Brexit -am I stupid or what

If their bunch had put one iota of effort into the campaign then we wouldn't have this shitshow in the first place! They rested on their laurels and it blew up magnificently

 

I'm not too fussed if a PM doesn't know the current cost of milk - it's a demanding job and I'd prefer it if they just let that responsibility (??) fall to the housekeeper (I have no idea if this is even what happens at No 10) on the proviso that the PM keep their eye on the country and does a bang up job. Needless to say I'm constantly disappointed.
Teresa May...is she doing her best? Is she? I look at her speeches (mostly rehashes of previous diatribes) and am left thinking it's broken her. The lights are on but no-one's home.

 

I whine and dine all the time! That's my job as a grumpy old man.

 

I agree with most of what you say @Beckie76, but not with one point and it is one that I have heard a number of times - We actually need foreign workers here to work in our factories, clean, wash cars, waiters/waitresses, sow, etc etc because those jobs have become unattractive to far too many English people who won’t work for minimum wage....so would rather be on the dole??? Go back to work people!

This is actually not strictly true - it is not that people won't or don't want to work for minimum wage, but in many cases they can't afford to. I saw this at play in my own industry, where companies were struggling to recruit bus drivers - it was quite quickly discovered that the money being offered for new starters (a quid or so above minimum wage) meant that people were not going to earn enough to pay their rent, let alone anything else. One company, local to us, got smart (well, they thought they did until they got caught) - they rented houses that were quite large, and then brought drivers over from Poland and put them in large numbers into each house and took a peppercorn rent from each driver (they effectively split the cost of the rent and bills amongst all of the drivers living there) and those drivers were sharing rooms, sometimes three or four to a room.

They were reasonably happy, as they were working full time, plus overtime, and paying £50 a week for a bed and bills; they were then able to send a load of money back to Poland each month, and did so for a year or two at which point they could move back to Poland having made enough money to buy themselves a house there outright, and then be able to work on the much lower wages over there.

At the same time, I had my family to look after and I was paying £1000 a month in rent and then had all the bills on top - I got by, but only just, and to be honest to this day I am not a lot better, and I am a manager. If I had to go back to driving tomorrow (not that I would be medically fit enough to drive PCV anymore), I would not be able to afford to pay my rent and bills on the wages paid - - and yet, would be on the fringes of the level of being given housing benefit support. It is not so much that we need those foreign workers, but rather that our jobs market is such that they are the only ones that can afford to do some jobs.

 

This is a systemic problem is it not, and not restricted to transport? It's especially problematic in the south east but naturally exists throughout the UK - current wages in public sector don;t reflect reality of living. Its acknowledged but the gov't aren't lifting a finger about it at least not in any real practicable sense.

I read today how the chamber of commerce feel businesses have been hung out to dry with the absence of any proper info on what to do following Brexit. The gov't just said 'we're focusing on getting our deal through'. Which is so utterly blinkered and infuriating that I actually threw my phone!

 

No it's not and it's another illustration of how successive governments have been incapable of developing sustainable solutions to pretty much anything.

 

Sadly, it boils down to a lot more than the foreign workers having lower expectations, and being happy with less disposable income - I know a lot of people that are working full time (and more) and only just managing to keep the wolf from the door. And this is why the other sharks manage to get their pound of flesh (and ultimately decrease living standards even more) - washing machine or fridge breaks down, they (we) have no choice but to purchase it on credit, and that can be anything from 19.9% apr to 39.9% apr if your credit rating is half decent, up to 59.9% apr if it isn't. Are people supposed to live without a washing machine or a fridge? Are they items only reserved for the upper classes?

@Loofah, you are spot on - this is more widespread than I think any of us imagine. 'Beds in sheds' is a big thing around here, and a lot of them are occupied (illegally) by foreign workers that are working for these low wages. A huge part of the problem as far as I am concerned is actually not the wages as such - but rather the dire lack of affordable housing in this country. Back when I was a kid, people earning those lower wages generally lived in a council house, with reasonable rent levels, and those who wanted to (and had enough money to do so) could buy a house if they wished. Now, we have people earning the lower wages having to try and afford to pay mortgage money just to keep a roof over their heads.

 

I agree that it was silly to expect Cameron to know the cost of everyday small items and the media should have just ignored it. He was making enough of a hash of things without picking on silly details.

I have a lot of friends who are given the shopping list by their wives and just go round the shelves picking the things up and paying at the till. I'm more like @Beckie76 although I don't check prices on line. Supermarkets can even have different prices for the same product (different wrapping) in different parts of the store! For instance, if you want to buy some type of nuts for eating/snacking it's cheaper to get them in the 'baking ingredients' aisle than in the 'snacks' aisle where it can be over £3 per kg higher.

I was shopping yesterday and Mrs Shiney asked me to get her a loaf of spelt and rye bread. The 400gm loaf was 80p and the 800gm loaf was £1.90. I asked the baker why and he said "because that's what the company tell us to charge". I also asked why the 400gm loaf is a softer texture and he said it's because they bake them, on the premises, in different types of oven

@pete A large loaf of a reasonably well made split tin is £1 in Sainsbury's. I think their bread is better than Tesco's as they use a better quality of flower - mainly Canadian. I bought petrol yesterday at £115.99 per litre.