COVID-19

It's essential to be able to order that kind of stuff; the shops are not essential at all.

But if Sports Direct staff are silly enough to not phone in sick, that's up to them - unless Boris steps in and puts an end to it.

 

You can order online from Sports Direct I believe.

As I say mix messages. Easy to get round.

 

Yikes, have they "jumped the shark" there? Talk about crass, that might be a Ratner moment.

I went in their Leeds store last Thursday, no customers, tons of staff, nobody on tills, gave up.

 

Thing is, it's been open to interpretation the whole time, then the security is tightened day on day.

The government have swiftly altered their methods for dealing with this virus, as early days they were extremely lackadaisical. Now they're on the verge of enforced lockdown.

Each time a Mike Ashley 'interprets' the rules, Boris locks it down further. Ashley is a fool to think this ploy will either work or represent positive PR.

It won't.

 

Ooh, you might be getting a private message threatening ultra violence for this!

 

I would imagine their is a multi tiered management structure endorsing whilst implementing a culture of fear in the workplace, like supermarkets. Not a lot workers can do.

 

I have had 3 of 'em, there are some right (closet) wackos about. But I am ok, as I am so manly the virus will just bounce of my pecs, bring the wackos on.

 

Sports Direct are infamous as a business, bullies running their business on zero hours contracts and underpaying kids left, right and centre.

Those who can afford to walk out on their jobs, ie, part time staff, students, etc, I would. Feel bad for any staff on supervisor/management contracts, though.

 

Steve has form for it. He used to be in the army don't you know.

DMs open Steve.

 

But asthma is one of the illnesses that is on the list putting people in a higher risk category.

The virus leads to severe lung inflammation. Combine that with asthma and that is a very dangerous combination. Better to keep that person out of harms way for their own safety, as well as keeping people out of hospitals as much as possible.

 

Are locksmiths key workers...?

 

Do I give you a Whooooooosh for that Dennis....clue: locksmith - key..!!

 

Absolutely excellent article yesterday. This echoes my comments further back in this thread about us having got the balance between essential private enterprise and equally essential public services and planning completely out of kilter.
If there is one good thing that comes out of this horrendous situation we're currently in, it looks like it will be the end of Thatcherite total free market dominance for the foreseeable future. A properly mixed public/private economy is the only rational solution in today's world.
Note, this article is in the Financial Times, not the Guardian.

https://www.ft.com/content/21672cd6-6ce4-11ea-9bca-bf503995cd6f

 

He didn't interview particularly well. But - and this is a complete rarity - I have a huge amount of sympathy for our politicians right now. They're in an impossible position and in globally unprecedented times. And as usual, many of the public show a complete lack of common sense and accountability for their own understanding of the situation and their role in making responsible decisions.

The government can't make a provision for every possible circumstance in every persons walk of life throughout the country. Use the plumbing example - most people, both as the customer and plumber would be able to define whether a job constituted being an essential piece of work. Toilet broke? do you have others you can use? If so, that's non-essential. Tap dripping? annoying, but not essential. One tap/sink not working? Not essential. Water escaping and flooding your kitchen? Well, yeah that's essential.

Sports Direct - clearly not an essential line of business. Completely obnoxious behavior from them, completely at odds with the principle of what we're trying to achieve.

Its really not that hard.

 

There is no way that we will be able to afford yours or anybody elses idea of socialism after this carry on, all these borrowings will have to be paid back by you, your kids and your grandkids for decades...

 

They pull this money out of the ether. Quantative easing. It's all a load of rubbish.

 

We were having this conversation on the countdown last night. Until the government come up with a plan for self employed people then people are forced to carry on working. In my friends group chat my mate said his estate agent neighbour went out to work this morning. Another house had a decorator turn up. Essential?

They need to make up some more money and give every one a universal basic income.