Any sympathy for pig farmers?

I think Boris is a long-lost cousin of Kamala Harris in the US. Both of them seem to think it's right to laugh at inappropriate events. Has this happened because the UK has no real butchers? The ones that prepare the carcasses for the retail world, not the ones that stand behind the meat counter in your local supermarket.

Or perhaps it's got more to do with the government trying to buy up farms for £100,000 to give to younger 'farmers'. Has that now died a death or just buried under a load of manure.

sazz1

Grandfather came out of the Royal Navy at the end of the war. He was sent to any suitable job available and couldn't refuse. This was in the early 50s
And to those saying we shouldn't have sent EU workers home do you mean we should have continued to exploit them paying low wages picking frozen cauliflower?
Yes wages will rise as British workers won't work for peanuts, and so will the price of fruit and veg. Cheap labour from the continent has ended and I'm glad about that. They were exploited on many farms with v low pay, v long hours and not brilliant living conditions. Farmers had cheap labour and now realise they have to pay proper rates or see the food rot.
The minimum wage is rising soon so that should help our people back into work.

How does raising the minimum wage help people back into work? All it means is that people with low paid jobs receive less Universal Credit. I'm afraid it's more complicated than simple supply and demand. People aren't going to apply for fruit picking jobs if they live hundreds of miles away from a fruit farm and there isn't any public transport.

I abhor intensive farming and will only eat meat from animals that have been properly cared for. Some is down to greedy farmers over the years. Years ago I saw free range chickens moved indoors to deep litter, then up onto raised wire floors which smelled disgusting with the chickens unable to peck naturally. In these conditions I have seen chicken’s debeaked so they couldn’t peck each other to pieces from stress. These chickens were all kept for the farmer’s wife to have some pin money from the sale of the eggs. I have seen the same farmer grub out all the hedges to make larger fields. This was not a poor farmer just a money grabbing one.

Now we have had broiler and battery hens. How cruel is that? Animals just being treated as money is so wrong. Ducks kept indoors. Pigs not allowed to roam and root freely. We need more respect for animals. Native peoples would kill one animal and use every bit of it. They lived in harmony with nature. Too often so called civilised people do not.

The reason I am asking as I find it extremely upsetting, and need to know that this was not taken in the U.K., because if so then I would assume the RSPCA were informed and the issue dealt with.

If however it is simply a photo being used to try to prove a point about eating meat, then I find it in very poor taste indeed.

hetty58 can you tell me where and when the photo of those pigs was taken please?

Those who believe all immigrants are low paid and unskilled have fallen for the propaganda.

Thank gawd you're not in charge of anything!!! No beds doctors or nurses? Let people die at home! Simples......

Hetty58

Scones - so it's ok to rely on cheap labour from poor countries? That lowers wages for everyone else, keeps costs artificially low and removes any incentive to raise skill levels here, surely?

fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-wages/

and

fullfact.org/immigration/does-immigration-reduce-wages/?utm_source=content_page&utm_medium=related_content

Scones - so it's ok to rely on cheap labour from poor countries? That lowers wages for everyone else, keeps costs artificially low and removes any incentive to raise skill levels here, surely?

StephLP

Scones

StephLP What repels one person doesn't necessarily repel another. I could never ever be an undertaker as the sadness would drown me and I would be utterly useless at it. However, the undertakers I've met take huge pride and satisfaction in the work they do and are incredible people there for you when you need it.

Horses for courses.

Scones - but the issue seems to be that no-one wants to now do this work. I don't know how it will be resolved.

That's why immigration is so good. It allows employers to fish in a bigger pond of labour to find people who can and will do the work well.

Some industries e.g. fruit picking have always relied on peripatetic workers whether they came from the East End or Eastern Europe.

Now only highly skilled workers can gain entry there is a void in the labour market.

StephLP:

'no-one wants to now do this work' - hardly surprising!

Kali2

I'd like to say at the Renaissance St Pancras too

but we certainly digress, sorry.

who wouldn't?

I wonder if it was the pig farmers Eloethan, or those pig farmers who are being affected now.

In relation to farm type, those who reported voting remain correspond to cereals, general cropping and mixed farms. Regarding type of tenure, this group correspond to mainly owned and mainly tenanted farming businesses. In the case of farm size, it is observed that the majority of farmers operating in small farms voted remain, but this choice is reversed as the size of the farms becomes larger. Finally, the results shows that the majority of farmers located in East Midlands, North East, South East and South West reported they voted in favour of remain suggesting that this option was the dominant in the east and south parts of the country in the case of the farming sector, which in part reflects the positioning of the national voting trends.

I thought many farmers voted for Brexit too but in many ways, farming followed the general breakdown of who voted what. There is a full breakdown here

I have more sympathy for the pigs.

Many farmers voted for Brexit, and this is the outcome.

I’m in !

Scones

StephLP What repels one person doesn't necessarily repel another. I could never ever be an undertaker as the sadness would drown me and I would be utterly useless at it. However, the undertakers I've met take huge pride and satisfaction in the work they do and are incredible people there for you when you need it.

Horses for courses.

Scones - but the issue seems to be that no-one wants to now do this work. I don't know how it will be resolved.

I'd like to say at the Renaissance St Pancras too

but we certainly digress, sorry.

I can't understand

You really didn't need to say any more ^sazz1* [Sun 10-Oct-21 15:29:22]

Wohoooo - not sure it is within our budget - but perhaps one day. But if he wasn't there and we could not chate about 'back home' and our favourite local specialities, I'd be soooo disappointed.

StephLP What repels one person doesn't necessarily repel another. I could never ever be an undertaker as the sadness would drown me and I would be utterly useless at it. However, the undertakers I've met take huge pride and satisfaction in the work they do and are incredible people there for you when you need it.

Horses for courses.

Kali2 I was extremely fortunate to have my 60th Birthday meal/weekend at the Manoir with 10 very dear friends, Raymond Blanc was cooking ?
We have eaten and stayed there several other times I am sure you wouldn’t be disappointed.

GillT57

sazz1

I can't understand why millions are unemployed in this country while there are serious staff shortages everywhere. I appreciate that skilled jobs require skilled workers but that still leaves many manual jobs vacant, e.g. warehouse staff, kitchen staff, cleaners, fruit veg and flower pickers etc. Life on benefits is too comfortable for some people so they won't take a manual job. I know of people who have never worked in their whole life and just play the system.
Time for the government to allocate jobs to people like in my grandfather's day. You were sent to any vacancy that existed and couldn't refuse. He had the first bananas to come into England after the war given to him, as he was sent to work unloading the ships. Loved it there so stayed until he retired.
We need a new system here to allocate jobs. Too many people thinking they can only do white collar work

Actually, I will reply, sod it. If you Sazzl are on a pension, you are receiving a benefit, even if you have paid in to the system. Many people claiming UC have also paid into the system, so on this basis, and using your own twisted logic, you too should be sent to wherever your unskilled labour is needed, so, what's it to be Sazzl, cutting up pig carcasses, or picking cauliflowers from frozen fields in January? Or is it only 'them' who should be forced into work which repels them?

So what is the answer Gill? I don't agree with Sazzl but as you say this work 'repels' folk. Who should do it then?

Alegrias1

Looks like I've found a growth industry in badges and t-shirts.

Do you think I'd get a government grant? ?

Almost certainly - can I put you in touch with the Business Secretary? He's mad about business .... sorry, I might have made that up, I'm afraid as Cabinet Minister for Misinformation, it's my job to ensure we put the most misleading messages out.

Hey presto!

Looks like I've found a growth industry in badges and t-shirts.

Do you think I'd get a government grant? ?

sazzl - when you wrote this: "Yes wages will rise as British workers won't work for peanuts, and so will the price of fruit and veg."

I take it you are aware that "British workers" accept those 'zero hours' contracts, 'agency working', and of course pretend contracting using IR35 regulations.

All of these drive down wages - because employers are happy to increase their profit margins, whilst adopting 'fire & rehire' tactics to keep wages and conditions poor.

Let's not mention the use of 'unpaid internships' - or free labour for employers though.

This government and its predecessor had the opportunity to act - but they don't and have elected to wage a 'culture war', alongside its ludicrous "war on wokeness".

I'm afraid we will have to disagree that the British employer using "foreign" labour is at the root of the problem. That is much too simplistic, and maybe OK for tabloid headlines, but when you look at the details, it is very far from an accurate picture.