UK Politics Hamsterwheel MkII
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 1,648
You can have all the warehousing in the world, makes no difference if you can't get the stock in & out in time. In my illustrious career, I have run fruit & veg operations for supermarkets, distributing produce on an industrial scale. Nearly all of them run a system called line picking, whereby the traditional method of receiving goods, putting them away in racking then dropping them down to floor level for picking & despatch is inverted.
Instead, what they do is pick those goods into store orders directly from the receiving dock, cutting out the putaway element altogether. This may sound trivial to you but what it does is cut out about 12 hours of storage between receipt & despatch and when you're dealing with fast perishables in the 5-6000 pallet range per day, that is a significant cost saving & shelf life gain. Hold even a few of those inbound trucks up & you effectively destroy a system that works on a strict 24 hour rotation. Then you don't have much in store beyond long life Brassicas, spuds, garlics and so on.
It's bad for the consumer, worse for the supplier, haulier & retailer. In the end, we depend on these supply chains. We work for them, we benefit from their efficiency, we are proposing to erect barriers to impede them. It is madness by any rational analysis.
Instead, what they do is pick those goods into store orders directly from the receiving dock, cutting out the putaway element altogether. This may sound trivial to you but what it does is cut out about 12 hours of storage between receipt & despatch and when you're dealing with fast perishables in the 5-6000 pallet range per day, that is a significant cost saving & shelf life gain. Hold even a few of those inbound trucks up & you effectively destroy a system that works on a strict 24 hour rotation. Then you don't have much in store beyond long life Brassicas, spuds, garlics and so on.
It's bad for the consumer, worse for the supplier, haulier & retailer. In the end, we depend on these supply chains. We work for them, we benefit from their efficiency, we are proposing to erect barriers to impede them. It is madness by any rational analysis.

Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Currently within the EU
Posts: 325
That was all part of their bluffing plan, the whole object of the negotiations is to prevent/ try and reverse leaving but on there terms. ECJ has screwed that up on cancelling though. It doesn't want the UK leaving the control of the Eu both economically and socially. If they had suggested something then they ran the danger of it being accepted.
The EU needs control over the UK import market or they will loose pretty much all trade deals that have been created. Without the UK's import market and the other states running heavy export surpluses then things become very heavy in the EU's favour. More than likely the reason why the Japan deal is in limbo just now and its PM is wading in with comments. UK market out the picture and sorry the picture has changed we need to renegotiate.
The EU needs control over the UK import market or they will loose pretty much all trade deals that have been created. Without the UK's import market and the other states running heavy export surpluses then things become very heavy in the EU's favour. More than likely the reason why the Japan deal is in limbo just now and its PM is wading in with comments. UK market out the picture and sorry the picture has changed we need to renegotiate.
You have been wrong about this all along, and you are still wrong. 70 days to go, and there is no sign of any movement by the EU. Will you still be expecting them to come begging for a new deal on 28th March, or will you finally accept that it's their game, their rules, and we have lost?
We didn't like their rules, so we left. That's it. End of game. Don't expect any favours, they have 27 members to look after and one ex member doesn't figure.


Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: mids
Age: 54
Posts: 0
I have never said the EU will give way. It would be suicide.
But if the UK isn't taken back to second world status then it will also be suicide.
Something will happen post exit because if it doesn't that will be economic suicide.
But if the UK isn't taken back to second world status then it will also be suicide.
Something will happen post exit because if it doesn't that will be economic suicide.

I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 76
Posts: 16,613
No, the nodding donkey is how our representatives show approval or disapproval for camera shots for their constituents; you never know who the video editor is screening to the world. Last thing you want is apparent agreement.

Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: n/a
Posts: 13
I’m in the Far East ATM and have just spent some time in a Commonwealth country..the general view there of the U.K. is “WTF” are you doing, that the U.K. has lost it’s mind and that most certainly Government and the whole parliamentary system is not fit for purpose ..and I have not heard any mention of those countries rushing to do those “dead easy” WTO/commonwealth trade deals that were promised by some.

Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: West Wiltshire, UK
Age: 67
Posts: 369
This whole fiasco has done even more to convince me that all politicians are a complete and utter waste of space, and, aided and abetted by the lunatic extreme Brexiteers, and the even more lunatic extremist Remain brigade, they have conspired to create the most monumental balls-up that I think I've ever seen within government.
All those who have been intent on derailing the will of the people, be they bloody whinging remainers or extremist Brexiteers should be hanging their heads in shame over the colossal mess they have helped to create. May might be a waste of space as PM, but frankly no PM could have possibly reached any sort of agreement with all those self-centred plonkers who have been pulling in opposite directions, without any consideration at all for what the majority of people in the UK actually want. Right now we are well and truly in the hands of the bloody EU, who hold pretty much every card, in what our damned government considers to be some sort of game, and who will dominate the the UK for years, no matter what decision is finally reached in the next few weeks.
Everyone I've spoken to in recent weeks, be they people who voted to remain, or people who voted to leave, have been expressing much the same views, that our government has seriously failed us, the people, and that a minority of extremist lunatics on both sides are almost wholly to blame for this failing.
All those who have been intent on derailing the will of the people, be they bloody whinging remainers or extremist Brexiteers should be hanging their heads in shame over the colossal mess they have helped to create. May might be a waste of space as PM, but frankly no PM could have possibly reached any sort of agreement with all those self-centred plonkers who have been pulling in opposite directions, without any consideration at all for what the majority of people in the UK actually want. Right now we are well and truly in the hands of the bloody EU, who hold pretty much every card, in what our damned government considers to be some sort of game, and who will dominate the the UK for years, no matter what decision is finally reached in the next few weeks.
Everyone I've spoken to in recent weeks, be they people who voted to remain, or people who voted to leave, have been expressing much the same views, that our government has seriously failed us, the people, and that a minority of extremist lunatics on both sides are almost wholly to blame for this failing.

Join Date: May 2004
Location: Москва/Ташкент
Age: 49
Posts: 784
Right now we are well and truly in the hands of the bloody EU, who hold pretty much every card
Unless of course the UK gives up some of its red lines... utter humiliation and more for the intransigent politicians who may not well survive that, hence their extreme reluctance.

Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cambridge, England, EU
Posts: 3,431
I don't understand this constant reference to "no food on the shelves". We live in a capitalist, business driven society. Somewhere in Europe (or elsewhere) will have food to sell. Somewhere in the UK a business will want to buy that food. One will sell to the other and no government would be stupid enough to interfere with that process.
Of course that can be solved by privatisation and the free market too - truck drivers could opt to pay more for shorter queues, just as some people do for security queues at airports.

Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 16,201
Yep, and I read corbyns comments as he is not interested in talks, you cannot fritter away the hard Brexit simply to appease Corbyn as it is a major bargaining chip with the EU.
How comes you never see Diane Abbott on the front bench these days, are they hiding her in a cupboard somewhere?
How comes you never see Diane Abbott on the front bench these days, are they hiding her in a cupboard somewhere?

Join Date: May 2011
Location: Hampshire
Age: 72
Posts: 726
tescoapp: Indeed. It will be interesting to see the numbers broken down. I calculate that possibly 2 Tory MPs went against the government. They have 317 members, the DUP have 10. The vote went in the government's favour at 325, so 2 missing? As I see, one will need to see the records when available; it is possible a couple of Tories were off sick (or hiding in the khazi!). The DUP have now given a new, more modern meaning to the name Judas. If they had voted the other way, it would be a general election on the cards. No. They happily confirmed in the minutes after the vote how the bags of silver effectively bought their vote.
Pontius: I get your point re the nodding donkeys but in the case to which I referred it was live TV so no editing was possible.
Pontius: I get your point re the nodding donkeys but in the case to which I referred it was live TV so no editing was possible.


Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: mids
Age: 54
Posts: 0
Yet more abusive posts curing the concrete of leave support and cementing the outcome.
I am hoping that a deal was done so the lady that required an emergency c section didn't have to turn up. Which would account for 1 for and 1 against
I am hoping that a deal was done so the lady that required an emergency c section didn't have to turn up. Which would account for 1 for and 1 against

Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cambridge, England, EU
Posts: 3,431
Only if you don't think about what it was actually trying to achieve.
Corbyn has been 100% successful at kicking the can down the road and wasting another day towards his and May's joint goal of a no deal crash out.
So now it's her turn again.
But I must observe that she achieved WEEKS last time it was her turn, and Corbyn only got one day this time around. I wonder who will be the winner when the final score is tallied up?
Corbyn has been 100% successful at kicking the can down the road and wasting another day towards his and May's joint goal of a no deal crash out.
So now it's her turn again.
But I must observe that she achieved WEEKS last time it was her turn, and Corbyn only got one day this time around. I wonder who will be the winner when the final score is tallied up?

Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Reading, UK
Posts: 10,895

Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cambridge, England, EU
Posts: 3,431
Seen that done in a council meeting. Someone really couldn't stick voting for something, and voting against would been seriously disrespectful. So they went and hid in the loo. Once the vote had been taken a colleague went and fetched them back into the council chamber, as previously arranged.

I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 76
Posts: 16,613
No, the editing is the producer who selects the camera stream for the broadcast. They would never know when he would switch from speaker to another. While JC was talking the camera was switched to the PM but only the producer would know that.
