2019 UK General Election

[El Kabong]

Lyle, you make an interesting point about US Democrats.

I wouldn't pretend to be an expert on current US politics, but this article also makes that link (and you might find a British media viewpoint interesting?)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50785442

Thanks for the article and yes it connects some dots. For example the miners in Sedgefield & those in Pennsylvania. The very blue collar workers who were the foundation of both Labour & Democrat party bases. In the NEW Left, those folks aren't welcome or I'll say they don't FEEL welcome. The NEW Left is all about GREEN and so mining is very much a nonstarter, then there's the lack of diversity and I'm sure cultural traditions of the area which mean they are socially conservative mainly, they aren't worried about intersectionality or privilege or transgender what have you...they want jobs, a paycheck, some security for themselves and their families...that what speaks to them. Trump very pro fracking and oil/natural gas production so he's put those folks to work, put money in their pockets, and that means the world to those folks, they feel useful to society...it's why those votes changed Labour to Tory and Democrat to Republican.

Socialism doesn't speak to a large group of people that haughty effete lefties ASSUME it does. Socialism speaks to posh city folk who feel guilty that they have so much and never had to work for it themselves. Immigrants from real honest to God socialist nations, they left for a reason, young blue collar workers don't want excessive taxes being pulled from their wages, nor do they want their jobs lost due to their companies having the shit taxed out of them, and entrepreneurs they aren't huge on having the shit taxed out of them either.

Labour in the UK lost the working class, but gained the woke. And that will give the party sleepless nights over the coming months and years. It was their worst defeat since 1935.


That right there is EXACTLY what I'm talking about. Get woke go broke.

[Gandalf]

Labour was paying attention to University students and a London centric multicultural group that does not represent Britain at large. Even Corbyn with his millions was representing Islington with its average house price of about 750,000 pounds nearly 2 and a half times the average and most ordinary peoplewell below even that if even with a mortgage.

The ordinary person in the poorer parts of say Leeds could see their own community changing and no real prospects for thrmselves and many saw the influx as getting priority treatment. They ended up feeling frustrated and angry and they all know Blair started it all, that he failed the economy etc. The anti Labour feeling runs deep. Those people do like Robinson, they do see the hostility in some groups, they so see the breaking down of community, and so they reject the party that cheated them of so much.

'We want Brexit' they said and they were called racist and jeered for being stupid and they could see who was again ignoring them and so they taught them a lesson. The North rose up and changed everything. But so did many other regions. Labour is now a spot in Wales, a spot in the North and of course a chunk of London, a non British city.

Possible the end of them for generations if not good. The Tories just have to listen and respond. If not something else will represent the North and their Allies.

[Fatboxingfan]

with its average house price of about 750,000 pounds nearly 2 and a half times the average and most ordinary peoplewell below even that if even with a mortgage.

The ordinary person in the poorer parts of say Leeds could see their own community changing and no real prospects for thrmselves and many saw the influx as getting priority treatment. .

Bullshit, a 7.80 an hour job one can survive and live good there.

[Gandalf]

with its average house price of about 750,000 pounds nearly 2 and a half times the average and most ordinary peoplewell below even that if even with a mortgage.

The ordinary person in the poorer parts of say Leeds could see their own community changing and no real prospects for thrmselves and many saw the influx as getting priority treatment. .

Bullshit, a 7.80 an hour job one can survive and live good there.

Most people do not live in London and those that do often end up house sharing splktting the costs.

Somewhere like Manchester or Leeds and you can live on 7.80 and many are on more than that. I was well above minimum wage years ago having done a few simple training courses. 7.80 is the lowest and if you just have a bit of initiative you are not on 7.80 an hour. Get a suitable degree, choose a needed occupation and work at it. Not complicated.

[Gandalf]

7.80 at 40 hours a week is about 16 grand a year. Or 1400 a month before deductions.

Let's take Leeds as an example and assume he is a full time supermarket worker at ASDA on 8 pounds an hour willing to work whatever shifts and he doesn't have a higher degree, but has done a baking course. I had friends who used to do this work, especially in the bakery department which you know about Fats being a baker. Let's look at one review:

"Learned a lot and gained valuable experience. As a student, the pay was decent. The managers were usually understanding and overall nice. Occasionally worked more hours than I'd have liked to and days could sometimes drag if the hours were long and there wasn't a lot of work to do."

In that review is a pro and a con. The person even admits that it could be boring when there wasn't even anything to do. Wasn't exactly being ground to the bone there, but I know my friends got up early and mornings were busy.

16 grand a year, so he needs a place to live. Let's do a search. Hmm. How about this one?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property...-65867817.html

That is 500 taken from the 1400, but hardly any deposit and furnished already. Add your utilities (though I would eradicate council tax and VAT in the interests of people like this as a government policy) and he is left with several hundred a month to do whatever, he can even slyly take aging products home.

He is in a modern age where everything in terms of home pleasures is cheap or free. He can also go for a beer if he likes or indeed even save up his money. Being the modern age he might even save on the rent and live at home for a few years building up enough to get a mortgage on a not so expensive property up there.

Even the humble baker can be okay in a Tory Britain. If you do not tax him to death, then he is kind of okay and certainly able to live.

What I do take objection to is open borders meaning foreign competition keeping wages depressed and possibly taking his job and changing his community. He didn't ask for that and that is why Labour lost badly.

The worker wants to be respected and I do respect him as he clearly works hard and gets paid for it.

[Gandalf]

More reviews as every experience and situation is different.

"Asda is a good place to work .set hours and was ok pay for a baker.just want to grow and do different type of work as I've been there almost 16years"


"Enjoyable bakery with good coworkers. Good facilities provided to staff and subsidized meals provided that are of reasonable quality. Long hours but always busy with no downtime."


"up at 4AM to start at 5am. Ive worked at Asda for a while so got friendly with alot of people."


"Was a very poor run company to work for. Never got paid the right amount, and was not very stable when it came to work hours. You could be working 6 hours one week and 38 hours the next. Had no time to yourself as you were always wondering if you'd wake up with a phone call asking you to come into work"

With the last chap, I am not sure why the bakery would only require a baker 1 day a week. Everyone I knew was in there every morning doing their long shift. All have turned out okay, some moved onto other things.

[Fatboxingfan]

Bakers have to start proving the yeast at 3 a.m. . Pretty lousy s*** if you ask me

[Gandalf]

Bloody hell. There are jobs everywhere. Even a cleaner earns 8.21 an hour which is how Brett Anderson developed as a young man. Lidl pays 9-10 pounds and my goodness if you have girlfriend who you haven't knocked up yet, you can even pool your resources providing you don't get a junk habit! These are the jobs with minimal skills required. Really basic stuff and it is on you if you haven't got many qualifications.

If you have a few skills, know how to wear a suit, then better jobs are there. Is it really evil to suggest that the work is there and that with a little charm you will get a job and not need a food bank? Page after page of work people can do, some low paid and some kind of good.

https://www.indeed.co.uk/jobs-in-Lee...2d8a8a0a3a046f

[Fatboxingfan]

all them jobs you're talkin about are for teenagers who don't mind sharing a one-bedroom apartment with four other people and sharing the toilet bowl bespeckled and bes mattered with four other frat boys 22 years old. What grown man 35 or 45 years old is going to work in a supermarket for 8 lb an hour and feel happy? It looks easy to you because you are looking at it from a far. it seems like it would make such a perfect sense on paper but the moment you personally Gandalf go back to the UK for example and try to get one of those job you will see how hard it is to even be offered one because they will look at you and say your resume says English teacher you are not allowed to work in the supermarket as an English teacher because there are a hundred other applicants who already have supermarket experience and they will take them over you six ways to Sunday. Don't believe me go ahead and go back to the UK and see if it works

[Gandalf]

all them jobs you're talkin about are for teenagers who don't mind sharing a one-bedroom apartment with four other people and sharing the toilet bowl bespeckled and bes mattered with four other frat boys 22 years old. What grown man 35 or 45 years old is going to work in a supermarket for 8 lb an hour and feel happy? It looks easy to you because you are looking at it from a far. it seems like it would make such a perfect sense on paper but the moment you personally Gandalf go back to the UK for example and try to get one of those job you will see how hard it is to even be offered one because they will look at you and say your resume says English teacher you are not allowed to work in the supermarket as an English teacher because there are a hundred other applicants who already have supermarket experience and they will take them over you six ways to Sunday. Don't believe me go ahead and go back to the UK and see if it works

I have plenty of retail work experience and my sister checked out a language school nearby where I would be on about 12 pounds an hour if I did that. Would have walked into it as nobody around would have my qualifications or experience. In fact would have been weird for me to even do it. I was curious thus checked it out. Had one of my homesick moments. Not great money, but not the worst for a cram school. That is if I didn't even bother aspiring to something more fitting with my resume which would be genuine tertiary education. My friend who went back home, pretty similar to me, walked into a college job fairly quickly, but then went overseas again as the Middle East meant apartment with a swimming pool, no tax etc. The work is there.

What a supermarket is looking for is charm, efficiency, and an ability to work under pressure. They hire all kinds of people and all it takes is initiative and going straight to the manager explaining that you want a job, are dedicated, and will work hard. How do you think I even got my first job in retail? I had no experience, was young, still at school, but they could see brightness and that alone gets you into most entry level jobs.

It isn't about me though as I have studied and have the work that fits my level, but I am saying other bright young things can still walk into those positions and in a few years rise up. That's how I raised my wages back home. Took a few training courses and each time the pay goes up a notch. I would often do 50 hour weeks and even as a student be doing 25. The work was always there. I have never known a time without work except for time I took off to write a dissertation. My only issue with it was that it was all about share owners, but the older me also realizes the money was enough. I simply spent it too fast like others. The quickest to complain are those who spend the fastest.

[Fatboxingfan]

You see that Cram school that you talking about for 12 lb an hour? that's split shifts you will work from 8 a.m. until 12 noon and have nothing to do again until 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. night shift

You will have to take public transportation

No you will not get the supermarket jobs

you have to complete a company profile online and then apply on their web page and it will take a very long time for them to get back to you also they only hire 19 year olds who do everything that they are told like a little puppy dog

It's not the same world you remember

[Gandalf]

You see that Cram school that you talking about for 12 lb an hour? that's split shifts you will work from 8 a.m. until 12 noon and have nothing to do again until 6 p.m. until 10 p.m. night shift

You will have to take public transportation

No you will not get the supermarket jobs

you have to complete a company profile online and then apply on their web page and it will take a very long time for them to get back to you also they only hire 19 year olds who do everything that they are told like a little puppy dog

It's not the same world you remember

Not at all.

It would have been afternoons until evenings, could get myself a car, but really be able to walk it considering the location and find a place to live fairly easily. It is not like a big American city. And college jobs are everywhere too.

I would get a supermarket job very easily as I know how to work counters, administer in offices, and have references proving my ability in that regard. In a Northern town you can walk into the supermarket, get the managers number, and they are usually looking for staff and if you are someone who seems relatively normal you will be given a chance. The only issue would be them thinking 'Why on earth do you want to work in a supermarket?' and thinking you will jump to something better quickly, but I am also pretty good at explaining myself to people.

That's the other thing, I do not doubt myself or my ability to get what I want.

[Fatboxingfan]

I had no idea how different the UK was from France. Everything here is done online. You have to go to the company websites for all of the big places like Macy's and McDonald's and Target and Home Depot and Sam's club at Aldi's and Costco and Walmart and Sears add Burger King and KFC and Best Buy. You cannot just walk into those stores and ask for a manager. They will tell you to go online and apply. also how the hell are you going to afford a car if they only paying you 12 / hour?

[walrus]

I had no idea how different the UK was from France. Everything here is done online. You have to go to the company websites for all of the big places like Macy's and McDonald's and Target and Home Depot and Sam's club at Aldi's and Costco and Walmart and Sears add Burger King and KFC and Best Buy. You cannot just walk into those stores and ask for a manager. They will tell you to go online and apply. also how the hell are you going to afford a car if they only paying you 12 / hour?

Hey fats since when have they had a Macy’s in France? Look it up I’ll wait

[Gandalf]

I had no idea how different the UK was from France. Everything here is done online. You have to go to the company websites for all of the big places like Macy's and McDonald's and Target and Home Depot and Sam's club at Aldi's and Costco and Walmart and Sears add Burger King and KFC and Best Buy. You cannot just walk into those stores and ask for a manager. They will tell you to go online and apply. also how the hell are you going to afford a car if they only paying you 12 / hour?

I am sure a lot of people apply for jobs that way and they will get rejected. I was watching a documentary one time about Brits who were blaming foreigners for getting the jobs. It turned out the Brits were doing what you did, but the Europeans were going in, asking, being personable, and basically showing that they really wanted that job. You cannot see that from an online resume. You see it face to face with a manager. I cannot speak for Burger King etc, but for ordinary restaurants etc, of course you can do that. The foreigners really were taking the jobs, but it was a difference in approach.

As for the car, I have two of them, I will just buy another.