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Guest MattP
Posted
5 minutes ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

Would it be wrong to say this Question Time audience seems typically Plymouthesk! 

Love we had an ejection, not seen one for a few years.

Posted
1 minute ago, MattP said:

Love we had an ejection, not seen one for a few years.

Had a quick read of the synopsis and for a moment thought Michael Dubbrey was on This Week!

Guest MattP
Posted
16 minutes ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

Had a quick read of the synopsis and for a moment thought Michael Dubbrey was on This Week!

Michelle is even bloody better though!

Posted
11 hours ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

The final point to make, is having dabbled with various newspapers, the guardian ended up being my paper of choice most times because I felt some of the majority's of reporters in the areas I care most about are well versed on their subject matter and look to prevent facts and background so you can come to your own conclusions.

That's an unfortunate typo...

  • Like 1
Posted
13 hours ago, Buce said:

 

This was predictable - and potentially a serious problem, in agriculture/horticulture as in the NHS, care homes etc.

 

It would be interesting to know how much of the labour shortage is due to the fall in the pound and how much to a perception that we no longer welcome foreigners.

I'm sure both are factors but have no idea in what proportion.

 

I'm curious as to how fruit/veg growers became so dependent on foreign labour. In my late teens/early twenties (early 80s), I spent most summers (& sometimes autumns) picking fruit/veg in Kent and Norfolk.

I don't remember there being any foreign pickers. Depending on location, there were sometimes teams of gypsies, but most pickers were white English housewives, students, sixth-form students and blokes on the dole or in low-paid jobs.

 

Is that because growers get away with paying lower rates to foreign pickers (maybe indirectly by providing temporary accommodation, food etc.)? Because of a change in how such work is perceived so that students won't do it?

Because more housewives are in regular F/T or P/T jobs to support the higher real cost of buying/renting a home? I'm genuinely curious.... 

Posted
13 hours ago, Webbo said:

Nothing to do with the fall in the pound meaning it's not as lucrative to work here anymore? Guardian spreading hate again.

 

I don't know about "hate", but you certainly have a point about the headline - it's selective, to say the least.

 

It was because of such slanted content in news articles that I switched from Guardian to Independent when the latter was first published.

I hated the way the Guardian pandered to its readers' expectations, as the paper perceived them....and it still does sometimes (only buy it on Saturday now). 

 

It's fair enough to publish opinion articles by columnists arguing a particular case - but not to slant news articles like that.

Yes, perceptions of xenophobia are probably an issue, but the slump in the pound obviously is, too - and a serious news article should make that point properly.

Yes, the Mail and Sun are worse....but a serious broadsheet should be setting the bar much higher, surely?

Posted

We need a bit more innovative thinking to solve these issues, may be make the earnings tax free for local people on registered farms or the old fall back options of using community punishment and prisoners. 

Surely there's  people out there who have enough about them to offer imaginative solutions to some of the Countries problems. We just seem to be repeating the same mistakes it's  like living in Groundhog Day Land.

Posted

> Biggest UK population increase in 70 years. 

 

> We can't find workers

 

Either something isn't adding up, or I'm missing something that should be obvious. :unsure:

  • Like 1
Posted
43 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

This was predictable - and potentially a serious problem, in agriculture/horticulture as in the NHS, care homes etc.

 

It would be interesting to know how much of the labour shortage is due to the fall in the pound and how much to a perception that we no longer welcome foreigners.

I'm sure both are factors but have no idea in what proportion.

 

I'm curious as to how fruit/veg growers became so dependent on foreign labour. In my late teens/early twenties (early 80s), I spent most summers (& sometimes autumns) picking fruit/veg in Kent and Norfolk.

I don't remember there being any foreign pickers. Depending on location, there were sometimes teams of gypsies, but most pickers were white English housewives, students, sixth-form students and blokes on the dole or in low-paid jobs.

 

Is that because growers get away with paying lower rates to foreign pickers (maybe indirectly by providing temporary accommodation, food etc.)? Because of a change in how such work is perceived so that students won't do it?

Because more housewives are in regular F/T or P/T jobs to support the higher real cost of buying/renting a home? I'm genuinely curious.... 

 

4 minutes ago, davieG said:

We need a bit more innovative thinking to solve these issues, may be make the earnings tax free for local people on registered farms or the old fall back options of using community punishment and prisoners. 

Surely there's  people out there who have enough about them to offer imaginative solutions to some of the Countries problems. We just seem to be repeating the same mistakes it's  like living in Groundhog Day Land.

 

I did a stint fruit picking in Norfolk (mid 70's) and it was bloody hard work. 

No way would I do it now for minimum wage. 

Posted
2 minutes ago, Innovindil said:

> Biggest UK population increase in 70 years. 

 

> We can't find workers

 

Either something isn't adding up, or I'm missing something that should be obvious. :unsure:

 

Because we have laws against child labour?

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, Buce said:

 

I'm not sure if this is the right place for this (international politics, loosely related to Brexit), but I don't see where else it fits.

 

Turkish schools to stop teaching evolution:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/23/turkish-schools-to-stop-teaching-evolution-official-says

 

They are moving ever further away from meeting EU membership criteria.

I can't believe people even mentioned Turkey joining the EU pre-brexit with bloody Erdogan in charge. 

Posted
9 hours ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

 

Would it be wrong to say this Question Time audience seems typically Plymouthesk! 

I like when they all laughed at the Daily Mail guy saying it is a fair paper.

Posted
5 minutes ago, lgfualol said:

I can't believe people even mentioned Turkey joining the EU pre-brexit with bloody Erdogan in charge. 

 

It was Brexit scare mongering. 

 

Highly effective if my in-laws are anything to go by - it was the deciding factor in their vote. 

Posted
52 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

 

I did a stint fruit picking in Norfolk (mid 70's) and it was bloody hard work. 

No way would I do it now for minimum wage. 

The hardest jobs I've ever had to do have all been minimum wage. It's mental really but I guess it's more the fact that anyone can do them. Like what I was saying about supply of labour in the brexit thread (suppressing wages), if there are plenty of capable replacements for your job, why would employees increase your wages?

  • Like 2
Posted
1 minute ago, Strokes said:

The hardest jobs I've ever had to do have all been minimum wage. It's mental really but I guess it's more the fact that anyone can do them. Like what I was saying about supply of labour in the brexit thread (suppressing wages), if there are plenty of capable replacements for your job, why would employees increase your wages?

 

All true.

 

And why I haven't worked for an employer for over twenty years; if I'm going to be working to make somebody rich, I'd rather that somebody be me (not that I am rich - as I've mentioned before, my life-work balance is heavily skewed towards life).

  • Like 1
Posted
1 hour ago, davieG said:

We need a bit more innovative thinking to solve these issues, may be make the earnings tax free for local people on registered farms or the old fall back options of using community punishment and prisoners. 

Surely there's  people out there who have enough about them to offer imaginative solutions to some of the Countries problems. We just seem to be repeating the same mistakes it's  like living in Groundhog Day Land.

 

Maybe they could write off some of students' tuition fee debts in proportion to work done in the fields, as well as paying minimum wage or whatever?

A lot of students used to do summer fruit picking in the 70s/80s.

 

It was mainly paid piece-rate back when I did it in the early 80s. This is going to sound like Tory propaganda, but I used to work my arse off to increase my wages (lots of beer and LPs to buy!).

I was one of the hardest workers and highest earners in the fields. I remember taking home £120+ per week for apples and £100+ for strawberries, which was a lot of money for unskilled labour 35 years ago.

I'd collapse if I tried to do that now.

 

1 hour ago, Buce said:

 

 

I did a stint fruit picking in Norfolk (mid 70's) and it was bloody hard work. 

No way would I do it now for minimum wage. 

 

Hard work, especially spuds, but I still much preferred it to assembly line work (only did for a few days) and even to shuffling invoices in an office.

You're obviously just a lazy bastard, Buce. :whistle:

Posted
1 minute ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

Maybe they could write off some of students' tuition fee debts in proportion to work done in the fields, as well as paying minimum wage or whatever?

A lot of students used to do summer fruit picking in the 70s/80s.

 

It was mainly paid piece-rate back when I did it in the early 80s. This is going to sound like Tory propaganda, but I used to work my arse off to increase my wages (lots of beer and LPs to buy!).

I was one of the hardest workers and highest earners in the fields. I remember taking home £120+ per week for apples and £100+ for strawberries, which was a lot of money for unskilled labour 35 years ago.

I'd collapse if I tried to do that now.

 

 

Hard work, especially spuds, but I still much preferred it to assembly line work (only did for a few days) and even to shuffling invoices in an office.

You're obviously just a lazy bastard, Buce. :whistle:

 

lol

 

It's true that I see no virtue in hard labour, but one day I'll sit down over a pint with you and tell you about some of the jobs I did do to fund my travelling..

  • Like 2
Posted

Didn't take juncker long to knock back TM's offer. I thought we were supposed to hold all the cards here?

Posted
19 minutes ago, Buce said:

 

lol

 

It's true that I see no virtue in hard labour, but one day I'll sit down over a pint with you and tell you about some of the jobs I did do to fund my travelling..

Gigolo?

Posted
1 minute ago, Strokes said:

Gigolo?

lol

 

Trust me, Strokes, nobody would pay me for that..

 

Posted
4 minutes ago, Buce said:

lol

 

Trust me, Strokes, nobody would pay me for that..

 

 

Aye, I would've thought they'd pay you to stop!

  • Like 1
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