What Is Our Country Turning Into..?

The UK’s biggest business lobby group has called on the government to relax post-Brexit immigration rules...

Wait, why? 

...to help companies struggling with staff shortages to hire more workers from overseas.

Hire British ones instead! Oh, god, it's not the curry houses again, is it? 

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the government needed to immediately update its “shortage occupations list” to include several areas where employers are finding it difficult to recruit staff, including butchers, bricklayers and welders.

Oh! That's some strange collection of occupations there... 

Pressure is mounting on hauliers, hospitality venues and the food and drink industry in particular, with companies scrambling to hire staff as pandemic restrictions are relaxed and demand for goods and services returns.

Well, how many unemployed do we have? 1.6 million? I think we can find some there, can't we? 

A government spokesperson said: “Employers should invest in our domestic workforce instead of relying on labour from abroad.

The government carefully considered the migration advisory committee’s findings and recommendations on the shortage occupation list, but decided not to make wide-scale changes while we monitor the new skilled worker route and assess how the UK labour market develops and recovers post-pandemic.”

Quite right. Let's use the resources we have, rather than purchasing foreign ones. 

Well, Who Are You Going To Believe..?

The people who live there?

David, who is 79 and retired, said he did not view the area as having a severe lack of community spaces. “We’ve got the whole of the beach, the whole seafront,” he said. “We have plenty of community spaces, I would say. It doesn’t feel like we are lacking anything at all.”

This sentiment is shared by Mark Allen, who has been running Munchies cafe on the seafront of the Norfolk seaside town for nine years.

“I don’t think we are lacking in community spaces. I actually think that areas like this are lovely and have a nice local community feeling. I wouldn’t say there’s a noticeable lack of community spaces.”

Or the 'experts'?

The analysis, conducted by Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion of public assets in the worst-off council wards, found that left-behind neighbourhoods on average have a disproportionate lack of social infrastructure in comparison with the national average.

So, the experts are wrong (again)? Or...is it a matter of how 'community spaces' are defined?

Kyra Drake, 25, who has been working for the charity and cafe for two years, recognises that although the cafe has a role as a community hub for locals, the area would benefit from an increase in development and funding for community spaces.

“I’d like to see more supported community spaces for LGBT people and other minorities in particular,” she said. “I think it’s really important that more community spaces like that exist in Yarmouth North, and we don’t have anything of the sort currently.”

Aha! Is that a clue I see, perchance? 

The Gig Economy Is Here To Stay

Just Eat is expanding its hub in Brighton and Hove over the coming months, as part of its new UK worker model for couriers.

They've found a niche and exploited it for all it's worth. 

They got the predictable backlash from the progressives, outraged that people might have to work for a living in ways they don't approve of, of course. 

All couriers contracted through the new model will be entitled to hourly pay and be paid the minimum or living wage, as well as pension contributions and certain statutory benefits, including holiday pay and sick pay.

There will be a mix of full-time, part-time and zero hour jobs, and workers will be provided with clothing and equipment to use for deliveries.

Just Eat said there will also be an option to operate from a central hub, where couriers can take breaks.

Will they be happy now? Probably not! 

Brighton is the fourth city in the UK to be offered the new model by Just Eat, following its launch in London, Birmingham and Liverpool. The move has already created almost 3,000 jobs and will continue to be rolled out to further cities.

I gues it doesn't matter, they plan to expand anyway. People want what they offer, and it seems enough people want to earn a wage providing that. What's not to like? 

"But..But We're The Special People!"

New visa rules for British artists, actors and theatre workers who want to work in Europe after Brexit are a “towering hurdle” that must be urgently addressed, according to an open letter signed by stars including Sir Ian McKellen, Julie Walters and Patrick Stewart.

Oh dear, the luvvies are upset! 

The letter states that creative practitioners are desperate to work in Europe once pandemic restrictions lift but “the current Brexit deal is a towering hurdle to that”.

“Before, we were able to travel to Europe visa-free. Now we have to pay hundreds of pounds, fill in form after form, and spend weeks waiting for approval – just so we can do our jobs,” it says.

Yes, just like other people wanting a job abroad. But your average plumber and IT technician doesn't have an agent. Why not get them to do it? 

Equity’s general secretary, Paul Fleming, said art and entertainment are worth more to our economy than banking but “government intransigence” threatens a “cornerstone of our international soft power” and a key export.

Maybe it's because they don't agree that you're worth it? Just a thought... 

“More than that, the language of art and entertainment knows no boundaries; freedom of movement for our members as artists and working people is achievable, desirable and essential,” he added.

Yes, OK, we'll get right on that... 

A UK Government Spokesperson said: “We want our cultural and creative professionals to be able to work easily across Europe, in the same way EU creatives are able to work flexibly in the UK. Though the EU rejected proposals that would have allowed this, we hope Member States will act on these calls by changing the rules they apply to UK creatives. We’re working urgently with our cultural sectors to resolve any new barriers they face, so that touring can resume as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Translation: "It's the EU's doing. Go yell at them." 

The Amazonian Supermarket Elephant In The Room...

A petition signed by more than 1,500 people so far, including more than 100 Waterstones workers and backed by names including author Philip Pullman, has been published on Organise.

Addressed to Waterstones managing director James Daunt and chief operating officer Kate Skipper, it says that the majority of Waterstones staff are employed either on or very close to the minimum wage, and that upon being furloughed, they find themselves “plunged beneath this line and into financial uncertainty”.

Like so many in this pointlessly destructive lockdown. What are their demands? 

“We understand the impact that Covid has had on the business and that the high street is in a precarious position. We are not asking for a full top-up, not that we are paid a great deal above minimum wage – simply that incomes are made back up to this safety line,” the bookseller who organised the petition, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Guardian.

More money. From a business that's not making any. Well, that's sensible...not! 

Skipper told the Guardian that “we have great sympathy” with the petition. “Only the extreme circumstances of prolonged, enforced closure of our shops, with no certainty of the timing of their reopening, has caused the furlough of our booksellers in this manner,” she said.

“It would be much better if we were in a position to pay our booksellers their full salaries, even as we keep our shops closed. With no clarity for how long this crisis will last, this would not be prudent. We look forward to reopening and bringing our booksellers back to work. Then we will have certainty and are pleased that we will be able to give well deserved pay rises.”

Couldn't be clearer. After all, lockdown isn't the entire cause of Waterstone's issues. We're still buying books. Indeed, more than ever before. 

Just not from them:

Book sales figures, which include online as well as high-street trade, have remained robust in the face of the pandemic.

Last month, market monitor Nielsen BookScan reported that, despite the series of lockdowns around the UK, the volume of print books sold grew by 5.2% to 202m in 2020.

Demanding more money from a business that's fighting for its own life is the height of folly. You'd think someone at the 'Guardian' would figure that out, even if the staff can't.