UK Politics - We Don’t Want to See Your Papers, Please

[Spockydog]

Another non-Brexit-related consequence of Brexit.

Maggots and mayhem: behind the scenes of Britain’s big bin crisis

Quote

 

The UK is in the grip of a nationwide rubbish collection crisis, triggered by a shortage of the HGV drivers necessary to operate recycling and refuse lorries. This month, it was reported that at least 18 councils have delayed bin collections due to a lack of drivers, with virtually all areas of the UK affected.

Across the country, effluence oozes from bloated sacks, rats rummage in recycling bins, and foxes enjoy nightly feasts of epicurean proportions. Meanwhile, council inboxes and Twitter feeds overflow with angry messages and unsightly images of uncollected rubbish. For the first time since the strikes of the winter of discontent in 1978, the public is starting to appreciate the essential work that bin men do – usually after a disturbing encounter with a particularly potent bin.

Keith Clark, a 27-year-old teaching assistant in Croydon, recently had one such encounter. He came home from work to find his front porch covered in what he initially thought was rice, but subsequently realised was hundreds of maggots swarming out of a food waste caddy that hadn’t been collected in a month. “It was disgusting,” Clark says. “It made me cringe. I couldn’t stop scratching myself.”

Meanwhile in Kirkby, Merseyside, Adam Brown, 35, who works in life sciences, stares out of the window at his general waste bin, which hasn’t been emptied for six weeks. Brown is a new father. “Can you imagine what a six-week-old bin full of used nappies smells like?” he says glumly. “It was 32C the other day.”

Tempers are fraying, too, on the hyperlocal app Nextdoor. “What are we paying council tax for?” one south London resident writes. “I’ll dump my refuse at the town hall!” In response to an overwhelming volume of complaints, local authorities plead for understanding, explaining that an unprecedented set of circumstances beyond their control is to blame for the mounting rubbish on our streets.

First, and most significant, is Brexit. EU HGV drivers are no longer able to obtain visas to work in the UK. The Road Haulage Association (RHA) estimates that nearly 20,000 European HGV drivers returned to EU countries in 2020.

Then there’s the pandemic, which has caused many HGV drivers to reassess their priorities. “Covid has made a lot of drivers think about their quality of life,” says Richard Burnett of the RHA. “How would you feel about starting a shift at 2am and driving for 12 hours, only to collapse, fall asleep and do it all over again the following day?” The average age of a HGV driver is 56, so many have taken early retirement to spend more time with their families.

Other, Covid-related challenges include the DVLA having been operating at limited capacity, due to staffing pressures, meaning fewer HGV licences have been issued. And the “pingdemic” knocked entire crews off the road for much of the summer, although such staffing shortages have abated recently.

To make matters worse, this year the government closed the IR35 tax loophole, which had allowed some HGV drivers to reduce their tax contributions. “Agency drivers withdrew their labour and said that if agencies weren’t prepared to pay the difference, they wouldn’t keep driving,” says Burnett.

 

 

[Luzifer's right hand]

Back when I looked at it(for evil vegan reasons) the soy the UK imports as animal feed would have covered the protein needs of most if not the entire population if you would ration stuff because it is mainly soy meal of the protein rich South American varieties without the oil. 

Feeding food food is not something you do in a real crisis.

That does not even consider other stuff that can be turned into human food that is used to feed animals.  

Edit: One could call the current approach to feeding people.... unsustainable. 

[Werthead]

Deprive Britain of its urgently-needed supplies of Coke Zero, and you'll have a riot.

[Pebble thats Stubby]

27 minutes ago, Werthead said:

Deprive Britain of its urgently-needed supplies of Coke Zero, and you'll have a riot.

It does seem that things have the potential to get very ugly with energy prices, lack of stuff in shops, potenial lack of meat (what a lot of people consider vital food)  lack of fresh veg and fruit due to farms not getting pickers and again a lack of lorries.    Over worked and over stressed NHS and still a Pandemic is happening.

 

Its gonna be a very interesting winter (at least to future historians)

[Spockydog]

Raging pandemic, exasperated by....
Rampant, unashamed corruption.
Food shortages.
Energy crisis.
Widespread labour shortages.
Government ministers repeatedly holding clandestine meetings with foreign governments and corrupt corporations.
Thousands of Cancer Patients unable to receive treatment.
Secret government discussions to implement a 3 day week.

Welcome to Jeremy Corbyn's 1970s socialist hellhole.

 

[The Anti-Targ]

2 hours ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

Back when I looked at it(for evil vegan reasons) the soy the UK imports as animal feed would have covered the protein needs of most if not the entire population if you would ration stuff because it is mainly soy meal of the protein rich South American varieties without the oil. 

Feeding food food is not something you do in a real crisis.

That does not even consider other stuff that can be turned into human food that is used to feed animals.  

Edit: One could call the current approach to feeding people.... unsustainable. 

There is a bit of that, though it is location specific. Turning grass into food is quite a neat trick. However if there is one useful thing you can do with food waste and food production waste it is to turn it back into food. And sometimes that's best done by feeding it to animals. The food sufficiency problem isn't one of quantity, it's one of distribution. Though there is also the environmental question.

[Spockydog]

Keir Starmer is preparing to sign his own death warrant. He wants to scrap one-member-one-vote.

If he tries to force this through, pretty sure it will be the final straw for many party members, and more importantly, the unions. He will be out of a job by Christmas.

ETA: This is already being widely condemned by union leaders. Looks like his plan is dead in the water before he's even announced it. What a fucking bellend. He should just join the Tories. He'd fit right in.

 

 

[Spockydog]

Fuck off back down Wetherspoons, useless fucking alcy.

[Luzifer's right hand]

38 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

There is a bit of that, though it is location specific. Turning grass into food is quite a neat trick. However if there is one useful thing you can do with food waste and food production waste it is to turn it back into food. And sometimes that's best done by feeding it to animals. The food sufficiency problem isn't one of quantity, it's one of distribution. Though there is also the environmental question.

Completely irrelevant in the context of soy meal.

[The Anti-Targ]

6 minutes ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

Completely irrelevant in the context of soy meal.

True, if your earlier post was limited only to soy meal.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, Werthead said:

Deprive Britain of its urgently-needed supplies of Coke Zero, and you'll have a riot.

What happens when you run out of tea?

[Derfel Cadarn]

Re NHS staff shortages, my wife (nurse in neurological theatre ie brain surgery) and I are on 2nd week of our two weeks annual leave. Today she got called asking to do a nightshift tonight and tomorrow (she agreed). 

Being asked to do OT shifts while on AL was not unknown pre-covid, but it’s happened every block of leave she’s taken  since Covid began. And escalating from doing 5-10 at night or being on call to doing two nightshifts with no notice.

[Heartofice]

3 hours ago, Werthead said:

Deprive Britain of its urgently-needed supplies of Coke Zero, and you'll have a riot.

I mean for some reason Coke Zero is always the one that runs out in shops and it’s been like that for years, I’ve never understood it.

Anyway government has moved to avert the crisis, caused by global gas price rises 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58641394

[A wilding]

I love that we are being told that the government has "struck a deal" with the company.

A safe bet that what this means is that the government is just giving them tax payers money. Classic late stage capitalism - the state propping up private companies in bad times.

 

[Maltaran]

4 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Keir Starmer is preparing to sign his own death warrant. He wants to strip members of the right to elect the party leader, and return it exclusively to MPs.

If he tries to force this through, pretty sure it will be the final straw for many party members, and more importantly, the unions. He will be out of a job by Christmas.

ETA: This is already being widely condemned by union leaders. Looks like his plan is dead in the water before he's even announced it. What a fucking bellend. He should just join the Tories. He'd fit right in.

 

 

Slightly inaccurate - the proposals aren't stripping members of their vote, it's to return to the pre-Milliband electoral college system where their votes are only worth a third of the total, with the unions and the MPs making the other two thirds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58637086

[Spockydog]

9 minutes ago, Maltaran said:

Slightly inaccurate - the proposals aren't stripping members of their vote, it's to return to the pre-Milliband electoral college system where their votes are only worth a third of the total, with the unions and the MPs making the other two thirds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58637086

It is still a massive betrayal. He ran for leadership saying he would unify the party. How he thinks scrapping one-member-one-vote will achieve that, I have no idea.

Anyway, it's a moo point. Like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter. He'll never get the votes he needs to change things, because electoral collages are undemocratic horseshit and conference won't tolerate it. I wish he would just fuck off.

 

[Maltaran]

Oh, it’s still a stupid idea, just not quite as stupid as what your post said it was

[Spockydog]

1 minute ago, Maltaran said:

Oh, it’s still a stupid idea, just not quite as stupid as what your post said it was

Amended for veracity. 

[Heartofice]

If it means booting out momentum and the likes of Owen Jones are raging about it then he must be doing something right 

[Hereward]

1 hour ago, Spockydog said:

Anyway, it's a moo (sic) point. Like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter. He'll never get the votes he needs to change things, because electoral collages (sic) are undemocratic horseshit and conference won't tolerate it. I wish he would just fuck off.

The Labour Party has used electoral colleges every year since it was founded, even under the blessed Jeremy, so this objection seems… odd.