makes it looks easy, it's probably because that someone is actually very skilled at it.

I might have seen the same programme. Probably a decade ago or more? The farmer said thanks very much for your effort, but if every worked at your speed I'd have to shut the business down.

They don’t look very fast.


Used to use car wash machines as an illustrative example of how automation can dampen demand for immigrant labour. But experience got in the way and I now use both. The human car washers are more of a treat and have sprung up to provide a value add service getting in the nooks and crannies that automated brushes can’t. But Mr O’Flynn and his followers just see foreigners, working cash in hand, probably illegal. Send the buggers back!

Not looked at very closely either would be the idea that Israel, for reasons we probably don't need to go into much depth on, isn't exactly swimming with immigrants.

Perhaps the new immigrants are too busy bulldozing Palestinian villages to pick apples.

Israel excels at niche IT innovation and this is probably a demonstration test bed for a technology rather than a bespoke apple picker.

MisterMuncher wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 11:24 pm Not looked at very closely either would be the idea that Israel, for reasons we probably don't need to go into much depth on, isn't exactly swimming with immigrants.

Well, it is, but not fruit picking sorts of immigrants.