General Chat

Just watching the news on TV.

I can't pretend to know much about the economy following the Spanish Flu which would have encompassed the economic effect of global war but I can picture Edwin and Hilda watching their fourteenth century tele and moaning about the awkwardness of the ox-cart drivers.

We are seeing the economic affect of pandemic that are not so very different from those caused by the Black Death, some ot which were not so very bad.It didn't do Feudalism much good did it?

It will be interesting to see what this oe does for Capitalism and, particularly, Consumerism.

There are plenty of pigs, for pig-carts :-D

All the drivers are up to some other pass-time thought.

The most noticeable thing is that in spite of a world wide shortage of HGV drivers, it is only in Great Britain that there are supermarket shelves empty and queues for petrol. Most obvious is the lack of those problems in Northern Ireland, which is still in the Single Market.

I think you are right about petrol but I understood that other countries had empty shelves as there is a shortage of hgv drivers in many countries.

There were a couple of instances where the brexit media showed pictures of empty shelves in EU countries. Investigation showed that in the case of a Brussels supermarket it was due to a strike, in the case of a French store it was the shelves that normally stock UK fresh produce that couldn't get supplies.

Thanks, but that doesn’t explain the shortage of hgv drivers in non EU countries.

There has been a worldwide shortage of HGV drivers for a few years now, but it has been manageable. It is still manageable in other countries but because the UK is now subject to custom checks with the EU, it is now much worse for us. Journeys to the EU can involve massive delays particularly if the paperwork is incorrect. In addition many drivers from EU countries who worked here have returned home and are unlikely to come back.

Now ports are becoming jammed with containers which need to be shifted.

The outlook does not look good

Just been watching a report on the supply problems in the US. A few weeks ago container ships were either waiting to unload or were turned away - just like here.

Added- even the guardian reported the problems with container ships queuing in California -so it must be true ;-)

Yes that is worldwide.