P&O Cruisers - What are things like where YOU are?

[AnnieC]

Just now, grapau27 said:

 

Fortunately he has gone and suddenly there are ministers on GMB answering Piers Morgan's questions.

Well, they're appearing on GMB. As to whether they're answering the questions...🤣

[zap99]

19 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

The BBC definitely said isles of Scilly

I was watching sky news.

[Harry Peterson]

20 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

The BBC definitely said isles of Scilly

It did. Zap apparently heard or saw it on Sky.

 

Hate these American owned second rate news channels. 😱

[grapau27]

2 hours ago, Adawn47 said:

That would have been me, as a joke, you know just like the continous ones about Gary Barlow or the grockles? I am gradually begining to learn to keep my sense of humour to myself and leave it to those who like to jump on anything to be insulting.

Your humour is appreciated by me.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, Dermotsgirl said:

Tier 3 here too. It seems odd to have entered lockdown in tier 1 and to come out in tier 3 

Tier 3 for us too.

[purplesea]

2 hours ago, kalos said:

Well to go along with our new Bubble system we now have our new Tier system .

To save any confusion the .Gov web site has put a postcode checker out but at 

the moment isn't working .

As expected we are in Tier 3 again , I just used the regional table as they are updating this .

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1APtcBmI4JeTR0Ysufjavgg2gy4MBiHz0Hf9eKIp5BSo/edit#gid=1865138965

 

 

 

Thankfully we are still in Tier 1, and hopefully people won't go silly because of it!

 

Stay safe everyone.

[terrierjohn]

39 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

I think you already know the answer to that.

 

He at least tried.

 

 

 

 

But did his action help local bookshops, without on line sales, or was it a total waste of time, unless he has Amazon shares in his portfolio?😟

[Harry Peterson]

12 minutes ago, AnnieC said:

Well, they're appearing on GMB. As to whether they're answering the questions...🤣

They’re back on the Today programme too. But not answering the questions.

 

Richi Sunak was on this morning defending the effective pay cut for essential workers in the public sector. Asked why there’s no money for them, but there is money for increased military spending. No answer, but the usual body swerve.

[ann141]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

Did he ban internet sales?

I don't think it was just to help independant book shops by saying people couldn t buy books from Tesco,( though I think that was probably the main reason )It was also to do with the fact that they wanted people to only go out if essential and if supermarkets were selling other items as well as food, it may have encouraged more people to go into Tesco to browse or for more than one family member to go into the supermarket rather than just the person doing the food shopping.

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, ann141 said:

We have gone up to Tier 3 as well which is disappointing as numbers in our part of Derbyshire were decreasing(though other parts still really high) However, having watched the funeral (via video link)of a friends husband yesterday who died of covid aged 64 with no major health problems,I am willing to accept the restrictions if it will help numbers fall. Merseyside where my Mum and one of my sisters live has gone from tier 3 to Tier 2 because of reduction of numbers due to increased restrictions so hope it will work in Derbyshire too.

Sorry to hear about your friend's husband's death from covid19.

Yesterday police broke up an illegal rave of 300 people in Newcastle and the organisers were fined.

All the NE is in Tier 3 today partly through irresponsible people.

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by grapau27

[Harry Peterson]

4 minutes ago, purplesea said:

 

Thankfully we are still in Tier 1, and hopefully people won't go silly because of it!

 

Stay safe everyone.

Oh to be back in Cornwall, where I went to school for a few years and had the best place ever to grow up! 🏖️

[lincslady]

We are in tier 3, not that I mind, but I can't help thinking it is essentially  because we have fewer hospital beds per capita than other areas.  We live in a sparsely populated district, with few cases round here so I know some will moan.

[terrierjohn]

3 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

They’re back on the Today programme too. But not answering the questions.

 

Richi Sunak was on this morning defending the effective pay cut for essential workers in the public sector. Asked why there’s no money for them, but there is money for increased military spending. No answer, but the usual body swerve.

The unfortunate situation with public sector pay is that it is the only area where the govt can exercise control over pay increases. I imagine the govt are hoping that the private sector will see  this pay freeze as an opportunity to similarly restrict pay rises.

[Harry Peterson]

2 minutes ago, lincslady said:

We are in tier 3, not that I mind, but I can't help thinking it is essentially  because we have fewer hospital beds per capita than other areas.  We live in a sparsely populated district, with few cases round here so I know some will moan.

Knowing your county pretty well, I’m sure you’re right - that plus an older population, particularly near the coast. South Holland, I gather, are pretty annoyed about it.

[pete14]

43 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I was watching sky news.

So was I. Maybe different time and different reporter

[pete14]

27 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

The unfortunate situation with public sector pay is that it is the only area where the govt can exercise control over pay increases. I imagine the govt are hoping that the private sector will see  this pay freeze as an opportunity to similarly restrict pay rises.

I remember back in the 1980s, the government imposed a flat rate rise of £312 pa or £6 per week. A large number of people were complaining at the time that it was insufficient and eroded differentials. 40 years or so later, the lowest paid in the public sector are being give £250 pa, nearly £5 per week extra. Just saying😏

[Selbourne]

34 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

They’re back on the Today programme too. But not answering the questions.

 

Richi Sunak was on this morning defending the effective pay cut for essential workers in the public sector. Asked why there’s no money for them, but there is money for increased military spending. No answer, but the usual body swerve.

That’s a surprise as he was interviewed on Sky News this morning and answered that question very effectively. In summary, the office of national statistics did some independent work to show that Public Sector workers are now 7% better off than those in the private sector, and that’s before you even take into account their far better pension provision. Private sector pay rises have been 3% behind Public Sector in recent times and, of course, those working in the Public Sector haven’t (in the main) been affected by the job losses, redundancies, furlough etc etc that millions in the private sector (or self employed) have. Keep in mind that the freeze doesn’t affect those in the NHS or those earning less than £24k and it seems a sensible and very reasonable approach to me. But, then again, I don’t look for any and every opportunity to bash the government 😉 

[Eglesbrech]

39 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

But did his action help local bookshops, without on line sales, or was it a total waste of time, unless he has Amazon shares in his portfolio?😟

The fact that we are discussing it and that lots of people were made to at least think about it during the lockdown might have made some think about supporting their local shops rather than buying from a supermarket or online.

 

You are right in so far as people who don’t try to support local won’t be swayed by a political decision.
 

If however a few folks recognised the issues and did support local then all to the good.

 

 Neither you nor I know if it did or didn’t work.

[Josy1953]

Today is the day of bad news for us, my friend rang me this morning to tell me that her lovely mum who was the nicest person I have ever met died during the night, she was with her at the hospital, (not Covid related).  My niece just rang to say that when she went to have her bloods done and picc line flushed yesterday she had a swab test done and it has come back positive so her chemo is delayed for 2weeks while she isolates.

[Harry Peterson]

1 minute ago, Josy1953 said:

Today is the day of bad news for us, my friend rang me this morning to tell me that her lovely mum who was the nicest person I have ever met died during the night, she was with her at the hospital, (not Covid related).  My niece just rang to say that when she went to have her bloods done and picc line flushed yesterday she had a swab test done and it has come back positive so her chemo is delayed for 2weeks while she isolates.

Sorry to hear those pieces of bad news, Josy.  Not easy for the families, or you.  
 

Harry

[AnnieC]

7 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Today is the day of bad news for us, my friend rang me this morning to tell me that her lovely mum who was the nicest person I have ever met died during the night, she was with her at the hospital, (not Covid related).  My niece just rang to say that when she went to have her bloods done and picc line flushed yesterday she had a swab test done and it has come back positive so her chemo is delayed for 2weeks while she isolates.

So sorry, Josy. What an awful day for you. 

 

Take care.

[kalos]

10 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Sorry to hear those pieces of bad news, Josy.  Not easy for the families, or you.  
 

Harry

 

May I add my sympathies to Harrys sentiment Josy, such sad news at a difficult time .

[Eddie99]

Josy, I’m sorry to hear your news

 

Things will get better

[purplesea]

18 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Today is the day of bad news for us, my friend rang me this morning to tell me that her lovely mum who was the nicest person I have ever met died during the night, she was with her at the hospital, (not Covid related).  My niece just rang to say that when she went to have her bloods done and picc line flushed yesterday she had a swab test done and it has come back positive so her chemo is delayed for 2weeks while she isolates.

Sorry to hear your news.  I hope your niece doesn't suffer and her chemo goes ahead soon.

[Eglesbrech]

7 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

That’s a surprise as he was interviewed on Sky News this morning and answered that question very effectively. In summary, the office of national statistics did some independent work to show that Public Sector workers are now 7% better off than those in the private sector, and that’s before you even take into account their far better pension provision. Private sector pay rises have been 3% behind Public Sector in recent times and, of course, those working in the Public Sector haven’t (in the main) been affected by the job losses, redundancies, furlough etc etc that millions in the private sector (or self employed) have. Keep in mind that the freeze doesn’t affect those in the NHS or those earning less than £24k and it seems a sensible and very reasonable approach to me. But, then again, I don’t look for any and every opportunity to bash the government 😉 

The public sector is always a really easy target for governments of all political colours and it always has been. 

 

The “far better” pensions are now career average which diminishes their value and paid for (by most of the public sector) by a % deduction from salary. The days of the non contributory pension are long since gone. That % deduction is also increased with salary so while in the private sector in if you and I put in a sum we would get back the same, that’s not the case in the public sector. Those who earn more pay a much higher percentage but get back the same 80th, so it’s like a higher rate tax in effect. The private sector would not be happy if that was imposed on them as it was in public life many years ago. They have also attached the retirement age to the state pension age so the goal posts just keep moving for people.

 

The public sector was also paid a lot paid less for many years than private sector (and no annual bonuses, Christmas party, etc) equivalents to the point that they could not retain some skill sets as people moved away for the higher pay. The government did not think that was unfair.

 

It may be different down south but there have been redundancies up here and a lot of staff on furlough eg library, leisure, visitor attractions, hours cut at the dump etc etc.  Not perhaps to the same extent as in the private sector but still affecting many individuals.

 

I fully recognise that the books have to be balanced but the people who will suffer an effective pay cut next year(s), if indeed they still have a job with budget cuts, are the same people who have worked all the hours god sent over the last six months to keep the country going.

 

Rant over. I don’t think it is fair to always pick on the same group of people just because you can and that would be true of any government, not just this one.