If France breaks 3.3% growth I throw a party! 
On a complete separate side note, having joined TAN from TIA rather belatedly, I now find myself 300-odd posts in on a 5230 post thread.
Think Iâll finish reading all this in never.
Summary
Group A - Brexit is a disaster, the corrupt Government have totally mishandled Covid, Boris is a clown
Group B - Itâs not all that bad, things are looking up, Boris is better than Corbyn
All - Priti Patel is the Antichrist
2 Likes
Youâre right. The problem is that it is utterly screwed up but ultimately we need to see ways of fixing the issue. Itâs done. Going round the âI told you soâ does no good to anyone bar a minor ego boost. It doesnât answer anything. So itâs how you walk that line.
I agree with @redalways. The issues are pretty easy to hide at the moment given the utter shambles theyâve made of everything else.
1 Like
Fixed for you.
This is interesting. A couple of questions before I dive into the article proper.
-
Does this growth take the UK back to pre covid levels? The UKâs economy has been hit harder than many with the Covid management.
-
Where is this growth coming from? I had seen last week there was a ÂŁ2bn drop in EU food exports. So if weâre being hit there then there must be some pretty special growth elsewhere.
1 Like
Letâs just wait for todayâs announcement from Bozo.
âWe need to raise National Insurance to fund the NHSâ
You mean the same NHS that your party has been underfunding for over a decade now? And taxpayers now have to pay for the largesse you have shown to all your sycophants and cronies?
2 Likes
At a basic level I have no issue paying more to adequately fund the NHS. What really grates my nuts is the fact that this lot will siphon that money off into broken systems and pockets of best buddies.
Iâm ok with supply chains being able to make profits etc. provided the procurement systems are square but the system they feed into is problematic and we all know the the procurement system is skewed. I mean we all know that @Kopstars fleet of refrigeration lorries has now allowed him to go an play with classic cars 
That aside I couldnât say what is fairest method of paying that extra is.
1 Like
-
It is predicted to, yes. The majority of economies in the G7 are expected to get back to pre-pandemic GDP levels by the middle of 2022 (US, UK and most of the Eurozone).
-
For the UK I imagine itâs mostly driven by a recovery in the service industries.
Thanks, so itâs really only a measure of recovery from the pit that Covid created.
If it gets back to where we were then thatâs quite remarkable IMO.
2 Likes
That said, on a very specific point, from what Iâve seen anecdotally, I think Brexit does offer significant opportunities, if youâre more socialist-inclined. For example, the lorry driver shortage. Iâve seen reports of wages offered being increased dramatically, which also helps to draw people who have moved away from such a career back in. Apparently (I say this for lack of source data), if we take the pool of people who have the appropriate licence to drive lorries, there are more than enough drivers available. Companies are just reluctant to actually pay them properly however. Those companies that have actually done so havenât done too badly.
Wouldnât that require either an influx of immigrants or big changes in the UK-EU financial status, or both?
Industries from pig farming to fast food have said the lack of skilled staff is disrupting their business.
The CBI said the shortages would harm the UKâs economic recovery.
Conversely:
âŚBusiness Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has previously rejected calls to loosen immigration rules, and suggested firms should hire and train UK workers to fill the gaps in road haulage. He said he wanted to see firms making long-term investments in the UK domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad.
I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of training UK workers to fill the vacancies; but shouldnât this [the skills shortages] have been anticipated and implemented before Brexit?
6 Likes
Iâm not 100% on board with this theory. Yes there are opportunities for some people to move into a different career but if you have a fixed pool of people of a certain size that is short of the numbers you need, moving people from one role to another just creates other shortages elsewhere. The right wing answer will be to look at the unemployed. Iâm sure there is some slack there but no where near enough. Ultimately that just creates higher costs and the shortages are still there.
With regard to lorries drivers the UK government were warned of shortages before Brexit was even a glint in Cameronâs eye. We were short then, really struggling now.
I think the only real answer is some kind of agreement that allows the flow of workers again. The shortages are pretty widespread I believe, not just lorries, hospitality, construction to name 2.
The problem is how do you translate a worthless degree in media studies to driving a HGV?
2 Likes
So worthless you could drive a truck through it.
2 Likes
I do agree very much with you, but I was looking at the isolated example of lorry drivers. In this case, there is and was already a pool of people more than capable of doing the job, just that wages were depressed in this particular example from the availability of cheaper drivers who were willing to work in those (unsafe) conditions.
I do agree things like these come at a cost, but this is perhaps the cost of a fairer society. As an immigrant, I am very much for immigration, and definitely do see the benefits. That doesnât stop me from being disappointed with the lack of incentivising companies to train and retain UK citizens as skilled employees, paying fair wages.
1 Like
Join the Royal Logistics Corps and train to be a driver. No formal qualifications required. 
1 Like
I honestly dont think that covers the gap. Pre Covid the UK was estimated to have a shortage of 60k drivers. Now and with Brexit the shortage is over 100k
Do we have a pool of 100k willing to go into driving that doesnât impact anywhere else?
1 Like
UK unemployment is under 5%, those qualified lorry drivers are in other employment now.
Healthy unemployment is theoretically 3%. Thatâs people changing jobs, inbetween jobs, you just need 3% just to fill offer and demand. most of that which is above 3% are people in shitty jobs so they stop and start (which probably includes some lorry drivers).
Just because stats say you have enough qualified workers for positions on offer doesnât mean they are available or willing.
Iâm saying this because I do believe that the UK is in a very difficult position and that simplistic thoughts are not useful. I think the goverment needs a plan rather than just plugging the gap with words, particularly words which aim is to cause division.
Another issue is training.
training costs money and I think Iâm right in saying that thereâs no current mechanism for employers to pay people to train and reclaim the lost money. So people have to do that off their own back. There is also the time issue. You dont become a lorry driver over night