Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

No shortages here 

Perhaps there is too much competition for staff in your area mongers?

I have noticed that if you go to Lidl or Aldi in the evenings they are often running out of things; but it has been like that for years; their popularity is increasing and the number of stores is insufficient to meet demand.

Yeah - also I know all supermarkets don't have storage any more and it's all just-in-time etc etc.

But Lidl seems to deliberately want their shops to be like the Hunger Games after about 4pm

[garbon]

You would be proud of me garbon, I bought the "mild and salty grilling cheese" (made in Bulgaria) for 35% less and my wife said it was just as good 

Glad you all liked it but to be clear, I'm not against buying PDOs. I am against naming conventions that lead to opaque terms like "mild and salty grilling cheese".

Yeah, I would be happy with "Bulgarian Halloumi" which is clear enough imo.

I just realised that my meal tonight (a greek-inspired risotto) features two PDO products (feta and parmigiano reggiano).

[Josquius]

One thing that always got me about the rise of lidl and aldi is that many moons ago a similar thing was tried by netto but failed spectacularly. Then there was kiwk save also going for the same market but which went out of business.
It's integrating how the Germans managed where others failed. They did something different? Or its more our demands have changed and we are more willing to be stingy after 10 years of tories?

[Tamas]

One thing that always got me about the rise of lidl and aldi is that many moons ago a similar thing was tried by netto but failed spectacularly. Then there was kiwk save also going for the same market but which went out of business.
It's integrating how the Germans managed where others failed. They did something different? Or its more our demands have changed and we are more willing to be stingy after 10 years of tories?

I don't think Lidl is of any less in quality than Sainsburys or Tesco or the like.

[The Brain]

Changes in British shopping habits can definitely be traced to the Tories.

[Zanza]

The success of both Aldi and Lidl is down to operational excellence.  Their processes and product portfolio are just a bit more optimized than their competitors and they are working hard to keep an edge. I don't think it has much to do with changed shopping habits.

[Sheilbh]

The success of both Aldi and Lidl is down to operational excellence.  Their processes and product portfolio are just a bit more optimized than their competitors and they are working hard to keep an edge. I don't think it has much to do with changed shopping habits.

Yeah - and their products are far better than what was around with Kwik Save.

I also think Tesco and Sainsbury's sort of vacated their market. I swear they used to both be perceived as pretty cheap supermarkets but have now re-positioned as mid-market.

Separately on the continuing synergy of the England team and politics - as well as everyone from Nadhim Zahawi (the vaccine roll-out minister) to the TUC claiming their piece - here's Gary Neville's comment after the game on ITV: "The standards of leaders in this country in the last couple years has been poor. And looking at that man there [Southgate] that's everything a leader should be: respectful, humble, telling the truth, genuine."

[Richard Hakluyt]

Sunak is getting worried about the triple-lock on old age pensions; due to a covid-related anomaly wages have risen by 8% in the past year...so under the rules of the triple-lock pensions should do the same, at a recurrent cost of £3bn a year apparently.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/jul/08/rishi-sunak-hints-at-suspension-to-pension-triple-lock

It is anomalous but, on the other hand, the current pension is a rather small £175 a week...far behind other Western European countries.

He could let the rise go through and claw it back from richer pensioners by altering their (very favourable) tax arrangements...but these people are the very core of tory support 

[Josquius]

That would be the sensible thing to do. So I fully expect them not to do it and to instead try and distract people with transgender teachers or some other nonsense.

Benefits and pensions are an area where the ignorance of the British population is absolutely phenomenal. We are very lowly ranked in Europe, especially given our relative wealth, but there's a huge perception the UK is especially generous. And alas I don't see that changing soon.

[Tamas]

British state pension seems like an absolute pittance, I can't see what one is supposed to do with it without a private pension fund and savings to top it up.

[The Brain]

British state pension seems like an absolute pittance, I can't see what one is supposed to do with it without a private pension fund and savings to top it up.

At least they own their picturesque cottages.

[Sheilbh]

Sunak is getting worried about the triple-lock on old age pensions; due to a covid-related anomaly wages have risen by 8% in the past year...so under the rules of the triple-lock pensions should do the same, at a recurrent cost of £3bn a year apparently.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/jul/08/rishi-sunak-hints-at-suspension-to-pension-triple-lock

It is anomalous but, on the other hand, the current pension is a rather small £175 a week...far behind other Western European countries.

He could let the rise go through and claw it back from richer pensioners by altering their (very favourable) tax arrangements...but these people are the very core of tory support 

Pensioners full stop are the core of Tory support and that is even more so because of things like the Triple Lock and other measures that the coalition/Cameron governments took. When I saw that austerity poll there is the possibility that part of the reason the young lean more to cutting the state and the old lean more to raising taxes is because I think in 2010-6 there was a really effective replacement of who the state was for - and it's for old people. Young people pay quite high taxes (with a very high margin if they have student loans) and don't really get much out of the state between leaving school and having kids on average.

I really don't like the triple lock but I think it's going to be very difficult to get rid of even if it's going to be very expensive if we're in for a period of either inflation or wage growth (or both).

British state pension seems like an absolute pittance, I can't see what one is supposed to do with it without a private pension fund and savings to top it up.

Yeah - there are other benefits that are available for the elderly, especially if they basically have very low incomes - plus most of that group own their own homes and don't pay council tax which eliminates a big cost for most people.

The other side is that from my understanding the UK is really highly rated by international comparisons of sustainable pension systems because there is quite a lot of saving/funded workplace pension plans. So there's still about 25% of people on defined benefit pensions ( ) - I imagine that's mainly public sector but I know that even now privatised companies like Royal Mail still have massive pension liabilities from their old defined benefit scheme, same goes for TfL with tube drivers etc.

But the big shift was setting up Nest which is a state owned pension fund that all employers and employees are auto-enrolled in. I have no doubt that employers are still trying to wriggle out of it but I think in theory they are required to pay at least some level into a workplace pension for all employees. And I don't think the old "we'll set you up as a company so you can be a self-employed contractor" nonsense works any more, I think HMRC cracked down on that. And people can opt-out of having a workplace pension, but they are automatically re-enrolled in three years so they need to repeatedly opt out - but many young people still do obviously. At some point everyone should have a private pension which won't necessarily be huge but will be something extra. But I think there's going to be a gap of people who haven't had time to build up a private pension because auto-enrollment didn't exist and plus the genuinely self-employed like many tradesmen need to save for themselves.

But about 60% of the over 55s have over £500k household wealth to tap into when they retire - mainly in private pensions and their property. And the ability to downsize from a family home to a bungalow or whatever is partly why property prices are difficult to try and reduce because some people rely on that for retirement.

[Tamas]

Probably because I watched an ITV clip, but now I have got my first GB News recommendation on YouTube, apparently they have a show called Woke Watch. They are laying it on thick aren't they?

[Josquius]

Probably because I watched an ITV clip, but now I have got my first GB News recommendation on YouTube, apparently they have a show called Woke Watch. They are laying it on thick aren't they?

Yeah I heard about that.
Clear sign you're dealing with an idiot is when they rant about 'woke'.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Woke is so rampant that 59% of Britons don't even know what it means 

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2021/05/18/what-does-woke-mean-britons

I'm sure that a sizable number can be convinced that it is destroying British life though