Brexit.

[Ashiri]

They had already months to sort things out.
The rules for non EU students are in place for many years already.
One has to adapt to the new situation.

The reason I have sympathy for the students is that for the most part, they did not want Brexit.

 

[Luisa Land]

:ashiri: "The reason I have sympathy for the students is that for the most part, they did not want Brexit."






Yes, of course, if we EU citizens are already angry about this England-centric nonsense called Brexit (nonsense, because time has not stood still since the 19th century), I believe that it is particularly bitter for the British, who wanted to live together with us in a European Union but were outvoted by a narrow majority, it is bitter that the"remainers" as british citizens
now also have tangible disadvantages from being outside the EU.




On the other hand, I think it's right, as Sid does, to point out where the culprits are and that, for example, this consequence for British students was clear for a long time, but the British side has probably made little effort to mitigate the negative consequences for British students in this case.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

They had already months to sort things out.
The rules for non EU students are in place for many years already.
One has to adapt to the new situation.

Though from what the article says, there's a particular problem with the Spanish Embassy, who seem to be taking far longer than anyone else to process visa applications because of administrative problems at their end -- the consular departments of EU countries' London embassies had months to sort things out, too, and some of them seem to have used the time to better effect than did others.

 

[Sid]

Some countries have more bureaucracy to deal with than others.
That has always been the case.
Spain is known for that stuff, so start early to get the paperwork done.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Arkady Arkright]

Hitting the nail on the head - England has become a country where the pubs have no beer, farmers don't have anyone to pick their fruit, & even if they did there aren't enough lorry drivers to get it to the shops.

 

[Sid]

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

From coffee to microchips – how the supply chain crisis is disrupting UK plc

All you need to know about who is affected and why it’s the worst supply chain crisis since the 1970s

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link

I have to say that I'm not really noticing this supply chain crisis so far, possibly because it doesn't seem to be hitting goods I buy very often, or at least not yet.

A few weeks ago, for example, we read about the J D Weatherspoon chain of pubs running out of beer, which seemed like poetic justice considering their owner's pro-Brexit activities, but if you read down a bit further, it turned out they'd run out of Coors Lite and a couple of other brands which I certainly can't imagine choosing in preference to any of the 20-odd other brands they still had plenty of.

ETA

Ros Atkins on... lorry driver shortages

Ros Atkins looks at why there's a lack of drivers and how it's affecting UK businesses.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Arkady Arkright]

From coffee to microchips – how the supply chain crisis is disrupting UK plc

All you need to know about who is affected and why it’s the worst supply chain crisis since the 1970s

www.theguardian.com

I have to say that I'm not really noticing this supply chain crisis so far, possibly because it doesn't seem to be hitting goods I buy very often, or at least not yet.

Try coming to a west Wales supermarket, where the shelves that aren't empty are filled with the same product in two or three different places, so they don't look so bare.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

[

Try coming to a west Wales supermarket, where the shelves that aren't empty are filled with the same product in two or three different places, so they don't look so bare.

I didn't say it's not bad in some places. I'm just saying that, in the prosperous part of the English midlands in which I now live, we're not seeing much sign of it.

More on the subject

Algebra: the maths working to solve the UK’s supply chain crisis

The calculations behind filling supermarket shelves are dizzyingly complex – but it all starts with the x and y you know from school

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link

 

[Essence Lumin]

More on the subject

Algebra: the maths working to solve the UK’s supply chain crisis

The calculations behind filling supermarket shelves are dizzyingly complex – but it all starts with the x and y you know from school

www.theguardian.com

The article begins:

Well shit, I don't understand that at all but it looks like big trouble.



JK, the article is a good read.

 

[Sid]

Just concentrate on the lovely iconic blue passports you all got back thanks to your extraordinaire government.*




*Yes, there might be some traces of sarcasm to be found in that sentence.

 

[Arkady Arkright]

I didn't say it's not bad in some places. I'm just saying that, in the prosperous part of the English midlands in which I now live, we're not seeing much sign of it.

It's not just the outlying areas... Bare shelves, no cabs —Brexit is sending London success story into reverse

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Just concentrate on the lovely iconic blue passports you all got back thanks to your extraordinaire government.*




*Yes, there might be some traces of sarcasm to be found in that sentence.

...which was entirely doable while keeping the EU membership, because the EU has no rules for passport colors in place.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It's not just the outlying areas... Bare shelves, no cabs —Brexit is sending London success story into reverse

All I can say is that, during the course of this year, I've not really noticed supermarkets looking much different from how I remember them in 2019 -- some empty shelves at the times I'd expect them to be empty because the shops are busy restocking (early afternoon after the lunch hour rush, and then again early evening after people have stopped on their way home), I haven't found items I generally buy in short supply, or not any more frequently than I'd expect, and I haven't noticed significantly more substitutions than usual when I've placed my supermarket orders online rather than shopped in person.

Maybe I'm just fortunate in where and when I shop and what I buy.

 

[Arkady Arkright]

Maybe I'm just fortunate in where and when I shop and what I buy.

I think you probably are - I wonder if it's something to do with how far those goods have to travel to get to the shops - west Wales is 'the end of the line' for a lot of delivery routes, maybe stuff preferentially goes to less distant places in times of shortage (of both goods and HGV drivers). I certainly see evidence of shortages in our local supermarkets anyway.

 

[Luisa Land]

The shortage of truck drivers is seen as one reason for the partial supply bottlenecks in the UK. This shortage is not limited to the UK, although it is particularly severe there.
In the EU, too, some say, the shortage of drivers could become a bigger problem. But the EU has a locational advantage over the UK."
"During the pandemic, many European drivers, for example from Poland or Romania, left the UK and returned to their families in their home countries. There are several reasons why many of them will probably not return. On the one hand, since Brexit, the freedom of movement for EU workers is over and complex and expensive visa procedures are necessary. On the other hand, drivers are also needed in many other European countries, so the UK's appeal is dwindling. New trade barriers and border controls further complicate the situation." (of the supply dificulties in UK)

Lkw-Fahrer-Mangel bedroht Versorgung in der EU

In Großbritannien sorgen fehlende Lastwagenfahrer bereits für leere Supermarktregale. Nun warnt der deutsche Branchenverband, dass Ähnliches bald in ganz Europa zu spüren sein werde, es drohe ein »Versorgungskollaps«.

www.spiegel.de

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The shortage of truck drivers is seen as one reason for the partial supply bottlenecks in the UK. This shortage is not limited to the UK, although it is particularly severe there.
In the EU, too, some say, the shortage of drivers could become a bigger problem. But the EU has a locational advantage over the UK."
"During the pandemic, many European drivers, for example from Poland or Romania, left the UK and returned to their families in their home countries. There are several reasons why many of them will probably not return. On the one hand, since Brexit, the freedom of movement for EU workers is over and complex and expensive visa procedures are necessary. On the other hand, drivers are also needed in many other European countries, so the UK's appeal is dwindling. New trade barriers and border controls further complicate the situation." (of the supply dificulties in UK)

Lkw-Fahrer-Mangel bedroht Versorgung in der EU

In Großbritannien sorgen fehlende Lastwagenfahrer bereits für leere Supermarktregale. Nun warnt der deutsche Branchenverband, dass Ähnliches bald in ganz Europa zu spüren sein werde, es drohe ein »Versorgungskollaps«.

www.spiegel.de

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

From what we're reading here, the basic problem is that there's a huge number -- can't offhand remember, but several more 00s at the end than the several 1000 EU drivers who aren't returning -- of UK lorry-drivers who've left the profession, and can't be persuaded to return.

In the past, employers have been able to make up shortages by hiring drivers from the EU, but now they can't do that, so they're having both to try to recruit and train more drivers, and to try to improve both pay and working conditions in the hope of retaining their newly-trained drivers.

Covid has further exacerbated the problem by disrupting testing for new drivers applying for their HGV licences, but the real problem is that it's not a job a lot of people want to do, at least not long-term, because of the uncertain hours and long periods away from home, often at short notice.

That's going to have effects on the whole distribution system, since the just-in-time model we've had for the last 20 or 30 years seems to be breaking down, or at least grinding its gears a bit, not least because of Covid.

Brexit has removed a lot of resilience from the system but the problem is that it's not a job enough people want to do, and Covid and Brexit between them have made that very clear.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The empty shelves crisis isn’t just down to Covid and Brexit – it's been decades in the making | Felicity Lawrence

Ever-worsening conditions in supply-chain jobs have made Britain’s shortages inevitable, and a pay rise for lorry drivers won’t end them, says the Guardian’s special correspondent Felicity Lawrence

www.theguardian.com

Evernote link