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by merseymouth
29 Sep 2021, 12:22pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Panic buying, hoarding
Replies: 1644
Views: 56890

Re: Panic buying, hoarding

Hi JDSK, Try page 4 of 29/9/2021 issue!
The transport industry has long been tardy in addressing driver shortages, both current & predicted. Same goes for many other areas of our society, building, health, education et al, but this country is too obsessed with a university education (at great cost ), offering little towards non academic areas of the potential workforce!
Th only area that I see to be putting any money into youth training is certain areas of that bladder kicking business, and even then they seem to make a Horlicks of it?
The DVLA is a risible joke, one which I will have to contact myself very soon, something I'm not looking forward to? TTFN MM
by merseymouth
29 Sep 2021, 10:54am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Panic buying, hoarding
Replies: 1644
Views: 56890

Re: Panic buying, hoarding

Hi again, Check out todays DT, it shows the ONS's figures on the make-up of the HGV Driver departures? The Transport Select Committee has stated that blaming Brexit for the shortage is a falsehood! The Chairman, who was a staunch "Remainer", kills that stone dead.
The prime cause of the shortage can be attributed to two factors, lack of training opportunities being created by the private industry, and then the DVLA Covid Crisis, which affect even more than just HGV drivers!
E.U. regulations certainly exacerbated the problem, forcing older drivers out of the work force, but then there is little effort being made to replace them.
Brexit may actually help us out of this hole as we no longer have to blindly follow the E.U. Regs Paper trail.
I might predict a shortage of laxatives on the supermarket shelves, but that shouldn't prove too problematic with all of the hogwash being uttered over such matters! MM
by merseymouth
29 Sep 2021, 8:59am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Panic buying, hoarding
Replies: 1644
Views: 56890

Re: Panic buying, hoarding

The problem is that Macron's predecessors made the "Little Corporal" seem quite a modest chap! De Gaulle's antics during WW2 were a disgrace, all about him being the saviour of France, reality was far different.
The Palmares of Mitterand are also open to question, only the "Bouncing Czech" had a dodgier record! MM
* Eisenhower, the Storage Depot General, with no actual combat command experience, was in overall control (Sucking up to FDR), but almost all of the other leaders were up to snuff. Slim, Alexander, Horrocks, Montgomery et al were all men with a proven track record. Of the Americans only Omar Bradley rates mention, the super-star 5* Generals such as Patton were flawed. That followed on from the leadership of the Americans during WW1, numbers of Dough Boys made the difference not their leadership.
Don't assume that I support either the American "Special Relationship" or Boris, I certainly don't, but neither do I find anyone to float my boat from the E.U. hierarchy, don't assume my liking of any of the current crop of political animals! MM
by merseymouth
29 Sep 2021, 8:52am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Go Angela,my kind of woman!
Replies: 60
Views: 2008

Re: Go Angela,my kind of woman!

My favourite smoking example is to flag up the M.P./P.M. who was the inspiration for the naming of a pub in Knowsley village, Lancashire, the "Pipe and Gannex". Yep, Harold Wilson M.P. for Huyton.
The pipe was his prop to show he was a chap cut from working class stock, but that was all it was, smoke & mirrors! He always smoked sizable cigars when not in the public gaze.
Now it the foul mouthed Labour Deputy Leader instead smoke Romeo et Juliet she would show up as Bohemian and a real individual.
Image is all for such folk, after all who ever saw Winnie with a Woodbine?
The only other M.P. who was as louche as AR was the member for West Lancashire, the regular floor-crosser, now she was an odious person! MM
by merseymouth
29 Sep 2021, 8:37am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Panic buying, hoarding
Replies: 1644
Views: 56890

Re: Panic buying, hoarding

Macron is certainly on record over his desire to create an E.U. Singular Military Control, so blame him not me.
I have always said had the E.E.C. not morphed into the mess it certainly was when we went to the polls, I would definitely be an active participant! But it went along the "Super-State" route, hence the dislike that exists.
To understand the mess one has to follow the money, as with any union of such disparate members some will get more out of it than they put in, whilst others end up paying heavily for membership. Ever the case whether it is Social Security or the E.U. Social Fund. So many wanting to get something for nowt, it is inevitable that problems will occur.
When it gets to the "Talk Shop" factor it is worse, with the mentioned veto actually not being available! The Eurovision Song Contest, with all of the dodgy voting practises is mere child's play. Pigs and troughs in spades! MM
by merseymouth
28 Sep 2021, 9:06pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Go Angela,my kind of woman!
Replies: 60
Views: 2008

Re: Go Angela,my kind of woman!

Well, I read today that one Labour lady member had stated that at the time of the rough tongued woman started ranting "Drink had been partaken!"? So maybe that will be her defence when called to task for ranting like a fish wife?
I never heard Bessie Braddock pulled up over a foul tongue ? Showed she had wit, not that she was witless! Come the day when we see a successor to Nancy Astor.
As the rougher type would phrase it about AR - "If wit was sh*t, she'd be constipated!"! Excuse my treading on her territory. MM
by merseymouth
28 Sep 2021, 7:54pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Panic buying, hoarding
Replies: 1644
Views: 56890

Re: Panic buying, hoarding

Oh dear!, I've seen some people have said that the way out of all our troubles is to re-join the E.U.?
Well, would that mean that if the current drive to create an "E.U. Combined Army" we'd have to plead to Brussels for our troops to man H.G.V. tankers and Green Goddesses in times of troubles??
But a more serious problem with a combined E.U. military would be who would France call on in their times of crisis? Even De Gaulle needed Perfidious Albion to pull French Chestnuts from the fire! I'd serve Macron Vichy water to remind him of the sacrifices others made for a free France, we all need friends not a new form of control.
Don't keep harping on about Brexit, its done. Protectionism is at the root of all international evil. MM
by merseymouth
28 Sep 2021, 5:11pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Panic buying, hoarding
Replies: 1644
Views: 56890

Re: Panic buying, hoarding

Well, HMG definitely issued petrol coupons in 1973, but the ironic thing was that they were the ones printed during the Suez Crisis! Still got some floating about.
During that fuel crisis an eminent motoring journalist, William Boddy of Motor Sport, advocated that the motor industry should be compelled to made proper improvements in the economy performance of cars? Initially they should be doing 50 mpg at 50 mph, five years later 60 mpg at 60 mph, the after a further five years they should be doing 70 mpg at 70 mph!
Then we got roped into the stupidity of catalytic converters, after that even worse stupidity would occur! Fat humans demanded even fatter cars, downward spiral. TTFN MM
by merseymouth
28 Sep 2021, 4:26pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Panic buying, hoarding
Replies: 1644
Views: 56890

Re: Panic buying, hoarding

Hi jdsk, I notice you blame the HMRC for bringing in IR35, why? Until that change was made the incoming drivers could play games over "Employee Status", which gave them a fair margin in earnings over the UK based drivers. So it is was only right that they should address the issue for a level playing field.
It is of course another incidence of tax avoidance/evasion, so they were duty bound to act.
There was public outrage when loads of TV dross used the same sort of tricks, PAYE limited workers felt cheated, and rightly so.
My long term memory is going so I can't recall when I last bought fuel for road use? Must be at least 5 years as we haven't owned a car for 10 years, we let the train take the strain. IGICB MM
by merseymouth
27 Sep 2021, 12:13pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Did Boris have a secret agenda?
Replies: 23
Views: 907

Re: Did Boris have a secret agenda?

As to the RHA's slant on the driver shortage I think of Mandy Rice Davis -"He would say that wouldn't he!".
The RHA has always assumed themselves to be infallible, sadly they never have been. I started out in road haulage nearly 60 years ago, when it really was rough. So I know only too well how much better the working conditions are for modern drivers. "Cab Hotel" was just a fiddle to up a drivers earnings, blind eye offered to read dodgy receipts, very rough. But the in cab accommodation in modern vehicles is much more like a Japanese Cubical Hotel, plenty of mod cons, only loo and shower absent.
Back in my early years working hours were much more of an issue, very-long spells at the wheel, not monitoring. Then came the tachograph, better but not tamper proof. These days with all of the tech the real pain in the rectum for drivers is that everything is under the beedy eye of the boss, but the honest driver has that as back-up over Disputes. Much safer, yet that will also bring safety issues because the vehicles are easier to keep going. The real stress is due to the larger footprint, so manoeuvrability is much more stressful.
But in my view the pressure applied by the big supermarkets with their "Unloading Slots" creates a real problem for even the best driver. Any delay caused by outside issues, such as weather, congestion, or as is current stupid road closures due to the protesters!
No driver wants to suffer delays which screw up their delivery schedule, but to be knocked back after busting a gut to be on time must be very galling?
No, I wouldn't get involved in the modern supply chain, damned for being subject to so many outside pressures. But at least few modern drivers have to go around trying to drumup return loads, hich was the case back in days of old! TTFN MM
by merseymouth
27 Sep 2021, 8:19am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Did Boris have a secret agenda?
Replies: 23
Views: 907

Re: Did Boris have a secret agenda?

Hi GBNZ, Any rural worker will immediately recognized that you are talking a load of "Bill-hooks"! If any government actually got everything spot on the carpers would still belly ache, sure as night follows day!
Many posters demand that tax dodgers get hauled up, so when HMRC bring in IR35, which closed off a tax dodge employed by non-UK HGV drivers, it gets slagged off?
The largest factor in the driver shortage affects all of us who have a driving licence, the Covid factor at the DVLA. Poor turn-around of applications & renewals. I face that problem soon, as I reach 73, so must renew or lose?
The we have had a stoppage of Driver Testing in all categories, so it was an inevitability that many people would not have the licence to operate a motor vehicle.
So maybe we should heed Corporal Jones's message - "Don't Panic"! MM
by merseymouth
25 Sep 2021, 11:46am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: The "Royals" Thread
Replies: 1350
Views: 54919

Re: The "Royals" Thread

What was it they said about Clement Atlee -"A very modest man, with much to be modest about"! Definitely a grey man in a grey suit.
I say hook em all up to polygraph machines set to a form of lethal mode, then question them :lol: :lol: :lol: MM
by merseymouth
22 Sep 2021, 4:16pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Calling all 'Baby Boomers', A change in life
Replies: 63
Views: 2636

Re: Calling all 'Baby Boomers', A change in life

Phew! Thank goodness that I wasn't born a few years earlier, as I am definitely one of the "Silent Generation".
But I don't fit into all of the "Generation" crepe! Not many of my age went about wearing a "Demob Suit", double breasted with turn ups in their early teens :roll: Stiff starched detached collars as well.
That lot was ditched in favour of crimson velvet loon, purple suede jacket, finished off with a flour graders shirt. Carnaby Street had a lot to answer for. At least MickF's Bell Bottoms have lasted for many generations. (Do they still get horizontal creases pressed in?)
Of course at my age I have seen the fashions keep wheeling around, re-invented as trendy.
Fashion trendsetter? No way, my favouring Harris Tweed is down to the Eagle, not Hardy Ames.
Still, I'd love to get a nice new Greenspot Nomad Jacket to wear when pottering around on my 1949 Higgins Tricycle, with Ossie Dover Plusses of course! I'll act my age not my shoe size. MM
by merseymouth
22 Sep 2021, 1:02pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Calling all 'Baby Boomers', A change in life
Replies: 63
Views: 2636

Re: Calling all 'Baby Boomers', A change in life

Exact what period constitutes the time frame to define a "Baby Boomer"? Lost on me. MM
by merseymouth
22 Sep 2021, 1:00pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Words-worth, or not?
Replies: 18
Views: 594

Re: Words-worth, or not?

Yes JDSK, Mia Culpa! I often fail to differentiate between different forms of "Pig Meat", but I'd never call a member of H.M. Constabularies a "Pig"! As I stated my vocabulary may well be time-expired?
But the use and mis-use of our language must be a test for us all with its ever changing form, I still think of a "Bambi" as a sweet little deer from the Disney film, certainly not its current usage!
But the current trend to hijack existing words to apply a different meaning is quite trying, even though I try to understand it all.
I've just picked up a small book by Gyles Brandreth,"Have you eaten grandma?", which sums up the situation we find ourselves in, definitely tongue tied!
So "You're Gammon/Bacon", may be an insult, or may simply mean "Your portion of Pig meat"? If people keep rendering our vocabulary down to a very movable feast who will know what is actually sad or indeed mean, verbal in exactitude in operation for certain.
Say what one means and mean what one says! IGICB MM