6 ms·

Amen. The great British public still have their heads in the sand in the wake of lorry driver shortages, nursing staff shortages and doctor shortages. You have

by cutler 5y ago

Amen. The great British public still have their heads in the sand in the wake of lorry driver shortages, nursing staff shortages and doctor shortages. You have to laugh or tear your hair out when the Home Office offers a 3-month reprieve hoping to lure exiled EU workers back to the UK.

zdragnar 5y ago
Brexit may not be helping matters, but it certainly isn't responsible for those shortages. Every western country is facing the same issues. Schools near me in (not UK) are struggling to feed students lunch because the companies they had contracted to deliver their food dont have enough drivers. One company a state over just cancelled their contract with nearly 60 rural schools because they simply aren't able to deliver.
- Symbiote 5y ago
  It helps if you say which country you're referring to. Maybe the USA? i.e. [1]. As far as I've heard, the EU doesn't have these problems. It's only the UK. (I can't speak all the languages, but I asked friends from Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy if they'd seen reports of shortages in supermarkets and restaurants, but none have.) The American problem looks fixable with vaccination, testing etc. A lot of drivers in Britain left the country, and there isn't a short-term fix. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/politics/schools-labor-supply-shortages.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/politics/schools-labor...
  - zdragnar 5y ago
    You should ask more people, the driver shortage in various EU countries has been pretty widely reported. For example, https://www.ft.com/content/e8ca2a08-308c-4324-8ed2-d788b074aa6c https://www.ft.com/content/e8ca2a08-308c-4324-8ed2-d788b074a...
    - Symbiote 5y ago
      I don't have an FT subscription. Driver shortages have been reported across the EU, but as far as I'm aware, food and fuel shortages are only in the UK. e.g. https://trans.info/en/there-s-a-europe-wide-hgv-driver-shortage-so-why-do-uk-supply-chains-seem-more-disrupted-254524 https://trans.info/en/there-s-a-europe-wide-hgv-driver-short...
      - zdragnar 5y ago
        I don't have one either, but the page didn't have any sort of paywall when I opened it. Sorry if one popped up for you :/
- Bayart 5y ago
  >Every western country is facing the same issues. There's none of that in France, at least not for every day consumer goods. The prices of energy however have skyrocketed and semi-conductors are as lacking as anywhere else.
Fnoord 5y ago
We have a shortage here in NL as well, and we're still part of EU, so I am not sure if/how Brexit is related. The job is being paid shit here in NL, and its high stress, especially since Covid-19. Its like blaming the current inflation on Covid-19; well, no, its the gas price which has gone up. And that is because of an artificial shortage by OPEC. I'm not sure why they do that though... I can only guess.
- Symbiote 5y ago
  Do you have empty shelves in supermarkets as a result? Closed restaurants? There's a shortage all across Europe, but as far as I have heard it's only in the UK where it's sufficient to cause problems with food distribution. (Natural gas prices have reduced food production in the Netherlands: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-30/your-tomatoes-may-cost-more-as-gas-prices-hit-dutch-greenhouses https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-30/your-toma... but would we have seen the result of that yet?)
  - tremon 5y ago
    Yes to closed restaurants, but that's because of Covid response, not supply shortage. Supermarkets have reported no problems keeping stock.
  - Fnoord 5y ago
    OP and I were talking about a shortage in healthcare workers... > The great British public still have their heads in the sand in the wake of lorry driver shortages, nursing staff shortages and doctor shortages. Restaurants open or closed is a luxury; /care Some food not available, might be a luxury, but the vids I've seen were quite shocking.
goodcanadian 5y ago
Polls have shown that a majority of "the great British public" now believe Brexit was a mistake, so I don't think it is fair to say they "still have their heads in the sand."
- FerretFred 5y ago
  Maybe.. it's the way it was implemented for what passes as a Government here (in the UK). It would've been better to keep the Common Market and just ditch the unelected Brussels bureaucrats. I've heard that Poland and France are making *exit noises too...
- r00fus 5y ago
  Until the Tories and nationalists that pushed Brexit face consequences, you can still argue the public has their head in the sand.
  - mdoms 5y ago
    I'm not British but I follow your politics and with the quality of Labour candidates you guys dredge up it's no wonder people keep voting Tory.
    - mattmanser 5y ago
      It's a first past the post system. Which results in a two party duopoly and voting for anyone else can actively harm your interests. So we don't actually have a choice, our politics are as rigged as American politics. A small cabal pick the two PM choices, and we have to pick between bad or worse.
    - r00fus 5y ago
      The same forces that drove Tories to the extreme right also spent decades dividing Labour between itself. The first-past-the-post electoral system has no defense against well-funded interests essentially buying all the candidates. One could wonder if the substandard electoral system exists purely because of this flaw (or feature for the few powerful).

by cutler 5y ago

zdragnar 5y ago

Brexit may not be helping matters, but it certainly isn't responsible for those shortages. Every western country is facing the same issues. Schools near me in (not UK) are struggling to feed students lunch because the companies they had contracted to deliver their food dont have enough drivers. One company a state over just cancelled their contract with nearly 60 rural schools because they simply aren't able to deliver.

Symbiote 5y ago
It helps if you say which country you're referring to. Maybe the USA? i.e. [1]. As far as I've heard, the EU doesn't have these problems. It's only the UK. (I can't speak all the languages, but I asked friends from Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Italy if they'd seen reports of shortages in supermarkets and restaurants, but none have.) The American problem looks fixable with vaccination, testing etc. A lot of drivers in Britain left the country, and there isn't a short-term fix. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/politics/schools-labor-supply-shortages.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/politics/schools-labor...
- zdragnar 5y ago
  You should ask more people, the driver shortage in various EU countries has been pretty widely reported. For example, https://www.ft.com/content/e8ca2a08-308c-4324-8ed2-d788b074aa6c https://www.ft.com/content/e8ca2a08-308c-4324-8ed2-d788b074a...
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    I don't have an FT subscription. Driver shortages have been reported across the EU, but as far as I'm aware, food and fuel shortages are only in the UK. e.g. https://trans.info/en/there-s-a-europe-wide-hgv-driver-shortage-so-why-do-uk-supply-chains-seem-more-disrupted-254524 https://trans.info/en/there-s-a-europe-wide-hgv-driver-short...
    - zdragnar 5y ago
      I don't have one either, but the page didn't have any sort of paywall when I opened it. Sorry if one popped up for you :/
Bayart 5y ago
>Every western country is facing the same issues. There's none of that in France, at least not for every day consumer goods. The prices of energy however have skyrocketed and semi-conductors are as lacking as anywhere else.

Fnoord 5y ago

We have a shortage here in NL as well, and we're still part of EU, so I am not sure if/how Brexit is related. The job is being paid shit here in NL, and its high stress, especially since Covid-19. Its like blaming the current inflation on Covid-19; well, no, its the gas price which has gone up. And that is because of an artificial shortage by OPEC. I'm not sure why they do that though... I can only guess.

Symbiote 5y ago
Do you have empty shelves in supermarkets as a result? Closed restaurants? There's a shortage all across Europe, but as far as I have heard it's only in the UK where it's sufficient to cause problems with food distribution. (Natural gas prices have reduced food production in the Netherlands: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-30/your-tomatoes-may-cost-more-as-gas-prices-hit-dutch-greenhouses https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-30/your-toma... but would we have seen the result of that yet?)
- tremon 5y ago
  Yes to closed restaurants, but that's because of Covid response, not supply shortage. Supermarkets have reported no problems keeping stock.
- Fnoord 5y ago
  OP and I were talking about a shortage in healthcare workers... > The great British public still have their heads in the sand in the wake of lorry driver shortages, nursing staff shortages and doctor shortages. Restaurants open or closed is a luxury; /care Some food not available, might be a luxury, but the vids I've seen were quite shocking.

goodcanadian 5y ago

Polls have shown that a majority of "the great British public" now believe Brexit was a mistake, so I don't think it is fair to say they "still have their heads in the sand."

FerretFred 5y ago
Maybe.. it's the way it was implemented for what passes as a Government here (in the UK). It would've been better to keep the Common Market and just ditch the unelected Brussels bureaucrats. I've heard that Poland and France are making *exit noises too...
r00fus 5y ago
Until the Tories and nationalists that pushed Brexit face consequences, you can still argue the public has their head in the sand.
- mdoms 5y ago
  I'm not British but I follow your politics and with the quality of Labour candidates you guys dredge up it's no wonder people keep voting Tory.
  - mattmanser 5y ago
    It's a first past the post system. Which results in a two party duopoly and voting for anyone else can actively harm your interests. So we don't actually have a choice, our politics are as rigged as American politics. A small cabal pick the two PM choices, and we have to pick between bad or worse.
  - r00fus 5y ago
    The same forces that drove Tories to the extreme right also spent decades dividing Labour between itself. The first-past-the-post electoral system has no defense against well-funded interests essentially buying all the candidates. One could wonder if the substandard electoral system exists purely because of this flaw (or feature for the few powerful).