When will this shit end?

[DeanoL]

37 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

They should set up sandwich shops for people working from home in commuter areas then. It doesn’t really affect me as I normally used to take my own lunch Monday-Wednesday, Thursday I worked from home, then Friday I’d indulge on something from one of the local lunch takeaways in the bit of London I work. But (even ignoring Covid itself) the idea that everyone should go back to a crappy way of working just to prop up these little takeaway businesses is dreadful protectionism at best and a downright culture war between the haves (well paid office workers) and the have nots (minimum wage pret employees) at worst. The CEO’s of your pret and itsu types are essentially expecting people to add two hours to their day and a significant travel cost to keep their businesses alive, when setting up shops in commuter towns is clearly how they should be adapting. 

Yeah there's a difference between economic damage and economic disruption. If working from home becomes the norm the demand for cafes, gyms, etc will move from city centres to more residential areas. But the demand will still exist. Likewise the value of city centre properties will fall, but the value of suburban properties will go up. This doesn't cause damage a whole, but it does cause a lot of disruption, and some people will lose out, while others will gain.

And rents on city centre property, both commercial and residential, are so high and have been constantly growing over the last decade, that it's mostly rich people that have a lot of money tied up in them - that's why you're seeing this push.

The sandwich shop itself will be fine, they'll end their lease as soon as they can and lease where the demand has moved too. A pain in the arse for sure but they'll be okay. The people that own the property they were renting will suffer more.

(Transport usage will suffer - and won't really be made up elsewhere, but we could do with using a lot less petrol anyway, and if the commuter money-tap for railways starts flowing a lot more slowly, we may see them being nationalised out of necessity as it becomes more difficult to turn a profit out of them)

[Fuzzy Afro]

2 minutes ago, zahidf said:

 

 

Just as I begged everyone not to overreact to the rising cases, I wouldn’t use this as a basis for thinking the game is over. The prevalence rate is quite low in the UK compared to other European countries now, you’ll see fluctuations one way or the other every week, but overall it’s pretty flat. Remember positive cases is a poor proxy for actual cases because the % of cases we catch is wildly volatile. Use hospitalisations as the main indicator in my opinion. 

[stuartbert two hats]

54 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

I get irrationally angry at this idea that we should all be returning to offices to save the sandwich economy. 

Nowt irrational about it.

[stuie]

52 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

Ed Davey has been elected Lib Dem leader...if anyone cares.

Is this one a prime minister in waiting too? 
 

I’ll next get over them jumping into bed with the Tories like they did. 

[WestCountryGirl]

4 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

 

Just as I begged everyone not to overreact to the rising cases, I wouldn’t use this as a basis for thinking the game is over. The prevalence rate is quite low in the UK compared to other European countries now, you’ll see fluctuations one way or the other every week, but overall it’s pretty flat. Remember positive cases is a poor proxy for actual cases because the % of cases we catch is wildly volatile. Use hospitalisations as the main indicator in my opinion. 

Indeed. I just got an email from an organisation I work with, that was a passing on of a message from the city council that our local rolling weekly total is rising (on account of the youths).

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, stuie said:

Is this one a prime minister in waiting too? 
 

I’ll next get over them jumping into bed with the Tories like they did. 

It’s my only option here unfortunately... just hope they have learnt from that error 

[ace56blaa]

1 hour ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

I get irrationally angry at this idea that we should all be returning to offices to save the sandwich economy. 

This is the problem with our economy. Always trying to force the status quo rather than adapt. High Street shops are dying."It's due to covid and not due to the internet, so we have to put tons of schemes in to save the high street" - the sandwich one is the worst because people at work have to spend money on expensive sandwiches when a lot of people would rather be at home, making their own food and saving that money

[Ryan1984]

1 hour ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

I get irrationally angry at this idea that we should all be returning to offices to save the sandwich economy. 

I started a new job remotely over lockdown and they are currently in a temporary office space with no parking.
It’s a 60-mile round trip (plus parking) or daily £30 train fare (need to look into weekly cost). I will go in soon to meet my colleagues but I’m hoping to stay mainly remote for as long as possible - I’d rather spend two or three hours working than commuting.
I’d be taking my own lunch in anyway so Pret are not missing out! Let’s hope the businesses continue the good fight.

[Mark E. Spliff]

27 minutes ago, gizmoman said:

Well that's something we can both agree on, whether we need to be doing it is another matter, I've been watching Piers Corbyn a bit recently, is he an Alt-right dick or is he an acceptable crank? I must admit I find it all a bit confusing maybe we should have a list of people who's opinions can safely be listened to.

Another thing we are 100% in agreement on is that political censorship is self-defeating.  Although I think it's vital, in our 'post-truth' society,  to flag up misinformation and hidden agendas where they crop up on social media, I also know the only way to beat the alt-right is to win, rather than censor, the argument.  Carl Vernon believes a far-right narrative that covid is a conspiracy of shady interests to enslave us all.  I'm duty-bound to point out that I think that this is the real reason he's raising specious concerns about children's mental welfare, but I'd also be more than happy to debate those concerns, especially as it's an area which is connected with my work.

[Crazyfool01]

Pogba positive ... 

[Fuzzy Afro]

37 minutes ago, Ryan1984 said:

I started a new job remotely over lockdown and they are currently in a temporary office space with no parking.
It’s a 60-mile round trip (plus parking) or daily £30 train fare (need to look into weekly cost). I will go in soon to meet my colleagues but I’m hoping to stay mainly remote for as long as possible - I’d rather spend two or three hours working than commuting.
I’d be taking my own lunch in anyway so Pret are not missing out! Let’s hope the businesses continue the good fight.

Why would you voluntarily spend the commuting time doing extra work? Just do 9-5 WFH and have much more free time 

[danmarks]

Butlins live music weekends cancelled for rest of year as of midday today 

[Crazyfool01]

4 minutes ago, danmarks said:

Butlins live music weekends cancelled for rest of year as of midday today 

damn it ... i saw on twitter 2 days ago they were planning on still having the minehead cream weekend in Dec .... although the job is sales until they cancel .... thats a few extra days of internet xmas present shopping now  

[Quark]

54 minutes ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Why would you voluntarily spend the commuting time doing extra work? Just do 9-5 WFH and have much more free time 

That's something my company has been very good about.  They are actively telling people not to treat the time saved from commuting as extra work time.

[steviewevie]

7 minutes ago, Quark said:

That's something my company has been very good about.  They are actively telling people not to treat the time saved from commuting as extra work time.

wow

[Fuzzy Afro]

1 minute ago, steviewevie said:

wow

Mine are the same, it’s pretty common. Not every employer is trying to work you bloody. 

[Quark]

1 minute ago, steviewevie said:

wow

I have a number of blessings to count on the work front.

We have a weekly half hour call with our head of dept on a Friday, normally about 3pm for half an hour.  He generally finished by telling us all to bugger off unless we've got anything that absolutely has to be done.

We also have a shared appreciation for rum

[Ryan1984]

1 hour ago, Fuzzy Afro said:

Why would you voluntarily spend the commuting time doing extra work? Just do 9-5 WFH and have much more free time 

Good point. Ok, I’d rather spend two or three extra hours a day either resting, focusing on my mental health, exercising, seeing my wife and not be sat behind the wheel of a car or a vastly overpriced train.

[zero000]

18 minutes ago, Quark said:

That's something my company has been very good about.  They are actively telling people not to treat the time saved from commuting as extra work time.

Not being rude Quark but this is the bare minimum imo. Any company trying to get their employers to work their commuting time for no extra recompense can get in the fucking bin. 

[Quark]

1 minute ago, zero000 said:

Not being rude Quark but this is the bare minimum imo. Any company trying to get their employers to work their commuting time for no extra recompense can get in the fucking bin. 

That's unusual; normally "not being rude but" is followed by someone being an absolute shitbag

I guess mine is more that they are explicitly telling people that's the case, and getting in touch with those that aren't and talking to them about why they are. It's the extra step to follow up rather than a one-off statement or implied but not stated understanding.

[steviewevie]

[steviewevie]

UK's rating of its Covid-19 response lowest of 14 countries in poll

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/27/uks-rating-of-its-covid-19-response-lowest-of-14-countries-in-poll

[Quark]

Something tells me the War on Christmas is going to start early this year.

[ace56blaa]

1522 New Cases today with 186,000 tests. 

[gizmoman]

2 hours ago, Mark E. Spliff said:

Another thing we are 100% in agreement on is that political censorship is self-defeating.  Although I think it's vital, in our 'post-truth' society,  to flag up misinformation and hidden agendas where they crop up on social media, I also know the only way to beat the alt-right is to win, rather than censor, the argument.  Carl Vernon believes a far-right narrative that covid is a conspiracy of shady interests to enslave us all.  I'm duty-bound to point out that I think that this is the real reason he's raising specious concerns about children's mental welfare, but I'd also be more than happy to debate those concerns, especially as it's an area which is connected with my work.

What about hidden agendas and misinformation in mainstream media? Or do we accept what they say without question? There are plenty of people who doubt the official line on Covid many of who are not "far-right" I ask again is Piers Corbyn "Far-Right"? And in any case why do you have to put political labels on people, most people hold a variety of views some of which may be characterised as right or left but their personal balance would probably be somewhere closer to the centre overall, that's certainly the case for me, I hold views that may well be pretty right-wing in some regard but also some quite socialist beliefs. Branding people as "Far-right" or "conspiracy theorist" is actually a method  of political censorship as you are basically saying "nothing this person has to say can have any validity" so it then doesn't matter what their argument is, it gets disregarded whether right or wrong.

Here's the BBC's report on the Berlin protests on 1st August,

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53622797

it includes this,

"The BBC's Damien McGuinness said some participants were from the far right and some were conspiracy theorists who do not believe Covid-19 exists, but others were ordinary people who simply object to the government's approach to the pandemic."

Ordinary people? So right wingers and conspiracy believers are not ordinary? Not "normal"? See how the use of language demonises people.

They could have simply said "the demo drew people from all walks of life and both ends of the political spectrum" both quotes are factually correct but the BBC ran with one that discredited the attendees, strangely enough virtually every other mainstream report used the words "far right" and "conspiracy theory" too, quite a coincidence. BTW there is a large demo planned for Berlin this Saturday but the government have now banned it and say the police will act against any demonstrators so it will be interesting to see what happens this weekend.