Current Affairs

[Onelife]

I don’t mind missing out on the £150 due to my house band but I do feel aggrieved that energy companies will still be giving out bonuses to their directors.

Why? Directors of any company only get a bonus if they achieve the results agreed in their contract. It is not the energy companies fault that the wholesale gas price is rising at a rate never seen before and from what I have seen and read the majority of energy companies are trying to mitigate the effect on their consumers.

I think that this business with the energy cap is yet another example of the media winding everyone up. Just because the price cap has been raised does not automatically translate into every household paying another £700 from tomorrow - especially as it does not come into effect until April, and bear in mind that is the time of year when consumption is starting to reduce.

Why, you ask…. Companies have varying pay structures all of which reward their employees with a wage, some however have contractual wage structures that give a flat rate plus bonuses which are set by those who receive those bonuses. The fact that some of these bonuses could be described as obscene is where the reality of ethical work place responsibility fails the general notion of a fair days pay for a fair day work, especially for those working on the shop floor. I’m not against pay incentives but I think any executive bonuses should be no more than the percentage increase/or not of the wage rise of the shop floor worker.

[david63]

I think any executive bonuses should be no more than the percentage increase/or not of the wage rise of the shop floor worker.

There is an argument that if the executives did not perform as they were expected/contracted to do then the shop floor workers would not get an increase.

It takes two to negotiate a contract so I have no problem with somebody negotiating their contract no matter how obscene the results may appear to be, the issue is with the company accepting those terms - but if that is what it takes to recruit the right calibre of executive, or any other staff for that matter, then that is a fact of business life.

At the end of the day it is no different, say, from Tesco paying £10 per hour and Sainbugs paying £15 per hour - employees make their own choices to suit their circumstances.

[Stephen]

If you can get it take it, who wouldn't.

Every little helps.........pay the utility bills

[barney]

The executive salaries in this instance are totally irrelevant.
The real point is that power companies make obscene profits.
Shell announced £12 billion profit in just three months.
Anyone think that this is pretty over the top given the predicament many are facing.
Maybe it’s just the socialist in me that thinks that a windfall tax would be in order to alleviate the problems of those at the bottom.
The simple fact that we all take cruise holidays tells me that the impact on us will be negligible.
The impact on the poorest could be life and death.

[towny44]

The executive salaries in this instance are totally irrelevant.
The real point is that power companies make obscene profits.
Shell announced £12 billion profit in just three months.
Anyone think that this is pretty over the top given the predicament many are facing.
Maybe it’s just the socialist in me that thinks that a windfall tax would be in order to alleviate the problems of those at the bottom.
The simple fact that we all take cruise holidays tells me that the impact on us will be negligible.
The impact on the poorest could be life and death.

I think I agree Barney, companies whose profits are geared to commodity pricing, and which have a major influence on inflation really are ripe for windfall taxes.
Let's hope that Rishi agrees with us.
.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I agree. Smack them with a hefty windfall tax.

[screwy]

Totally agree.

And while I’m at it. Give Prison officers the pay rise they deserve.
The IPRB recommendation was a 3k uplift, they got £250.
Absolutely disgusting and they wonder why they can’t keep staff.

[Bensham33]

It's all happening at No 10 as another one goes or is it Boris reshuffling his staff.

https://youtu.be/rY0WxgSXdEE

[Kendhni]

It's all happening at No 10 as another one goes or is it Boris reshuffling his staff.

https://youtu.be/rY0WxgSXdEE

If Johnson says he is reshuffling then you can be pretty sure they are resigning.
If Johnson signs they resigned you can be pretty sure he fired them.

[oldbluefox]

Depends which side of the fence although I notice some are resigning and moving into another post and one has resigned but is staying on until a successor is found.
Resigned or pushed we may never know.

[Manoverboard]

Did any of them take pics at a party work meeting I wonder

[david63]

I wouldn't be all surprised if it wasn't something that happens all the time (staff resignations) as in any other business - it is just that the media are out to discredit Boris in any way that they can so are reporting everything that happens.

[Ray B]

I wouldn't be all surprised if it wasn't something that happens all the time (staff resignations) as in any other business - it is just that the media are out to discredit Boris in any way that they can so are reporting everything that happens.

That is absolutely true David, thus the more they stir, the more the real truth is hidden. To become the Prime Minister of this country is like taking a poison chalice. The press are now out of control on most 'Big' stories, to which some of the population can not get enough of.

[Manoverboard]

Social Media can be compulsive so many will thrive on the dross dripped out ... just saying

[Kendhni]

That is one brave officer ... the constable should have tasered the vermin to within an inch of his life
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-arrested- ... 55523.html

[oldbluefox]

That is one brave officer ... the constable should have tasered the vermin to within an inch of his life
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/man-arrested- ... 55523.html

Incredible. I agree, the moment he went for that gun he should have been tasered . I wonder why the guy had to go to hospital. Maybe the nasty policeman hurt him when he was arrested.

[Mervyn and Trish]

We're still doing the ZOE app daily and their figures suggest cases are back up to almost 200,000 a day. I watched Prof Tim Spector's weekly video update and he explained why he thinks their figures are more accurate than the government headline numbers. Essentially the latter are based on PCR test and reported Lateral Flow Tests and with more relaxed rules on isolation the number of those has fallen. The old, test more find more.

ZOE uses a more proactive approach, as do ONS, and he reckons they will follow upward again after the usual 2 week delay.

But the encouraging thing is the number of hospitalisations and people on ventilators is still steadily falling. He said there is now solid evidence that Omicron is causing less serious illness, whether because of changes to the virus or our own improved immunity.

[david63]

We're still doing the ZOE app daily

So are we.

I watched Prof Tim Spector's weekly video update and he explained why he thinks their figures are more accurate than the government headline numbers

I heard some of that on the news last night and whilst he may well be right he is not going to say that his data is inaccurate. I am still not 100% sure about the ZOE data - I see changes in our local data, both up and down, that are so large that they somehow don't feel right - it may be just the way that they present the data.

At the end of the day all of this data is nothing more than guesswork so we are really no wiser and I think we are reaching a point where daily cases are becoming less important.

[Gill W]

I think that, at this point, monitoring trends with the data we have available, is the way forward, rather than looking at absolute numbers

As many people don’t need to do PCR tests, it might be expected that the figures on the government dashboard might be lower than they otherwise would have been. On the other hand, reinfections are now included, so this has increased the ‘headline’ figure. In any event, the daily figure is still much larger than we were used to pre omicron.

Zoe is still showing a general upward trend, and ONS still say that 1 in 20 people in England still have the virus.

My take away from all sources of information is that we are probably on a very high undulating plateau.

[Onelife]

…or a slippery slope if we act as if it’s all over.

[Kendhni]

Globally the number of cases, and deaths, is rising quite steeply, although we do seem to be sitting on plateau in the UK of about 250-300 deaths per day but with cases falling back (although that is probably down to less testing) ... it is hard to know which way it is going to do. We could all try to stay positive but that would be about as much use as a screen door on a submarine, so it requires a collective consideration and common sense from all (yea, like that is going to happen).

[towny44]

My own take on the current covid situation in the UK seems way different to the rest of you. Omicron now seems no worse than the common cold, and for the majority it seems the symptoms are far less severe, which is probably a combination of omicron being much milder and the high level of vaccination in the UK.
So we now seem to have reached the situation where we can begin to return to a more normal existence. Daily life does seem to be more normal, but still with many people wearing masks in all the high risk areas, which seems sensible. However for cruising it still seems that we have a long way to go before we are anywhere near the previous norm. This is of course sensible since cruise ship environments do have a high risk of cross infection. However offloading positive cases who are asymptomatic seems a far too severe belt and braces approach, and removing this protocol and having a shorter on board quarantine period with daily LFT testing would seem more than adequate for fully vaccinated passengers and crew.

[david63]

undulating plateau

Isn't that an oxymoron?

My own take on the current covid situation in the UK seems way different to the rest of you.

I am more or less in agreement with that view.

removing this protocol and having a shorter on board quarantine period with daily LFT testing would seem more than adequate for fully vaccinated passengers and crew.

Probably, but is that something that any cruise line can do on their own? Does it not require international agreement and with cases still high in many parts of the world I cannot see that happening any time soon.

[Onelife]

My nephew, his wife and 9-year-old son…. both adults being fully vaccinated have just had covid (Omicron). The son showed no symptoms, the wife only mildly but my nephew (42) was quite poorly for 4 days.

[david63]

My nephew, his wife and 9-year-old son…. both adults being fully vaccinated have just had covid (Omicron). The son showed no symptoms, the wife only mildly but my nephew (42) was quite poorly for 4 days.

Not much different from having flu then!