The Winter of Discontent #2 Food, energy, transport, jobs, housing etc

[HotesTilaire]

This is my first month without the uplift, I only have to think of myself and I can feel that it’s going to start to bite plus everything is becoming more expensive. I can do without it ok, god only knows how it would be if I was half of a couple let alone anyone with kids.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

klarna is great for things like that. Much better than clearpay i think. You gotta do what you gotta do ent ya at the end of the day.

Yeah definitely. I know people can run up a debt easily with Klarna but I’ve had to use them a couple of times now for ‘big stuff’ that we’ve needed and the interest free payments have been a life saver, much prefer that than using finance from Curry’s or AO with a silly interest rate. I only ever use it for bigger purchases that I genuinely need.

 

[IngressUK]

Tube drivers get paid a ridiculous amount of money considering their role. There is very little skill unless something goes wrong. I am sure it is a role that could be done driverless.

TFL needs to be able to keep itself afloat. It charges enough for tickets, deal with the ticket evaders. I work in London and except for the barriers which are open a lot of the time I haven’t had my ticket inspected since before the pandemic and even then it was maybe 3 times a year. I reported a ticket evader who got my train every day, they basically told unless they witness him (which they did) there was nothing they could do while I paid £3k for the same ticket!

The base salary for a Tube Driver in London is £55,011 a year. This compares to around £51k a year for a driver on the national rail network.

The £55k a year is for a 36 hour week and 43 days (six weeks) paid holiday a year (an average of 28 days for us 'plebs' in the outside world).

A part time driver still earns a respectable £25k a year for around 16-18 hours a week.

A part time tube driver earns more than a full time London Bus Driver - who are on around £24k a year.

Free travel for driver and spouse on the TFL network.

Final salary pensions STILL offered to new starters. Retirement age is 60, or reduced pension from 50. How many companies still offer these retirement perks in the private sector? (ANSWER: Next to none.)

Entry to the role is a closed shop, entry was restricted to internal applicants only, due to the unions kicking off. No external applicants have been taken on since 2008. How is this right, or not discriminatory against those not already employed in the sector?

The role has also become somewhat easier over the years due to the increased use of technology. On many lines it is now simply a case of pushing a button to start the train, and another to open and close the doors. Technology essentially does the rest, drive, control speed, signalling and stop the train at the station.

Tube Drivers are now coming across as exceptionally greedy. Their pay and perks exceed many of those they transport and even of those on the rest of the rail network. Yet they are still planning to strike for even more money.

To be honest they can F off.

Full automation can't come quick enough as far as I am now concerned.

As you have also correctly stated, TFL lose a fortune in fare evasion. Sadiq fails to mention this when he continually slates the Government for not being forthcoming at automatically bailing out TFL with yet another few billions. He is more than happy for the rest of the UK to continue subsidising this shambles of an organisation.

 

[Wackie Jeaver]

I think we have 4 more energy companies getting ready to go to the wall... makes me glad we are with those knobs at British Gas tbh.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

My washing machine broke earlier this year and I had to get a new one on Klarna as couldn’t afford to buy a new one outright. Thankfully interest free as long as I keep up with payments.

 

[CatCafe234]

I only watched ch4 news last night so don’t want to report misinformation as they were super super brief - basically only said the new O variant has been found in Essex & Nottingham(shire) and both cases are linked to the same family who’d been to SA? They’ve re-instated mask mandates for shops but not in hospitality, and there’s gonna be a fuller conference from the PM later today that pads out things a bit more?

The thing that upset me was they’re reviewing this in 3 weeks time - so week commencing 20th December, yet again we are potentially having our plans shafted at the last minute. Don’t get me wrong I’m lucky to be alive & thankfully no one in my family has died, but like fuck me how much heart ache can they put us through? I’d rather be told now Christmas is over than go through the motions and have it taken away less than a week prior. I’m not even a big Christmas or making memories hun and it hurts, I feel so sorry for mummys to older kids who are aware of what’s going on & having heart break they’ve got to manage. It’s SO cruelly done by the government, and needlessly so!

It’s the lack of knowing that’s annoying me. I have lost a close relative to Covid and last year our Christmas plans were completely upended when the rules changed. I was hoping that things would be better this year but it feels like we’re in the same situation again, and we’re going to be strung along as long as possible because Boris doesn’t want to ‘cancel Christmas’. I honestly have reached a point where I couldn’t care less about Christmas and all the crap that surrounds it, but I have relatives for whom it’s important and it’s creating such a pressured and stressful situation.

Do we plan to travel or do I plan some sort of Christmas at home? It’s impossible (organisationally and financially) to cover plan for both and if things get cancelled at the very last minute I’m going to end up having to pull everything out of my a**e with no notice, to try and keep as many people happy as possible (which won’t work). I’m also under increasing pressure to go into the office more at the moment - and this is another thing I wish the Government would show some leadership about - and that’s adding worry as I don’t want the responsibility of worrying that I might be the one to make family members ill. It’s all such a mess, I really wish the Government would make some tough decisions now to save the heartache later.

 

[WilmaHun]

If chocolate and cake supplies start dwindling or anyone speaks of rations on those I WILL lose my shit

 

[Goosegamer]

My Dad was telling me the other day that he'd seen a man practically tackled to the ground by Lidl staff a few weeks ago as he was trying to pinch a bottle of whiskey!

I always thought staff members weren't supposed to approach shoplifters, or at least that's what someone had said to me. I know if I was working for minimum wage in a supermarket and saw someone trying to steal some cheap booze, I wouldn't be putting myself in danger by tackling them

I've seen this in my local Tesco. The staff running the self checkouts and the fag counters usually do the running after shop lifters. Jumping over counters and barriers like they're Bodie and Doyle in the Professionals

 

[jackolantern]

Diesel 1p off £1.50 here now

 

[IngressUK]

My parents live half a mile from the London border where this will apply. If they push it for the M25 I will have to pay to visit my parents. They are insane, they will basically segregated people, they won’t travel to the supermarket they will go to another one. I hope he doesn’t get this passed, I will have to pay to go to work everyday, less than 10 miles down the road.

Where I usually park my car on a Sunday - then proceed for the rest of the day on foot, public transport, or bicycle - is half a mile within the new ULEZ zone. I'll now have to cough up £12.50 for driving half a mile into the new ULEZ zone. I usually support local businesses in that area with food and drink purchases. All that will now be lost, as I'll have to find somewhere else outside the zone to park, or traverse the ever busy (and expected to be even busier) North and South circular roads.

What will happen when everyone is driving 'green' cars, I'm sure they will then find new ways to tax vehicles.

The whole ULEZ is nothing more than a tax, dressed up as an environmental concern. Why is there no ULEZ in Wembley, Balham, Ealing, Croydon and (most of) Wandsworth for example? Is clean air of no concern to City Hall in those areas?

 

[WilmaHun]

Energy firm Bulb set to go into administration

The energy firm, with 1.7 million customers, is the largest gas and electricity company to face difficulties.

www.bbc.co.uk

Another one!

 

[grumpy_curry]

Poor lonely can of sausage and beans, but if you look below there's still a full shelf of Tesco beans underneath.

View attachment 805355

Couldn't have anything to do with the 3 for £3 I'm sure

 

[Blond3g1rl]

If we are taking in 800 per day… then yes! We need to Be able to provide for the population we have surely? As a country/economy we are struggling…no need for the eye roll.. it’s common sense surely?! Maybe I take it personally? My 84 year old nan won’t accept anything financial help from me… but she worked from 17 years old till retirement age + for the ministry of defence… yet she’s been totally fooked over by pension scheme and is debating whether or not to switch her heating on??!! Really???! It’s a disgrace.

If she’s got a MOD pension then it’s a defined benefit pension which is impossible to be fooked over

 

[IngressUK]

Bias 'MyLondon' playing the violin as to what will happen if TFL isn't bailed out again.

The UK's needs are more than just what London wants!

Everything London could lose if TfL doesn't get billions in funding

TfL will enter a period of 'managed decline' which will take city 'back to 1970s' if it does not get a funding deal by December 11

www.mylondon.news

What about the other areas of the UK that has public transport still stuck in the 70's and 80's?

The sheer arrogance of Tube Drivers (egged on by the RMT) also highly annoys me. They are already more than well remunerated for the work they do through pay, perks and actual hours worked. Bringing London to a standstill through strikes if their demands aren't met. They continually seem to think they are deserved of ever more, even over those who drive buses - whom don't make the same annual demands or annoy passengers through regular strikes. Bus drivers get my respect, tube drivers don't.

 

[jackolantern]

Shrugs shoulders, and skulks back into a dark corner of Tattle which I usually inhabit. Sorry, I've had a trying day today.

My apologies, I do appreciate the thought honestly, it's just a really bizarre suggestion It's like saying your oven doesn't work, but have you tried cooking your roast over candlelight? (I'm only teasing please don't take it personally lmao)

 

[Doctor_Wibble]

Oh wait my phone bill is standing order, I get them confused.

Standing order is the one that you control, as it is an instruction from you to your bank for them to make a regular payment and you can stop that at any time.

Direct debit is where you authorise someone to take money from your account and it's tricky to cancel those without confirmation from that third party.

(apologies if obvious, intended as a general informative as not everyone is clear on the difference)

 

[Purrrrrrr]

New narrative on inflation. Do they really think people will believe this?

View attachment 868069

When you say the economy is being deliberately crashed people always ask "for what reason, why would they do that, it serves them no purpose" They don't seem to see all the articles that show how much richer the already mega rich get when the economy is crashed. The great depresion was on a huge scale.

 

[CatCafe234]

Anything on the conformation pre referendum. Cannot say I remember it being said.

I am of the opinion that no one ever saw Covid coming and I struggle to see how we can hold them accountable for all their 'promises' after the last two years. It like saying to your kids, I promise to buy you a bike for Christmas next year, losing your job and being ill and then being expected to follow though. In normal circumstances, yes we should be expecting this but to not take in huge impact of Covid into things and expecting them to follow though on items said years ago is just unrealistic.

There is a long, long, long, history of people saying that there will be some kind of global pandemic at some point - of course you can’t predict exactly when but it has been one of the biggest risks that the Government has been made aware of for many, many years. The Government also carried out pandemic preparation exercises in the very recent past, but pretty much failed to act on any of the recommendations because it would have cost money. Whilst I think it’s fair to say that nobody could have predicted exactly what pandemic would hit and when, saying that nobody saw it coming isn’t true at all. In a lot of ways, the way that the current pandemic has played out has been pretty textbook and it’s just highlighted how poorly world Governments have managed it.

 

[Pesky Tarian]

Aluminium shortage announced on radio...cue panic buying of tinned goods.

I could survive without crisps..packed lunches would look a little bare though. Currently it seems only people with brand loyalty are suffering.

I think things are missing but the supermarkets are very good at concealing it (putting other items in their place) so much so you don't miss it until you want that particular item eg could not get chorizo on Monday.

For all Xmas mums sainsburys half price toy event starts today

 

[TheGlossy]

Just got the news from my heating and hot water provider that the rates will increase from €0.08 / kWh to €0.21 which means an increase of 150%.
This means my bill will be increasing by roughly €50/60. It's a huge increase which I very much doubt is legitimate. I understand we are facing a severe energy crisis, but an increase of 150% in one go? My electricity provider has also increased their prices to a much lesser extent. Granted, different energy, but still, 150% is excessive especially as the rate is variable and not locked, thus it will be adjusted every 2 months for every billing period. Smh.

Where is the world going, I wonder.