Buying British

[wobs]

True.

But not always?

"Spain" includes the Canary Islands, and tomatoes from there can't come by road.

They come by container, so the carbon footprint will be small compared to UK grown tomatoes grown in a greenhouse.

Most Spanish tomatoes come from mainland though.

 

[EddieM]

They come by container, so the carbon footprint will be small compared to UK grown tomatoes grown in a greenhouse.

Most Spanish tomatoes come from mainland though.

Huh?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

there ought to be a system where they are required to put some effort in.

In the past, I have had some of these people working for me, where they have been reluctantly forced to take a job - to a man they have had absolutely no interest in doing any productive work, they are just there because they were forced to be there.

 

[Vinty]

so a retired British plumber, or a redundant middle-aged car factory worker, mortgage paid off, no young family to support, is willing to work for the minimum wage?


Where are they then?

I was a roofer for 30years ,I retired from roofing 3 years ago, I sold the family home and bought a house which has been converted into a 3bedroom flat for me and the wife and a 1bedroom flat for my daughter.
I am mortgage free and have a private pension but as I haven't reached state pension age yet I got a job as a security guard at various sites , at some sites the rate is only minimum wage and that includes working nights and weekends.
I don't mind working for minimum wage as I don't have any real overheads and my kids have grown up and have well paid jobs.
However 20 years ago when I had a mortgage and a family to support there is no way I could have worked for minimum wage.
In order to achieve so called "full employment" the Tories have gone down the route of creating a low wage economy.

 

[JohnD]

there is no way I could have worked for minimum wage.

So which alternative would you have considered:

- do nothing

- work for whatever you can get

 

[Vinty]

So which alternative would you have considered:

- do nothing

- work for whatever you can get

It wasn't an issue back then as although there was higher unemployment you could still get a relatively well paid job in the construction industry.

 

[JohnD]

well avoided.

So you are describing a time in which the minimum wage was irrelevant because there were better paid jobs around.

So your claim

there is no way I could have worked for minimum wage.

was spurious.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Britain has always been a low wage economy - just even lower now.

 

[Bodd]

You may have to give up driving - I don't think there are any "British" tyre manufacturers.

And BTW - radial tyres are a French invention, so you can't have those no matter who makes them - you'll have to fit crossplys to your van. What could go wrong?

Well I got a puncher today down a lovley country lane.

Pulled up and thought Oh well at least its a lovely day to change the wheel..

You have to draw a positive out of everything you can in life..

Some bugger has only stole my spare from under the van.

That's life as we know it.

Thanks to the AA. Great service

 

[Bodd]

I know, I got them for our car. But I look at it like this: Michelin is an employer in the UK and if we buy their goods, hopefully they will continue to employ people in the UK.

That's great news so no ill have no problem if that's the case..


Last year I was about to sign for a brand new Toyota Yaris. Great little car... The sales fella then innocently tell me it will be made in France... So I brought a 2nd hand Honda instead

 

[Vinty]

Should we ever need to import labour, when there are perfectly fit and able individuals sat at home, doing nothing for their keep at all?

Aren't we supposed to have full employment in the economy.
If that is the case were are all these layabouts who living the life of Reilly.
If

So what you really meant is that the work is not economically viable for UK workers?

You can't compare like with like, the migrants come here and crowd into a house to save money to send home.
A lot of indigenous workers have family responsibilities and mortgages to pay, do you expect them to leave their families and live in a hovel with other workers to earn a minimum wage which may support a single person but is no use to someone who has more than himself to support.

 

[jasonzyx]

View attachment 159975

I tried swatting that fly!

 

[JP_]

It's a bit late, we destroyed our farms in favour of multinatioana agribusiness, and told the only laborers who want to do the work to **** off.

The uk can't grow enough food to feed itself, we rely on sunnier climes in the eu for most of what we eat outside of summer. We import 48% of all our food, and more than half of that is from the eu. Most farms are on the brink of bankruptcy already, and the prospect of paying more for labour will kill many this year.

This is why American business and lobbyists are on our backs to agree to buy their rubbish.

I hope you like McDonaldls.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I don't mind working for minimum wage as I don't have any real overheads and my kids have grown up and have well paid jobs.
However 20 years ago when I had a mortgage and a family to support there is no way I could have worked for minimum wage.
In order to achieve so called "full employment" the Tories have gone down the route of creating a low wage economy.

Unskilled jobs have always been badly paid jobs, why be surprised? The only exceptions are those unskilled jobs which have some risk attached. It was always the case that if you wanted a good salary, you had to study and/or learn at least a skilled trade. The more in demand the trade, the better the pay. Simple supply and demand.

 

[Vinty]

well avoided.

So you are describing a time in which the minimum wage was irrelevant because there were better paid jobs around.

So your claim

was spurious.

There is nothing spurious, all I said was that due to my circumstances 20 years ago working for minimum wage was not an option for me because I simply would not have earned enough to cover my liabilities.
If I had been single and lived in a rented room in a shared house like a lot of migrants I probably could have survived.