Political relations between UK-EU

[bluethrunthru]

Truss: Ian, what do you know about international trade?
Botham: Fuck all.
Truss: No problem, you get the gig cos at least the Aussies know who you are.

When Gove said "People are fed up with experts" during the referendum he really was predicting the future. Dumbing down by the government matches dumbing down by the BBC.

Next move Faisal Islam recruited to the TMS team...................

 

[BobKowalski]

The whole, "goto university to enjoy the experience" is the crux of the entire problem. University should not be about an experience, it's about getting an education. If you are going to university for an experience then you'd be better going travelling or something, it's far cheaper and at least you get out and about.

I'm not saying that kids should aspire to be HGV drivers but what about skilled trades and other jobs? None of these require a university education and I can bet my house that you will earn more money going down that route. Only a handful of university students go on to become nuclear scientists or whatever. That's why for every graduate job there's perhaps 100 applicants.

I wouldn't hesitate to push my kids down this route because I've been to university and I honestly believe now it was one of the worst decisions I ever made for myself. I wasted 3-4 years of my life in my early 20's not working and not doing anything and I'm even now paying £150 a month for it.

And we wonder why kids can't afford houses?

No, it should be about the experience as much as anything else. Not everyone will get what they want out of it, but that’s life. Equally, if someone wants to be an electrician or plumber or any skilled trade then fine.

I reject the idea we should limit peoples aspirations, or start imposing views on how kids should approach university life.

It also should be free, or a nominal sum. £3.5k sounds about right. But that’s a whole new argument :)

 

[bluethrunthru]

“Covid or Brexit, what’s worse?” English coastal towns struggle with staff shortages

There are plenty of tourists, but UK hospitality firms are plagued by labour shortages this summer

www.theguardian.com

 

[BobKowalski]

Swerve.

With him driving the truck? Deffo.

I didn‘t watch it. Is it man with university education telling people the problem is other people aspiring to have a university education, and how this breeds discontent and we should stop encouraging it, and it would be better if we brought back the dignity of work and people settle for this (ie less)? *

*If it was a totally different message I reserve the right to delete this post.

 

[The perfect fumble]

With him driving the truck? Deffo.

I didn‘t watch it. Is it man with university education telling people the problem is other people aspiring to have a university education, and how this breeds discontent and we should stop encouraging it, and it would be better if we brought back the dignity of work and people settle for this (ie less)? *

*If it was a totally different message I reserve the right to delete this post.

 

[BobKowalski]

In terms of truckers what nobody seems to have grasped is its the work that has changed and made it unattractive to drivers already in there - camera's in cabs, route changes, strict time limits imposed, scrutiny of drivers style etc etc - maybe when possible new entrants hear all that its just not attractive.
I have friends who have switched to working from home and have switched employers because their existing employers installed spy ware on the systems so their keystrokes could be monitored and and via the camera they can watch what you were doing or had done. Interestingly if work in the office and have a chat by the coffee machine or go for a lengthy shit nothing gets said but employers are starting to micro manage individuals. Some people object to being told they are going to their own loo and making their own coffee using their own coffee and their power too many times. Odd eh?

In my case, that’s because I have no idea what is involved with being a truck driver or the reality of being one.

Ironically, when I was looking round for gainful employment and clutching my few ’O’ levels and one ‘A’ level - grade E - in geography, I did consider being a truck driver. Open road, travelling around, no one on your case. Obviously, I had a somewhat romantic notion of being a truck driver and it bore no relation to reality and even less so now.

 

[BobKowalski]

Way too cryptic. Am I deleting my post? Let’s not go all transfer forum in here.

 

[metalblue]

I was referring to Merkel’s open border pledge in 2015 with respect to Syrian refugees which did create problems given the numbers.

‘In the end, nearly a million people were to apply for asylum in Germany in 2015 alone. The interior minister at the time was Thomas de Maizière: He later admitted that there had been "moments when things got of control." His successor, Horst Seehofer, went even further. For him, there had been a breakdown of law and order that he described as "the rule of injustice." There were several occasions when differences over refuge policy threatened to break apart Merkel's coalition government of her own CDU/CSU conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD).’ @ Die Welt.

It was a humanitarian gesture that Germany struggled to deal with, but eventually did so. There were many issues, tensions as well as a lot of success stories.

Germany granted status to 350k refugees in 2015, similar in 2016. Between 2015 and 2017 they went fron 350k to nearly 1m in total. I just don’t see how this equates to admitting over 1m refugees in 2015 (not disputing your source just the official data doesn’t back it up). Unless 650k “refugees” were classified as something else? Perhaps because they had gained access via other EU countries?

In any case hats off to the Germans, the numbers be they 1m in 2015 or 700k over 2 years these are still colossal numbers, to integrate 50% in 5 years is a huge achievement.

 

[The perfect fumble]

Germany granted status to 350k refugees in 2015, similar in 2016. Between 2015 and 2017 they went fron 350k to nearly 1m in total. I just don’t see how this equates to admitting over 1m refugees in 2015 (not disputing your source just the official data doesn’t back it up). Unless 650k “refugees” were classified as something else? Perhaps because they had gained access via other EU countries?

In any case hats off to the Germans, the numbers be they 1m in 2015 or 700k over 2 years these are still colossal numbers, to integrate 50% in 5 years is a huge achievement.

Germany has a reputation for being tactically and operationally superb but strategically inept.

 

[BobKowalski]

Germany granted status to 350k refugees in 2015, similar in 2016. Between 2015 and 2017 they went fron 350k to nearly 1m in total. I just don’t see how this equates to admitting over 1m refugees in 2015 (not disputing your source just the official data doesn’t back it up). Unless 650k “refugees” were classified as something else? Perhaps because they had gained access via other EU countries?

In any case hats off to the Germans, the numbers be they 1m in 2015 or 700k over 2 years these are still colossal numbers, to integrate 50% in 5 years is a huge achievement.

Merkel’s decision in 2015 to not close the border and her famous ‘we can do this’ reverberated around Europe and was widely criticised at the time for encouraging migrants. The rest of Europe and the UK were not happy.

How the figures stack up is open for debate, but the common consensus was 930k Syrian refugees applied for asylum in 2015 and 1.7 million asylum claims were made between 2015 and 2019. Whether that includes rejected claims or claims taking years to be approved, I don’t know. But as you say, whatever the final figure, it was a bold move and Merkel is still in power (until next month) and held in high regard whereas the leaders who criticised her have long faded.

Oh, and they still have a labour shortage :)