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

[Werthead]

The Independent raising the prospect of a mass-invasion of toilet water-drenched rats into English homes.

[Spockydog]

12 minutes ago, DaveSumm said:

Yea I reckon it’s just a giant coincidence, everyone just ran out at the same time. 

Personally, I had a quarter tank on Friday morning. My car has to be operational as I travel daily between home and my mums's, in order to look after her elderly-ass ass.

The petrol I had would probably have lasted another week. If I had even the slightest confidence that Boris Johnson would be able to nip this crisis in the bud and get fuel supplies flowing, I would have used my car as normal and filled up at the end of next week.

But we all know that isn't going to happen.

I visited three local petrol stations on Friday afternoon. All closed. So I set an alarm and got up at 3am on Saturday morning, drove down to the North Circular, and filled up at my leisure.

Does that make me a panic buyer? According to HoI, probably. Do I care? Not even remotely.

[Heartofice]

You’d have been ok if it wasn’t for all the panic buying. I’m struggling to see how that isn’t getting through to you. But oh well, there’s a real limit to how many times you can tell someone 

[Derfel Cadarn]

1 minute ago, Heartofice said:

You’d have been ok if it wasn’t for all the panic buying. I’m struggling to see how that isn’t getting through to you. But oh well, there’s a real limit to how many times you can tell someone 

Because there’s no confidenxe we’d have been ‘okay’.

It’s also the September Fair long weekend in Glasgow so a lot of people go away for a break.

In their cars. Most of which need petrol.

[Heartofice]

1 minute ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Because there’s no confidenxe we’d have been ‘okay’.

 

Because scare mongering

[Spockydog]

11 hours ago, Heartofice said:

You’d have been ok if it wasn’t for all the panic buying. I’m struggling to see how that isn’t getting through to you. But oh well, there’s a real limit to how many times you can tell someone 

This all started because someone from the RHA leaked details of a meeting where they discussed concerns over their ongoing ability to get fuel to the nation's forecourts.

This meeting happened long before any talk of panic buying in the press.

You need to dissolve yourself of the notion that our country's economic and operational woes are being caused by the people. They are being caused by the government.

I'm not at all struggling to see how this isn't getting through to you, because, like everyone else who voted for Brexit, you refuse to acknowledge your own role in causing this nation-destroying shit show.

[Derfel Cadarn]

4 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Because scare mongering

Of course people are scared! The country is 100,000 hgv drivers short, fucking up the supply chain. So when people hear that this is affecting petrol, no shit they’re scared!

[Spockydog]

PROJECT FEEEEEAAAAARRRR!

[Heartofice]

8 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Of course people are scared! The country is 100,000 hgv drivers short, fucking up the supply chain. So when people hear that this is affecting petrol, no shit they’re scared!

In 2018 it was 65.,000 HGV drivers short. Weird that we weren’t running around buying up everything in sight and shouting at each other 

it’s almost like constant news stories of HGV drivers shortages have projected an image that the country is falling apart.. when it isn’t.

And yes to the above, project fear.. very much so

 

[Which Tyler]

1 hour ago, Heartofice said:

In 2018 it was 65.,000 HGV drivers short. Weird that we weren’t running around buying up everything in sight and shouting at each other 

it’s almost like constant news stories of HGV drivers shortages have projected an image that the country is falling apart.. when it isn’t.

And yes to the above, project fear.. very much so

 

100,000 is quite a lot more than 65,000.

We also hadn't actually curbed immigration yet, nor was there a global pandemic.

We were still using a just-in-time approach to stocking... everything though; it's just that the shortage of drivers didn't quite tip the balance to actual shortages of food on shelves / suspending wheelie bin collections / shortage of blood bottles / shortage of petrol.

Apparently the breaking point in the system is somewhere between a 10% and a 15% reduction in driver numbers.

 

Yes, this grew from a small fuel shortage to a nationwide fuel shortage because of panic buying; but that panic is understandable given the increasing shortages of other things we're seeing, and the reaction of the government to those shortages. Either way, we're left with a nationwide fuel shortage - albeit, one that really ought to be short lived if there's no actual shortage of fuel in the country. Supplies of something else will be sacrificed in order to make sure we still have enough petrol.

[Week]

6 hours ago, Heartofice said:

It’s almost entirely due to scaremongering and herd mentality stupidity, which is the point I’m trying to get across. 

Ok, enough about Brexit already.  

[mormont]

I think there's a certain amount of talking past each other going on, again about definitions to a large extent.

Certainly, there is panic buying in the sense that people are buying petrol and diesel 'just in case it runs out'. But as noted already, people can't stockpile fuel in the way that they can toilet roll etc. So the extent of it is more limited. And importantly, 'panic' buying can make sense on an individual level with fueld, for that very reason. It's a commodity we can all run out of in a relatively short space of time.

So it can be relatively rational to 'panic buy' fuel, particularly at a time when many consumers frankly don't have confidence in the supply chain because they've already seen the impact that Brexit and COVID are having.

And the system isn't designed to deal with that behaviour. It has no resilience.

So you can blame consumers to some extent but only to some extent. This is a multi-faceted problem.

[Filippa Eilhart]

I remember the times when people had to buy canisters of fuel to keep in their cars just in case…

[john]

Well yes, in Britain that was yesterday.

Not a great look when the current state of affairs in the UK reminds someone of their childhood beyond the iron curtain.

[ljkeane]

I got some petrol with no problems this morning. It seems the crisis is over.

[Heartofice]

There was still a small queue for petrol this morning, but nothing like the craziness of the weekend. 

Maybe a bit more responsible reporting next time and we wouldn't get this sort of situation. Unlikely.

[BigFatCoward]

I've got to drive home from weekend away but I have enough to get me home +20%. Then i don't need to drive until next weekend so I hope/assume the worst will be over by then. 

[Derfel Cadarn]

 

[Spockydog]

Still trying to work out if this is supposed to be satire.

Is anti-Etonian prejudice really OK?

Quote

A person chooses, at least arguably, to persist in homophobia, misogyny and these other forms of horridness. Those are defects of character. To be an Etonian, on the other hand, is a condition you acquire ineradicably, in the innocence of childhood. It is an accident of birth (or a bit before, usually, which is when you’re put down on the General List). You no more choose to be Etonian than you choose to be black, or gay, or or a cervix-haver. So snarling at Etonians like that… it’s, like, racist, yeah?

 

[Derfel Cadarn]

An HGV driver explains why people arent exactly battering down the doors to become one.