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The Brexit Thread

BigT said:
Its a bit simpler than that, the UK includes NI whereas GB doesn’t.
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While you are correct that Great Britain doesn't include NI, "GB" is the country identifier for the United Kingdom inc. NI. It looks like the request came from the UK Government to make this change - seems pointless but I think it is to essentially make it clear that GB stickers/number plates with the EU flag on them are invalid, it's just easier to say all GB stickers are invalid rather than just those that have EU flags.
 
geo4chg said:
While you are correct that Great Britain doesn't include NI, "GB" is the country identifier for the United Kingdom inc. NI. It looks like the request came from the UK Government to make this change - seems pointless but I think it is to essentially make it clear that GB stickers/number plates with the EU flag on them are invalid, it's just easier to say all GB stickers are invalid rather than just those that have EU flags.
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But it just seems crazy to change something that has worked for 111 years.
 
geo4chg said:
It looks like the request came from the UK Government to make this change - seems pointless but I think it is to essentially make it clear that GB stickers/number plates with the EU flag on them are invalid,
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The government previously said if you have number plates with the Euro flag then they are not accepted and you will need an additional GB sticker. Now they're saying if you went out and bought a GB sticker like we told you to, that's now also invalid and you'll need to get a new UK sticker.

At least we know the government is concentrating on the important issues of the day while the crises of fuel, lorry driver shortages, shortages of gas and shortages of CO2 rumble on...
 
I fully expect a majority of Brits travelling to Europe to be unaware and continue using the GB magnet/sticker until they arrive at the ferry terminal and get given a leaflet.
 
It's all one big metaphor. The new UK car sticker will help us all stick together. Ingenius move, don't know why they didn't think of it earlier. Why paper over the cracks when you can sticker them back together?
 
jon81uk said:
I fully expect a majority of Brits travelling to Europe to be unaware and continue using the GB magnet/sticker until they arrive at the ferry terminal and get given a leaflet.
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I can see every car with a GB sticker being held at border control in the arriving country. Fined and made to pay £60 for a uk sticker.


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I find it amusing these flippant 'just pay higher wages' comments on a lot of social media commentary on the current labour shortages... as if this will magically solve all the problems in the UK post-Brexit. Higher wages lead to higher prices. Higher prices lead to higher inflation. Currently, with tax rises due in April, inflation already above the target rate and pay freezes in many sectors, it would be suicide in the economic recovery.

I would welcome a gradual increase of, say, the minimum wage, but businesses can't simply go "OK, let's pay our waiters £15 an hour now" - then suddenly your steak and chips at your local restaurant has gone from £15 to £20 overnight.

People think far too simple. Brexit "let's cut immigration"... oh, yes, and British people don't want to pick fruit out of the fields. OK, let's just pay fruit pickers more than we pay police officers, and that will solve the problem.

Doesn't work like that!
 
You say that, which is fine, but maybe people should just push back and not do these jobs if they're not paying enough for the job to be worth doing. Some of the businesses moaning about having to pay more or not being able to get the staff will probably announce yearly profits of £100 million pounds or indeed billions in some cases. It's not that they all HAVE TO put prices up in the shops to make up for the wage increases, they could just accept that maybe this financial yearly results may not be better than last year. But no, it'll all be some of the lowest paid workers faults for wanting a wage that doesn't leave them needing benefits or waiting in a foodbank queue. In reality we need a big change in the capitalism on steroids culture which means that businesses have to make a lot more money year on year. This really only helps the shareholders and the senior people in these businesses to justify their large bonuses. Greed has just gone totally out of control and I'm glad people are telling these divs to shove their rubbish jobs for rubbish pay.
 
It's also very easy to tell those in certain sectors to just get a new job. But given what many jobs require in terms of qualifications etc. it's not that easy.

Always been a fan of Graduate job roles advertising a 2/3 year of relevant industry experience for example.
 
BarryZola said:
You say that, which is fine, but maybe people should just push back and not do these jobs if they're not paying enough for the job to be worth doing.
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The people who do these minimum wage jobs have no other options otherwise they would be doing them. If they refuse to do the job, other people in the same position will do it instead because the alternative is to have no income. If you're trying to support a family then you're trapped and desperate to keep food on the table.

Sure, if everybody refused to work then it would have to improve but I think you have things the wrong way around. It should be the employer that improves the conditions, not victim-blaming the employee by saying it's their fault for not protesting enough.

Capitalism doesn't reward increasing salaries and improving working conditions. Regulation is needed to ensure people get a fair income and working conditions.

The EU is not responsible for the low pay in this country, it's a matter of domestic policy. One might argue leaving the EU paves the way for worse working conditions, such as relaxing or abandoning the Working Time Directive.
 
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I don’t think the problem is just wages though. It’s the contracts. A zero hour or 6 month contract is not a big deal for someone happy to travel around the EU, who maybe has a cheap house in Romania, who can earn 4 or 5 times what they would in their home country in those 6 months, and is happy to be tossed away like a dirty tissue when the company doesn’t need them anymore.

Unfortunately having an abundance of EU workers at the beckon call of U.K. employees sadly resulted in more poor contracts and little rights for the workers. In the U.K. where people live, they need security in order to pay the mortgage and bills every month.

People who live here unless you are a student can’t afford to take a short term or zero hour contract. It’ it’s good that salaries are increasing yes but I hope contracts offered to workers also improve to encourage more people into jobs which sadly relied so heavily on EU workers in the past for this very reason.
 
I do not buy the argument that prices would have to increase if wages increase, for a small independent business, sure. But even some of these fruit growing companies in the UK are massive, multi million pound giants.

However, as has been said, lots of the companies struggling for staff, make hundreds of millions in profit every year. The only reason they have to raise prices is to fulfill their ever growing appetite for greed and the pressure to produce a year on year profit.

I think alot of the issues on this front point to deep seated issues with capitalism itself. A lot of these companys could probably afford to pay alot more, not raise prices, without much of an impact to their bottom line, except for the bonus payments they make to executives.
 
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