Coronavirus: Stay or go
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Are shops are pretty well stocked with only a few items in relatively short supply. I think a lot of the panic buying has ended. Talking to a dustman on Monday he said the amount of food being thrown out was disgraceful. Anyway back on thread I'm staying put. Got my deposit back for my Easter trip so all good.
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I still find it shocking the amount of good food that gets thrown away, even more so at this time. During the summer on site it really winds me up when we do the bins the amount of unopened and in date stuff that's thrown. Now we get all those selfish folk panic buying and stockpiling, then looking at the dates and binning it, totally wrong
Buy little, then there's enough for all!
JK
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Glad to hear you got your order Peedee and managed to get a slot elsewhere. We get our order later today, I sat it out in a long on line queue last night and managed to amend some items, but don't know what will turn up today! We might be able to order fresh veg and fruit boxes plus other groceries from a local farm shop, but have to wait till next week to order, they are too busy just now.
Our very elderly neighbours who had asked all and sundry for SR Flour are now reaping the rewards with unknown bags of flour being left on their doorstep. They phoned me if I'd left a bag, no, but I'd put one on my order for them, so more to come!
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I think it’s lots of things Rocky, different buying patterns in different parts of country, some areas had huge panic buying, others hardly any. Deliveries from continent are all over the place at the moment due to extra checks, some lines have been sacrificed to concentrate on more of what is selling most, etc.....
Two things remain a mystery for me. Toilet rolls being one. They are made in UK, but where are they all? And Quorn mince. This was already hard to find before all this, it’s like unicorn poo at the moment.
On a more worrying note, incidences of domestic violence are rising. And it’s heartbreaking some of the stuff our niece is currently dealing with, infant aged children having to be cared for by school because their home lives are so rotten and dysfunctional. She had to deal with one parent effing and beeing at her a couple of days ago because they wanted food delivering by school for all family, not just tiny little girl. ☹️
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I have a theory that I will offer, based on working in retailing for 46 years. I think the problem is two fold the own brand products that supermarkets sell and online delivery. The resupply chains for these products won't be as robust as say the main brands. Because they sell out and can't be replenished as quickly the big brands come under more pressure, especially when price is not so much of an issue. The resupply of products is based on what is normal for their usual sales so a sudden upsurge catches them out and even when they see the trend developing it becomes a scramble to increase orders. There are specialist companies that make own brand products and they don't have the same capacity as the larger brands. It might also explain why smaller shops without delivery options are coping slightly better in meeting customer demands. So the likes of Lidl, Aldi, Co-Op,M&S and small local shops have not had their warehouses striped bare by a massive upsurge in online shopping.
David
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Very sad about vulnerable children TDA, at least this was recognised early on, school is often their only refuge.
On a lighter note I ordered Quorn mince as there was no red meat available! However trying to change my order last night to fill in gaps there were no eggs either....I really miss our chickens just now.
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It's interesting to hear David but the Co-op does home deliveries in certain areas and M&S has collection points for orders so I can only see it's been excessive demand in a short period which must have overwhelmed a lot of suppliers. The on line orders must be the greatest logistic problem just now.
I've just seen Tesco are restricting on line orders to 80 items, maybe that's a solution?
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Funny, I thought quorn mince WAS unicorn poo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JK
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Professor Tim Laing, who was Food Advisor to the last 4 Governments, has written at least 2 quite lengthy articles during the last 10 days on UK Food chains and their fragility.
In essence, there is insufficient UK warehousing to maintain stocks [and we only produce 53% of our own food] and over the last 40+ years we have become accustomed to year round fresh pineapple and n number of different types of pasta etc. The Just in Time system relies on around the clock delivery system into the warehouses and then [working hours] deliveries to Stores, hence supermarkets running short during the day in normal times, pending the next delivery from the warehouse.
Labour shortages after Brexit, Border Checking because of Coronavirus, panic buying because of Coronavirus etc has just about broken the system. The British Retail Consortium Head of Food says that the panic buying has been like the 2-3 days Xmas rush, but has continued for 3 weeks. All the food is 'somewhere down the road' but when it arrives, it is scooped up before it disappears! [logic of the human mind!].
In addition, Professor Laing says that, in normal times, about 30% of calories are consumed outside the house, in cafes, restaurants etc. That food consumption is now within the home, but the bulk stocks are with the Bulk Suppliers {e.g. Brakes] to the [now shut] Restaurant Chains, so there is a HUGE pile of food that will spoil within the next 3 months.
The Food cannot be sold, because it is not packed and labelled in accordance with Consumer Regulations ... How bl**dy daft is that? I don't give a stuff that I cannot see the number of calories per 100g in the pasta,and I'm sure that Foodbank Volunteers and their Clients don't either! Emergency Powers Regs, anyone?
I'll step down from my soapbox carefully, now. Don't want to put pressure on A&E by arriving with a broken ankle ...
Steve
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as well as the infection rates/profiles showing how the 'curve' is being managed, the other stark difference is the ratio of 'outcome' (recovered/not) across the top dozen or so countries.....
China 3000 deaths but 74000 recovered.
Iran 2000 deaths but 11000 recovered.
Germany 281 deaths but 5600 recovered.
France 1700 deaths but 5000 recovered.
South Korea 139 deaths but 4500 recovered.
all these countries show significantly high recovery rates.
even USA, Italy and Spain have far more more recovering than not.
there are a couple of exceptions on the list, UK is one of them, but at the moment the absolute numbers are much lower so impact not as great.
lets hope we can all keep it that way and all infection rates continue to fall and recovery rates continue to climb.
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What about the catering trade people, and others now not employed. Wetherspoon staff etc doing the work.Even to the extent that if there is necessary work that needs doing and they refuse to do it then they dont get the Government hand outs.
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pretty much the same in Lee on the Solent doing my daily cycle and noticed today that in LOS the council have closed all beach side car parks, cars parking on the seafront, which is legal, looked like they were having a visit from the old bill, no bad thing,
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why should there be a picking labour shortage?
never mind those that have become put out of work by the virus, prior to the outbreak, unemployed uk 'workers' were able to decide that 'fruit picking' in East Anglia 'wasn't for them' yet were able to continue 'benefit picking'...
can anyone explain why we have many unemployed yet still need to 'rely on' a continental workforce to do what can be done by those we are paying to not pick?...or not to wait at tables or not to work in kitchens or.....
we have become a 'service' based economy yet we (the Brits) dont like to serve..
with folk being urged to 'return home' (wherever that might be) perhaps there will come a time (pretty soon) when 'all hands' means those that are still here and being paid to stay at home....
as the bill for this issue rises exponentially its fairly obvious that 'things' will be looked at....chancellor already hinted at NI/tax being same across employed and self employed...
...and while hes in a very benevolent mood, everyone is 'happy', but as the fiscal issues bite hard, im sure there will be a closer look at spreading 'those that can' across 'that which is needed'....
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There was a very pithy BTL post in the Guardian blog a short time ago after the announcements of the Ministerial Coronavirus infections. My deductive powers lead me to believe that the poster was not a supporter of the current Government ...
'I don't know, the depths that this virus will go to spread itself ...'
Obviously the infection is not a laughing matter, but that post is quite withering and a clever piece of wordsmanship.
Steve
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Spanish figures in....
number of new cases lower than any day since 22nd March
number of deaths lower than any day since 22nd March
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Not a very friendly response, but, hey ho. The reference to labour shortages after Brexit was made by the learned Professor, who, I venture to suggest, has a little more hard data and expertise than either you or I.
There are more polite ways to express a differing point of view.
Steve
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Steve, no one has mentioned your choice of newspaper yet
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Funnily enough they would say that wouldn't they, I suppose they're saying the opposite in right wing papers.
Just as an aside about who is available from the catering industry to go and pick spring cabbages...our eldest is a catering supervisor but still working and a nephew who runs a popular Italian restaurant is doing meal deliveries with on line orders, the staff do the deliveries and they are giving top priority to older and more vulnerable people. If I lived a bit nearer I'd be ordering, their home made tiramisu is great!
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Believe it or not, it’s quite skilled labour, and definitely not something anyone should just think they could do. A high level of fitness is required, and the hours can be very long. (Those more used to sitting on their @rses in an office environment possibly wouldn’t get past day 3 when the aches and pain really kick in.) It won’t just be Coronavirus that has impacted on picker staff levels of course, other factors as well. I well recall when we used to spend long weeks down in Cornwall, the veg pickers were out very early in the mornings, and still out there in the evenings as well, often in blazing sunshine. Credit where it’s due as far as I am concerned.
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One factor that is often overlooked when the 'idle British unemployed ...' refrain is trotted out re fruit & veg pickers is that the Gangmasters have/had well developed networks in areas such as Eastern Europe. This meant that they could merely drive a couple of coaches to Europe, pick up the required number of workers and return to the UK to 'get picking'.
British unemployed never got a look in, not least because the jobs were never advertised.
As far as my choice of newspaper is concerned, BB, I only use online versions tend to switch between BBC News, Guardian and the Independent, trying to piece information together. I then drift off to sites such as the EU Official Website or that of the Scottish Government, especially for the text of legislation to confirm and/or expand what appears in the online newspapers. I do need to get out more.
i used to also use the Telegraph online, but gave up around 2012 when the proprietors made most of their financial journalists, who had great knowledge and experience, redundant. They also put the decent articles behind a paywall which helped me make the decision to look elsewhere!
Steve
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Yeah right, it was all those foreigners taking their jobs, the poor indigenous unemployed never got a look in when those hard working, reliable, conscientious foreigners turned up to feed the nation.
Still we will put a stop to that!
Still in such an affluent society letting the fruit and veg crops rot to be ploughed into the soil like the last two years is OK unless there was to be a global crisis of some sort.
We are fortunate enough to be able to import but then those dirty foreign lorry drivers are bringing virus, as noted in a previous posting in this thread.
I genuinely despair at what this country has become.
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