Boris Johnson love-bombs HGV drivers to return to work

Hotblack Desiato

'Both sides' my hole.

Rampant illegal funding of the Leave campaign and dirty tricks. Cambridge Analytica etc. Billionaires using the DUP as a conduit to put ads in London newspapers.

But you come on with this 'both sides' nonsense

Trumpian guff.

Then there's the "getting what they voted for" thing.

Many didn't vote at all and now greatly regret that (tough!)

Many voted Leave as a protest and didn't actually want to leave. This is a hangover of the first past the post electoral system which creates "safe seats" and disenfranchises millions of voters.

Many took the reassurances from Leave that "nobody is talking about leaving the single market" "easiest negotiation ever" etc. etc. at face value.

Nobody in their right mind actually votes to make their country poorer and more backward. They were sold a pup.

Cameron deserves huge blame though and he will always be remembered as one of the worst PMs ever (although Boris is doing his best to compete for that crown...) Never, ever call a referendum on an important issue unless you are certain of winning. Especially one where you have no idea what will happen if you lose, and the whole country then takes a massive leap into the unknown.

Ultimately he called the referendum because he didn't have the balls to stand up to a fringe within his own party, call their bluff and let them feck off to join UKIP. UKIP would have remained a fringe bunch with a handful of seats at the very most. Despite all their bluster and winning some MEP seats (treated by most as a protest vote) they never once won a Westminster seat. You'd think a party whose raison d'etre was a single issue supposedly with 52% support would have done a lot better than that...!

Capt'n Midnight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117950526#Comment_117950526

It would be libellous to suggest that UKIP couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery. It was the City of London Distillery or rather it wasn't because they couldn't organise a piss up.

Nigel Farage finishing behind Flipper the Dolphin in a constituency where none of the main parties stood ? Never gets old.

Boris is a bit better at being chummy to the voters than Nigel which is why the love-bombing, that and it gets him into the media.

Brexit is the collateral damage for killing off a rival party. The Liberal Democrats need to become relevant or they'll go next.

The DUP used to be handy for 10 votes (for a billion) but the latest revision of the constituencies means that Wales loses 8 MPs and Scotland looses 2 which means England gets 10 new MPs. DUP shafted May, revenge will be served very cold.

Maggie had the Falklands war, Bonar Law stirred up Ulster. If Scotland leaves then there's 40 or 50 SNP MPs who won't vote against Boris again.

malinheader

I can't believe what I'm reading, really it's unbelievable. Making it easier and skimping on proper training for lorry drivers is mental but lorry drivers that will be carrying flammable liquids. Most mental thing I have ever heard.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942349#Comment_117942349

At least their laws are nolonger being made in Germany!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeQ8MVpN7Ts

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951242#Comment_117951242

Very short sighted response as it could end up having implications for the recognition and / or transferability of UK HGV driving licences in the EU and even wider.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951479#Comment_117951479

Exactly. "Did you pass your test in 2021? Oh you did? OK, well we'd like to offer you the job but you'll have to sit and pass our course and exam before you can drive for us. Yes of course you have to pay for that yourself"

BobHopeless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117948113#Comment_117948113

Brilliant post

malinheader

Ireland has a big shortage of lorry drivers too. We won't be able to blame Brexit. Wages, conditions over regulation and massive money for anyone to try and get a hgv licence all a factor

mariaalice

It's a gift to the EU any country thinking of saber-rattling about leaving silenced in one fell swoop.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951614#Comment_117951614

Shortage yes, but far from crisis point. Plus we can advertise jobs for drivers in Europe and get interested parties. Not be told to feck off because the Visa would only be for 3 months.

malinheader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951680#Comment_117951680

I think its time we started to address the problems in the industry instead of relying to look to Europe for drivers.

Alot of our foreign drivers went home because of the poor conditions and pay. If we don't soon start to address our own problems we will end up in the same situation as the UK. Just look at the average age of the lorry drivers 55 0r 56 if I can remember.

Having to bring in drivers from other countries if needed is not resolving the problems within the sector.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117952060#Comment_117952060

We really need to start addressing alot of things and not just in that one sector. I work in IT, nice warm cushy offices and some cushy salaries, and even I know europeans who have gone home. Why? Accommodation costs are out of control. Thats the most important thing and the first thing most people pay when they get paid. If over half your income is going on a fleapit or a nicer place but its flipping miles away from work, but you had the opportunity to go home to the continent, what would be stopping you? I mention accommodation because it affects everyone from truck drivers to programmers, and we are losing talent and skills because of it.

Increasing the average salary of truck drivers seems like a good idea, but on a country wide scale it's a double edge sword, because thats adds to the cost of transporting things, which increases inflation because prices rise on everything.

Conditions and infrastructure needs to be improved. The number of decent truck stops in the country is about 13, when really a driver should never be more than about 20 minutes from a good one. A lay by with room for 2 trucks and no running water is not a truck stop.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951264#Comment_117951264

Took me a while to realise that wasn't a comedy sketch

ancapailldorcha

Little England needs to realize that it needs to sleep in the bed it so enthusiastically made for itself. Anyone who's gone through the rigmarole of getting the certs and relevant paperwork to drive a HGV will know that while there's a shortage across Europe, it's both more pronounced in the UK and will involve countless hours waiting at checkpoints there. But hey, Johnny racist now no longer needs to suffer under EU laws he can't name.

Somehow, I don't think the offer of "We hate you but come over to drive lorries so long as you f*ck off by Christmas Eve" is going to prove enticing.

Feisar

Does Tommy Shlug have the HGV licence? He might be able to give a pull out if he gets out of Afghanistan.

stoneill

There is no shortage of petrol, they are just queueing up for Happy British Petrol, now that they got rid of the Nameless Bureaucratic Brussels Petrol that was forced upon them..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953164#Comment_117953164

Look up James O'Brien of LBC radio on YouTube. He put a question to his listeners "Why did you vote to leave the EU?". Some of the answers he gets... well. You'll see.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117953164#Comment_117953164

There are no Brexit comedy sketches.

The Raging Bile Duct

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117954793#Comment_117954793

Au contraire...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jC0n-93pfU

ancapailldorcha

https://twitter.com/sturdyAlex/status/1443200821680869382

Sigh.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117954821#Comment_117954821

Touché though I do think my comment stands as a good rule of thumb.

WrenBoy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117954494#Comment_117954494

He's doing a bit of terrorising against Juicy Joe at the minute. For the right price he'd have it sorted by Mid November. 😉😂

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117951242#Comment_117951242

Well what do you expect when people like the below (a current member of parliament and former conservative leader) don't seem to understand the slight difference in the training gap between throwing a few packages in a van and driving a bloody HGV...lol

https://twitter.com/johnredwood/status/1442368904056086544?s=19

Seth Brundle

a current member of parliament and former conservative leader

Just to clarify, John Redwood wasn't a leader of the Conservatives having twice failed to win that position.

iColdFusion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117942391#Comment_117942391

We cant say much really, Irish media circa 2006: "BUY ALL THE HOUSES NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY COST! ARE YOU ON THE WAY TO THE BANK NOW!? PRICES ARE ONLY GOING UP!" and alot of Irish people were 100% happy to jump on board the property bubble gravy train, CHOO CHOO!

ancapailldorcha

This looks like on of Johnson's letters.

https://twitter.com/bigbumbeleery/status/1443255330142662668

malinheader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117954997#Comment_117954997

Your %100 .Not much hope really if the country is being ran by idiots like this.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117954793#Comment_117954793

The whole thing has been a joke from start to finish.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117956240#Comment_117956240

Yes but now the Jungle is encroaching into the lives of the middle classes of southern England and that's where the line is.

20silkcut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117955090#Comment_117955090

The Irish equivalent of the brexit mindset is buying houses and not paying for them.

hence foreign banks desert the county but the media never mention the reason why.

it’s our own unique hangover from the days of the British empire and aversion to evicting.