The Political Thread

[Old Tankie]

A very sad film on BBC2 tonight "Children of Syria."  "Syria's war is a war on children," says the film maker Lyse Doucet.  Terrible.

[Trout]

Threads dedicated to difficult topics can keep some loons contained within, Trouty.
I can recall at least one occasion that someone uncoupled their discussion from another thread to bring it here, so it's maybe good to have a lightning rod on a forum as fond of thread drift as this one.  I know I'd have highjacked that Paddington Bear discussion if someone hadn't started a dedicated Holocaust Denial thread.

Or we could talk about 2000AD.

[Professor Bear]

This is hardly the place for that.

[Richmond Clements]

Blood boiling int three. two, one... http://www.stopwar.org.uk/news/let-s-party-says-middle-east-peace-envoy-tony-blair-as-israel-carpet-bombs-gaza

[ZenArcade]

I'm pretty equivocal about the Gaza situation, but that party really sickened me. Z

[Professor Bear]

Say what you like about Tony B, but you can't say he's a fool, and only a fool would go to Israel right now as a "peace envoy" and illustrate to the world how useless they are.

[The Legendary Shark]

Peace envoy my arse - Blair's just a wannabe elite sent hither and yon by agencies of wealth and power to encourage general chaos and in-fighting.
.
Israelis v. Palestinians, North Koreans v. South Koreans, English v. Irish, U.S.A. v. Everybody - it's all about keeping us at one another's throats. Divide and conquer, it's the oldest trick in the book.
.
Everywhere I look I see people in conflict. Even in this country we have so many scapegoats to choose from as the source of all our woes; immigrants, nationalists, fundamentalists, police, politicians, bankers, corporatists, communists, anarchists, religionists, the rich, the poor, the middle classes, the elites, the homeless, the jobless, the sick, the old, the young. There are people out there who think I'm the problem, or that you're the problem.
.
Only the people themselves in places like the Middle East can solve their problems. The first thing they have to do is stop taking any notice of people like Tony sodding Blair, then they might have half a chance.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

At my place of work, they've just sent two people over to Poland (on the QT) to recruit a load of drivers. I presume that this must be because the locals are lazy buggers and earn more money on benefits, than actually working!

[ZenArcade]

They are very hard working, punctual and mannered. They also work for less than their UK equivalent. Globalised economy and all that. Z

[Jim_Campbell]

I presume that this must be because the locals are lazy buggers and earn more money on benefits, than actually working!

Or possibly they find it difficult to find the money for a commercial driving license because the Unemployment Service won't fund it.

Or are you suggesting that there are lots of unemployed commercial drivers just sitting around, living the high life on that £72.40 a week (available for six months only, assuming two years of Class 1 NI prior)...?

Cheers

Jim

[COMMANDO FORCES]

No Jim they are not sitting around on that amount and you know quite well that people when they play the system can get a lot more than that. Also you don't need two years driving experience to work for the company, you can pass your test on Friday and get a job there on the following Monday, once you have been assessed. It's not allowed to discriminate like that anymore. Obviously there might be other compnaies that do but not with any of the major companies, otherwise you leave yourself open for a lovely court case!

By the way, this is not the first time the company have done this, as with another major company that I know of.

Why should the Unemployment Service fund your training? Should they fund everyone's training for any job that they want!

[Jim_Campbell]

Why should the Unemployment Service fund your training? Should they fund everyone's training for any job that they want!

You're the one suggesting they should take the jobs. If they don't have drivers' licenses, commercial or otherwise, how are they supposed to?

And, yes, the Unemployment Service will send you on lots of stupid, pointless training courses that shovel hundreds of pounds a time into the pockets of private training companies to help you "write a better CV" or "manage your time effectively" but something that might actually help people get work...?

Jim

[Frank]

At my place of work, they've just sent two people over to Poland (on the QT) to recruit a load of drivers. I presume that this must be because the locals are lazy buggers and earn more money on benefits, than actually working!

That's because real terms wages in the private sector are in the kind if long term decline your parents could never have imagined, despite profits increasing steadily during the same interval:






Your employer's profits in particular are in the toilet, but since other large food retailers are experiencing growth, maybe the guys with clipboards and ties are more directly responsible for the overseas recruitment strategy than the guy down the road who gets up at noon to pull his trackies on and let his staffie out for a crap in the childrens' play park.

[ZenArcade]

Agree with that, the bottom line is that a company is there to maximise profits and minimise overheads. They will of course employ people who will work for less. The onus should be on some form of benchmarking in these areas to ensure it is worthwile for British workers to do these jobs. By that I don't mean the minimum wage, which is exactly that: a minimum. The wage rates are static or falling over the past 15 years due to an influx of workers from abroad who will essentially work for less. I imply no criticism of these workers, but the free movement of labour in an unregulated market will lead to what we currently have.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

There are numerous unemployed drivers out there. I know you find it hard to believe that people don't want to work, especially anti-social shift work! Numerous drivers start at all hours from 23:00 till 05:00, which may put people off but surely a work ethic means that you get in there and wait for the opportunity to get onto a better shift, unless those times suit your lifestyle to begin with!

As for profits and such, the investment in the local shops has took about 1/4 of a billion off the companies overall profits but it still made 3/4 of a billion last year. As Tesco is seeing, the Aldi's and such are eating into the profits of all and that is the way of business. Evolve or become the next Woolworths!

Why the supermarkets keep investing in home delivery is beyond me. Not one has made a profit from doing this but like sheep the bosses think they have to follow one another! I think Ocado have been going 15 years and made a constant loss!