Oh no!! Brexit not going quite as well as hoped

[FishFright]

Drive fewer lorries.

Lay more rail track , but not here or there or near me or ....

 

[BoldonLad]

There is already a shortage of between 60,000 and 80,000 truck drivers in Germany - and the number is rising. Every year around 30,000 drivers retire and only around 15,000 young people are replacing them. There is a worldwide need for drivers.

You figure intrigued me so I checked with the Tageschau, the BBC 1 news equivalent. One of the reasons for the shortage is the abolition of conscription which used to train drivers who would then go on to do this as a job afterward. Other factors include low pay and the cost to family life of being on the road.

The situation in the UK was also reported, and the reasons for the shortage attributed to Brexit and the barriers it has created, and also to covid. Freedom of movement has gone, and many from eastern Europe who went home due to covid are unlikely to want to return, not least because of the tiresome bureaucracy involved now, including at the border. The UK is not at attractive as it used to be and there is rising demand nearer to home.

My own take on this is that this is a European wide problem that is likely to get worse, and that Brexit has made it worse for the UK rather than being the sole cause of it.

In the end the market will solve this inasmuch as pay and conditions will have to improve dramatically, and we will all have to pay more for the privilege of having goods supplied. Train more lorry drivers and fewer accountants, solicitors and estate agents!

Seems reasonable, ie, there are probably several causes, and, some of them will be "local" to individual Countries.

I have no evidence for this (other than observation), but, I would have thought the Covid inspired upsurge in online shopping, and "home improvements" must also have had an impact, in particular at the "smaller" end of the Lorry scale.

 

[Pale Rider]

and I would be as noble as you.

That's a high bar few of us can aspire to, although I agree with the thread title.

Extricating ourselves from the hideously complicated mess that was EU membership was never going to be smooth and easy.

It could have gone a great deal worse than it is going.

I also like the thread because it's only right there is a home for @Fab Foodie to post his daily Brexit is shite stories from the Guardian.

 

[cookiemonster]

How was it a complicated mess? You have been paying attention to what’s currently going on? How come no other EU nation has this complicated mess.

And, yes, Brexit is shite.

 

[newfhouse]

Extricating ourselves from the hideously complicated mess that was EU membership was never going to be smooth and easy.

Didn’t Johnson Get Brexit Done after all? I thought we had negotiated a fantastic deal already and we’re now free to pay the French to control our borders.

 

[swansonj]

That's a high bar few of us can aspire to, although I agree with the thread title.

Extricating ourselves from the hideously complicated mess that was EU membership was never going to be smooth and easy.

It could have gone a great deal worse than it is going.

I also like the thread because it's only right there is a home for @Fab Foodie to post his daily Brexit is shite stories from the Guardian.

I am tickled by this post, for the contrasts within it.

Lines 1 and 4, snide digs at other posters, of the sort you, Pale Rider, are among the quickest to challenge when wielded by a leftie against a rightie.

Line 2, an admission of the reality rather than repeating all the lies about the easiest deal ever, oven ready, we'll have all the bargaining chips, etc - a really welcome retreat from polarised positions and not admitting any downside to Brexit and move towards constructive debate.

Line 3, a useful perspective to inject that we remainers should do well to recognise.

So why the flip do you have to spoil lines 2 and 3 by throwing in lines 1 and 4?

 

[mudsticks]

That's a high bar few of us can aspire to, although I agree with the thread title.

Extricating ourselves from the hideously complicated mess that was EU membership was never going to be smooth and easy.

It could have gone a great deal worse than it is going.

I also like the thread because it's only right there is a home for @Fab Foodie to post his daily Brexit is shite stories from the Guardian.

Oh dear, resorting to blame shifting now.

And 'It could be worse'

You mean it's not very good??

Fgs, don't tell Shep !?
He'll be devastated


Even as a member of the farming community.

Who probs had as much, if not more contact with the EU , business wise and through other mechanisms.

Even as that, EU membership was not 'hideously complicated'

Leaving however, has turned out to be a bit of a dog's dinner.

Certainly not an oven ready deal, with anyone.

Least of all. with the UK itself.


I don't think FF although he could be said to be an influential chap -
- I don't think he's the source of all the 'brexit not going so well' stories, not quite.

Oh , and even better - snide little digs at me for my supposed 'virtue'

We really are clutching at straws now

 

[cookiemonster]

 

[Pale Rider]

I am tickled by this post, for the contrasts within it.

Lines 1 and 4, snide digs at other posters, of the sort you, Pale Rider, are among the quickest to challenge when wielded by a leftie against a rightie.

Line 2, an admission of the reality rather than repeating all the lies about the easiest deal ever, oven ready, we'll have all the bargaining chips, etc - a really welcome retreat from polarised positions and not admitting any downside to Brexit and move towards constructive debate.

Line 3, a useful perspective to inject that we remainers should do well to recognise.

So why the flip do you have to spoil lines 2 and 3 by throwing in lines 1 and 4?

Your obsession with my posts continues, and is ever so slightly creepy.

Strange you weren't worried about the dozens of insults and digs I received in the Britishness thread.

You are the same as all the other muddle headed thinkers - insults are fine provided you don't like the person being insulted.

In any event, @mudsticks is one of the worthiest posters on here, and @Fab Foodie posted Brexit is shite stories almost daily in the other place.

If the cap fits, wear it.

 

[newfhouse]

insults are fine provided you don't like the person being insulted.

Disagreement is not insulting. I appreciate many of the subtle (and even not so subtle) jibes I read here whether giving or receiving. None of it is dependent on whether I “like” another person or even agree with them. Let’s not get carried away though. Witty puncturing is not the same as abuse, which is obviously wrong.

@mudsticks is one of the worthiest posters on here

True that. She’s a force for good but still didn’t get her own dedicated thread.

 

[mudsticks]

Lay more rail track , but not here or there or near me or ....

Going against the grain.

For a change..

I'd love it if our local branch line reopened.

ATM it's a very beautiful woodland ride, but I don't see why we couldn't have a cycle track alongside.

Sadly it's unlikely, as other portions of it have been sold off for private gardens and suchlike.

But more freight on rail .Yes please 😊

Fewer lorries, smaller lorries.

Those big lorries they're terrifying.


Less pointless shipping of c@rp from one side of the country, to the other, or even across the world for that matter..

I mean wine from South Africa , or Chile..??
Get a grip , that's mostly water.

Fruity it may be ..

None of this 'doing things better' has been made easier or more likely by our leaving the EU though .

The reverse if we're getting all excited about trade deals with Aus ??


The EU were generally good at implementing the kind of local infrastructure, that benefitted less favoured areas.

Come on Cornwall..

Did you not notice that little starry flag on all those new developments, and business parks you got, hmm??

Oh ..And I'm 'worthy' now.

Not sure if that's better or worse than 'noble'
It really sounds rather dull.

Further mowing ensues...
You should see the size of the Spanish chestnuts up there.

They're huuuge...

 

[mudsticks]

True that. She’s a force for good but still didn’t get her own dedicated thread.

If we're going there.

And I really rather you wouldn't ..

Honest.

Can we lay off of the worthy .??

Ta

 

[Pale Rider]

True that. She’s a force for good but still didn’t get her own dedicated thread.

Possibly because most people prefer their heroes to be flawed, or at least challenging.

Most of those who replied positively to that thread disagree with a lot of what I post.

 

[newfhouse]

Can we lay off of the worthy .??

Ta

Sensible?

 

[newfhouse]

Possibly because most people prefer their heroes to be flawed, or at least challenging.

I understand the words but not how they relate to the conversation. Who here is a flawless hero? You? Mudsticks? And to whom? You? Me?