42 thoughts on “Wednesday’s Papers

  1. Daisy Chainsaw

    Re: The Graun- Why can’t all the Brexiteers take jobs picking fruit and veg? Working for a pittance for your betters is the British way.

    1. class wario

      Have to say I am not a fan of these immigration reforms being reported in terms of how access to ‘cheap EU labour’ will be restricted. The cruelty is clear in human terms, no need to phrase it as if these people are nothing but a cheap payout for some corporate body

  2. GiggidyGoo

    Scandalous what the universities are doing regarding student accommodation rents. Education is for the rich only.

    1. Charger Salmons

      I find it somewhat amusing that those on here who think it is wrong for the UK government to pursue policies intended to improve the wages and conditions of its own poorer citizens are the very same people who constantly bleat about the current Irish government not doing the same thing.
      Cheap foreign labour suppresses already low wages even more and already there are signs that UK companies are being forced to improve their pay scales.
      Average weekly wages in the UK have reached their highest levels since before the financial crisis.
      Figures out yesterday show that in the three months to December 2019 wages grew at an annual rate of 3.2%
      Employment rose by 180,000 to another record high of 32.93 million, while unemployment stayed at 1.29 million.
      Britain’s GDP grew 1.1% in 2019, slightly above the Eurozone rate of 0.9%.
      What’s that you say ? Germany ? 0.4%
      France 0.8%.
      Boris is doing what he was elected with an 80-seat majority to do.
      That’s how good politics work.

      1. bisted

        …don’t worry Charger…there is already a backdoor route into the UK from here…astonishing the flood of immigrants who want to go there…

        1. Charger Salmons

          No.
          According to the IT:
          ” Current arrangements for specialist occupations such as religious ministers, artists, musicians and entertainers are expected to broadly remain the same and be extended for EU citizens. ”
          Also, a pilot scheme for seasonal workers in agriculture will be quadrupled from 2,500 to 10,000 places.
          Most fruit and veg pickers, mainly in East Anglia, are seasonal workers who return home to mainly Eastern Europe at the end of the summer.

      2. some old queen

        But Charger, is that not socialism you are auguring for? That immigration brings down wages is fundamentally a left not a right wing argument surely?

        1. Charger Salmons

          Why do you think Boris won so many seats in traditional working class constituencies ?
          And why Corbyn’s refusal to back the 2016 referendum result consigned him to electoral oblivion.
          Finally the whole reason for Brexit is beginning to dawn on some people who believed the nonsense about racism they were fed by the Irish media.

          1. some old queen

            Let’s consider the effects immigration has on supply and demand. Immigrants increase worker SUPPLY but also, increase service DEMAND- particularly accommodation. Workforce increase is good for business as it drives wages down but bad for housing because it drives rents up.

            The nett result is that indigenous poor people get squeezed in both directions which IMO is the core reasons why at the last election the Tories made such inroads into Labour heartlands.

            It should be Labour and the left making this argument but they are so tied up with the fear of being labelled racist or xenophobic that the whole thing has turned 180 degrees around.

            Agree?

          2. Charger Salmons

            Absolutely 100%.
            I’ve mentioned on here many times that one of the factors behind the housing crisis and homelessness in Ireland, apart from the lack of affordable houses being built, is immigration.
            On every occasion I get called a racist.
            But the simple point is if you can’t predict how many immigrants will arrive in the next five years how can you plan and build the infrastructure to cope with them.
            Immigration is good for a country.Uncontrolled immigration is not.
            That’s why Boris reasonated so clearly with the electorate in December.

          3. ReproBertie

            “I’ve mentioned on here many times that one of the factors behind the housing crisis and homelessness in Ireland, apart from the lack of affordable houses being built, is immigration.”

            There’s a marked difference between making a reasonable point like this and shouting “uncontrolled immigration” every time the housing crisis comes up Spoofer. You have repeatedly laid the blame for the housing shortage at the feet of immigrants. I can’t recall a single time where you mentioned it as “one of the factors” and the usual response to your blaming immigrants has been people pointing out other factors which you then ignore.

            Of course there is no uncontrolled immigration into Ireland but that point seems to repeatedly escape your attention.

          4. some old queen

            Well Bertie, that depends on if you consider people from other EU states to be ‘immigrants’ but if you do then yes, it is uncontrolled.

            My core point being that the importation of labour is a very right wing ideology, especially when the services are not being upgraded to anywhere near the same extent. And it is not just accommodation, it is public transport, roads, schools and health care which are coming under increased pressure.

          5. Charger Salmons

            But Repro O’Bertie-Begorrah I don’t ” shout ” uncontrolled immigration when the subject of the housing crisis comes up.
            It’s a big part of the Supply and Demand equation mentioned by SOQ so is therefore a perfectly valid point to make.
            The fact that you choose to ” shout ” racist is not only entirely predictable but in its own way one of the main reasons why so many working class people vote Tory in December.
            Having had nearly four years of being called racist and xenophobic for merely expressing a preference in a referendum kind of got on their wick a bit.
            Corbyn and the middle-class chatterati and students who’ve taken over the Labour Party didn’t get this either.
            They still don’t.
            Which is why Boris won and will win again if he carries out what he promised.
            The days of politicians and organisations like the EU ignoring the will of the people are coming to an end.
            Populism,baby.It’s where it’s at.

          6. Golden Balls

            Maybe indigenous poor people could work harder to achieve and improve their own lives?

            Isn’t that not how the system is supposed to work?

          7. ReproBertie

            “But Repro O’Bertie-Begorrah I don’t ” shout ” uncontrolled immigration when the subject of the housing crisis comes up.”
            Except that you do. Anytime housing comes up you jump in to beat your drum about immigrants. It’s hardly surprising that this obsession with immigrants may lead people to think you are a racist. Thankfully you cleared up any doubt on that matter when you admitted to rejecting tenants based on their nationality.

          8. Charger Salmons

            But how can you discuss the housing crisis without mentioning immigration ?
            And why should discussing immigration automatically mean racism ?
            Have you taken too many butterfly twist kicks to the noggin Grasshopper ?

          9. ReproBertie

            As I said, there is a difference between making a reasonable point about immigration being a factor in housing shortages and jumping up and down shouting “immigrants!”. I know you play a role here where you like to try and stir things up but you can’t then turn around and try to claim that your stirring was actually reasonable debate.

            I haven’t been kicked in the head in weeks and that kick was fast as lightening but I’ve been relying on my expert timing to keep me out of trouble since.

          10. some old queen

            OK so my summary question is-

            If immigration contributes to lower wages and higher rents- why is the Left arguing for and the Right against?

            Surely that should be the other way around?

          11. Charger Salmons

            It’s not the ” Right ” who are arguing against immigration and it’s not immigration that is being argued against but the numbers involved and control of it.
            As you’d quickly find out if you stood in a pub in a staunch Labour area in the North of England and suggested to the regulars who had voted for Brexit that they were right wing.
            Most advanced countries outside the EU have control over their borders and decide who and who doesn’t come in.

          12. some old queen

            What is you opinion on the new UK points system Nigel? Very similar to the Australian one is it not?

          13. Charger Salmons

            Aww,diddums.
            Did Brexit offend poor Nigel’s sensibilities ?
            Because it doesn’t follow the Gospel according to the Guardian through whose narrow prism Nigel views the horrors of the world.
            Get over it pal.You’ve got far more to worry about in this country.
            You’ll soon have the Shinners knocking on your door.
            At all hours.
            Heh x 32.

      3. Rosette of Sirius

        Britain under Boris can and will do what it wants. And if he can somehow manage to fill all those ‘elementary’ jobs with British workers, well good for him. But he won’t. Well, not without ‘motivation’. And that won’t be pretty. Looking forward to the show tho.

        1. Charger Salmons

          You’d better hope Boris succeeds.
          Because if Britain sneezes Ireland will come down with a cold so heavy it will make Coronavirus look like a snotty nose in comparison.

          1. Charger Salmons

            I sincerely hope so.
            Don’t forget you still owe us two billion quid plus interest from the last bailout.
            It due by March next year.
            Marvellous.

  3. Tringo

    Well by the headline in
    The indo about people back from a cruise that included infected coronovirus on a ship unscreened really inspires me regarding our governments feckless attitude

  4. Charger Salmons

    Will you be watching the Brit Awards on telly tonight ?
    I wonder if they’ll show the bit where black rapper Dave ” bravely ” calls Boris a racist.
    If they do it’s worth reminding yourself that Dave has a brother in prison jailed for life for the murder of another black man.
    And ask yourself if you’ve ever seen yet another heartbroken black mother who has lost her son in tears because she read a 17-year-old,out of context quote about ” picaninnies with watermelon smiles ” from Boris.

      1. Bertie Theodore Alphege Blenkinsop

        Remember the time Dave’s brother went to lean on the bar and fell through….
        What a plonker.

    1. ReproBertie

      Good on him. Wrecks my head when these sort of clips are followed up with people talking about how terribly bad it could have gone for the auld lad. The only person who looked in trouble there was the fella trying to mug him.

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