Lock Down?

[Stubby]

19 minutes ago, The avantgardener said:

Acoustic Energy AE1 ,Linn Sondek LP12 and Troika stylus. Upgraded from a Rega which served me well for years and was hard to beat for the price.

I have a Rega Planner 3 and Mission 753 speakers NAD T773 amp . All old stuff now but still works as well .

[otter]

Has any employers out  there successfully received the government 80% wage for employees yet?

Edited March 26, 2020 by otter

[Dan Maynard]

Has any employers out  there successfully received the government 80% wage for employees yet?

I believe it will be claimed back from HMRC in due course, the grants and loans keeping you afloat in the meantime. I'm not 100% reassured by this plan but is the best we have.

Haven't received the 10k grant for small business on SBRR either as yet.

[otter]

What a mess??

[trigger_andy]

Just now, otter said:

What a mess??

There is no simple answer to this. Seems like people in all departments in government are working around the clock to get their ducks lined up so people can get assistance. People are dying in their droves and here we are moaning that money is not thrust in our lap instantly. 

 

Thankfully, like any responsable adult we've all put money aside for a rainy day, right? 

[Matthew Storrs]

2 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

There is no simple answer to this. Seems like people in all departments in government are working around the clock to get their ducks lined up so people can get assistance. People are dying in their droves and here we are moaning that money is not thrust in our lap instantly. 

 

Thankfully, like any responsable adult we've all put money aside for a rainy day, right? 

Depends how long the rain lasts for.....!

[trigger_andy]

Just now, Matthew Storrs said:

Depends how long the rain lasts for.....!

Well thats very true.

 

But with a raft of measures being put in place to allow the deferral of mortgages, rent, MOT, loans, gas, electricity etc what little some of us might have put by should see us good for food right?  

 

These are gonna be tough times, do we want wrapped in cotton wool? Are we now asking for a Nanny State? 

[Johnsond]

4 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Well thats very true.

 

But with a raft of measures being put in place to allow the deferral of mortgages, rent, MOT, loans, gas, electricity etc what little some of us might have put by should see us good for food right?  

 

These are gonna be tough times, do we want wrapped in cotton wool? Are we now asking for a Nanny State? 

Not a nanny state Andy but what I’ve always felt and this current situation only reinforces my views is that the things deemed important to a functional civilised society, ie water, electricity, gas and national level transport should be in the hands of the state not in private ownership with only one interest that being profit for shareholders. Yeah I’m a tory voter not a socialist but deep down I would much prefer a version of nationalism. Someone else stated his belief on here that if ever there was a stark indication of the failings of globalisation and the rampant capitalism we live with then the current situation is it. Quite frankly fuck massive imports of cheap Chinese shite. Train our own kids to manufacture our own goods, concentrate on our own country first and its needs. Bit of a rant but let’s face it the position of joe average worker in the UK is shit right now. One good thing that hopefully comes out of this if it ends well is the realisation that we as a nation need to be more self reliant. Shocked to hear flights still coming in and out daily from known hotspots. We are an island ffs close the bloody borders ?‍♂️?‍♂️.  

[trigger_andy]

1 minute ago, Johnsond said:

my views is that the things deemed important to a functional civilised society, ie water, electricity, gas and national level transport should be in the hands of the state not in private ownership with only one interest that being profit for shareholders.

I get that. I used to think the same. The thinking is sound, private companies are only interested in the shareholders, not the people they 'serve'. Being State owned the companies only goal would be to provide the best service to the customer. The thing it will never work like that. We just have to look at the NHS and how its ran to think what a disaster nationalizing the above services would be. Half a million in the NHS on over £100,000 a year. I never even realised they had that much employees.  The NHS pays ridiculous amounts for things like paracetamol compared to what it costs in tesco. Nationalise the Trains and we'll see variable force applicators being bought for eighty quid a pop.

 

We just have to look at the industry we're in. Why does Shell, BP, ENI, Equinor not have their own Well Services, Catering, Drilling,  Production, and Diving crews? Even in light of the fact all these services needing to turn a profit its still cheaper and more efficient for the operators to have all these service companies fighting over contracts. It drives technology, keeps prices at an absolute minimum and ensures efficiency. Where these services to be apart of the Oil Companies these services would become bloated and inefficient. 

 

I seen a documentary on the Rail Service a few years ago and it had past National Rail guys from Mechanics to Managers echo the same sentiments. Wish I could find it. I'll keep looking. 

[trigger_andy]

22 minutes ago, Johnsond said:

One good thing that hopefully comes out of this if it ends well is the realisation that we as a nation need to be more self reliant.

100% 

 

Maybe we'll start training our youth again?

 

We need 800,000 warm bodies to get the harvests in this year. This is a perfect opportunity for these farmers to pay UK folk a wage that reflects the living expenses we have here in the UK and not in Bulgaria. Id happily pay more for the produce knowing that.