[Boiler]

Today the plan is to blame the shortages of food and fuel, not on Johnson or Brexit, but the silly public and the media. If the PM tells people not to panic, he's admitting there's a problem and anyone who needs a functioning motor vehicle will take sensible precautions.

You almost wonder if CCHQ started #scummedia trending but really, it is people panic buying for no sensible reason that's the issue here. See also: bog rolls, March 2020.

Bit of a game of dodgems round here on my journey to the cemetery earlier, trying to avoid the queues into petrol stations - especially those fed from the ring road. After yesterday's stupidity, the local Co-Op petrol station is strictly controlling the traffic so access to the shops is not blocked.

[Youngian]

This is another Johnson dead cat reminiscent of lifting lockdown in May 2020 and telling people not to go to the beach. Subsequent spike in COVID cases is then the silly public's fault, nothing to do with Boris.

Today the plan is to blame the shortages of food and fuel, not on Johnson or Brexit, but the silly public and the media. If the PM tells people not to panic, he's admitting there's a problem and anyone who needs a functioning motor vehicle will take sensible precautions.

Maybe the government are just fuckwits who’ve lost control on many levels. There’s a shortage of trust not fuel.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I think Ian has it right.

[Youngian]

The government’s right to say there’s no fuel crisis. This has fuelled a hell of a lot of people not to bet Monday morning on it. Can’t recall a precedent for that kind of behaviour.

[Oboogie]

Maybe the government are just fuckwits who’ve lost control on many levels. There’s a shortage of trust not fuel.

Of course the government are fuckwits and of course there's no trust. Johnson says "don't panic buy fuel" and everybody who has ever heard of Boris Johnson knows that, if they need fuel, they need to go and get some because there's a supply problem.

[Abernathy]

I think Ian has it right.

Boogie may also be right about the Dead Cat.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

Generally I hold to the belief that in politics nothing happens by accident, and I'm sure that applies to most of the government (and opposition). But Johnson, however, might be an exception to the rule. This dead cat isn't obscuring a problem, it's causing one.

[Oboogie]

I don't believe for a second that Downing Street didn't realise that ministers all over the media shouting "Don't panic!" like Corporal Jones would not galvanise the population into taking precautions against coming shortages.
Now the media is busy blaming people for ensuring they have fuel to get to work etc, instead of talking about why we don't have enough HGV drivers.
The most right-wing papers, and their Tory lackies, are taking it a step further and blaming the media (well The Guardian and the BBC) for reporting the shortages and causing panic in the first place.
Never Johnson's fault. Never Brexit's fault. It's all those pesky Lefties again, grrrr!
Some things never change.

[mattomac]

Well they are twisting the Haulage offer into Johnson looking tough and leading.

If Johnson led just in general would half these crisis ever actually happen, they are forever painting him as someone sitting around doing nothing until a crisis hits.

It’s bullshit as it paints him as Churchill. He is just a lazy slob.

[The All New KevS]

5000 HGV drivers, and 5500 poultry workers from EU to be given temporary visas. That will run out on Christmas Eve.

So, in other words:

"Oi! You lot! Yes, we know we told you to fuck off, but we're now deep in shit, and we need you to help out. This is obviously your duty as we're fucking brilliant, and your shithole country isn't. Despite the fact that it would probably take the thick end of a month from now to get everything in place, we'd love to have you. Until Christmas Eve. Then you can fuck off again."

Yes, I'm sure there's a convoy of trucks heading for Calais as we speak.

[The Weeping Angel]

One of the most depressing things about Brexit is having to put up smug wankers like this.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

One of the most depressing things about Brexit is having to put up smug wankers like this.

Explain to me, please, how that is 'smug'?
Looks like standard-issue irony to me. Am I missing something?

[Malcolm Armsteen]

From Europe the issue is pretty clear. There are also elements of the story that have not been reported in the UK.
From Le Figaro:

5000 visas provisoires pour les chauffeurs

Grant Shapps a accusé les associations du secteur de «vouloir à tout prix» embaucher «davantage de chauffeurs européens, (qui) baissent les salaires britanniques». La veille, le gouvernement s'était vu contraint par la crise d'accorder jusqu'à 10.500 visas de travail provisoires, dont 5000 réservés aux chauffeurs : un virage inattendu en matière d'immigration professionnelle après le Brexit, alors que le gouvernement du Premier ministre Boris Johnson ne cesse d'insister pour que le Royaume-Uni ne dépende plus de la main-d'œuvre étrangère.
Ces permis de trois mois, d'octobre à décembre, ne constituent qu'«une partie» des clefs pour résoudre la pénurie de chauffeurs routiers, a estimé dimanche Grant Shapps, arguant que «la solution à long terme» ne pouvait être «d'entrer dans un cercle vicieux constant où on n'est pas capable de former des gens ici et de les employer avec des salaires décents».

Le ministre a préféré mettre l'accent sur d'autres mesures exceptionnelles prises samedi, comme la mobilisation d'examinateurs du ministère de la Défense pour faire passer des milliers de permis poids lourd dans les semaines qui viennent. Rod McKenzie, de la Road Haulage Association, a qualifié d'«absurdes» les accusations «sans aucun fondement» selon lesquelles il aurait averti les médias de potentielles pénuries, affirmant que le gouvernement devrait plutôt adopter une approche «holistique» de la crise.

5,000 provisional visas for drivers

Grant Shapps accused the sector associations of "wanting at all costs" to hire "more European drivers, (who) lower British wages". The day before, the government had been forced by the crisis to grant up to 10,500 temporary work visas, including 5,000 reserved for drivers: an unexpected turn in matters of professional immigration after Brexit, while the government of the First Minister Boris Johnson keeps insisting that the UK no longer depends on foreign labour.
These three-month permits, from October to December, are only "part" of the key to solving the shortage of truck drivers, Grant Shapps said Sunday, arguing that "the long-term solution" could not be to "enter into a constant vicious circle where you are not able to train people here and employ them with decent wages ”.

The minister preferred to focus on other exceptional measures taken on Saturday, such as the mobilization of examiners from the Ministry of Defence to pass thousands of heavy vehicle licenses in the coming weeks. Rod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association described as 'absurd' the “baseless” accusations and he warned the media of potential shortages saying the government should instead take a "holistic" approach to the crisis.

[Oboogie]

That's taken from Shapps' Marr Show interview.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

[Oboogie]

Polish HGV driver on James O'Brien (LBC) made a point I hadn't thought of, apparently many Polish drivers don't have passports because they can travel throughout the EU on their Polish ID cards. So that's an additional financial/time barrier to them answering the Brexiters' pleas for help.

[Cyclist]

Military staff here have just been asked if anybody has category C, C1 or C1E on their driving licences. Answers by close of play today.

The government, it would appear, are flailing around, desperately trying to find people they can order to drive 3 1/2 tonne upwards wagons to help the private sector out of the mess they, the government, have created.

Oh well, at least the squaddies haven't been earmarked for another foreign adventure - yet.

[Boiler]

I discovered that I do have those: only exception is I am limited to 8205kg on C1E.

If you put your d/l number, NI number and postcode into the online licence checker, it'll tell you exactly what you can drive.

Interesting, because there doesn't appear to be a class for automatic transmission only, which used to be group B.

I'm pleased to see I can still drive a road roller

[Tubby Isaacs]

Institutions, apparently.

[Andy McDandy]

"Clever people, pen pushers, just get a man to sort it out!"