Democracy----You cannot be serious!

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

An old colleague of mine had worked previously at Bayer Chemicals in their UK office. He told of a time when he and his German opposite number were working together in Leverkusen and the German boss, who always invited my colleague to see him thus "Er, Graham. Could you spare a moment in my office please?" called for the German fellow worker like this "Heinz - kommen sie hier, schnell!" Apparently this was the norm with German staff but never with the UK members. Perhaps there isn't a German word for 'pussyfoot' 

[Blatman]

1 hour ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

An old colleague of mine had worked previously at Bayer Chemicals in their UK office. He told of a time when he and his German opposite number were working together in Leverkusen and the German boss, who always invited my colleague to see him thus "Er, Graham. Could you spare a moment in my office please?" called for the German fellow worker like this "Heinz - kommen sie hier, schnell!" Apparently this was the norm with German staff but never with the UK members. Perhaps there isn't a German word for 'pussyfoot' 

 

Unrelated but - where the bl***y h**l have you been?  

[jeff oakley]

A few years ago I went to a clutch manufacturer in Germany who also has a plant in Sheffield.

we were shocked to see women wearing opened toed flip flops whilst doing heavy manual work.

when questioned they told us that they would explain what safety gear they recommend and then staff had a choice.

in the UK they had no choice and were forced to have every risk explained and safety gear enforced.

the accident rate in the Uk was 4 times higher as Germans used common sense where in the Uk the defence was always “you never told me”

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

14 hours ago, Blatman said:

 

Unrelated but - where the bl***y h**l have you been?  

Well, nowhere really - just hiding from the virus with my Good Lady (who is/was shielding). You and I both posted in my thread about the Brighton Speed Trials a month ago but since then I admit to have been a bit taciturn on here. I do visit most days though. Thanks for the enquiry, Blatters - I hope you have managed to avoid infection even in your globetrotting lifestyle! 😷

 

Now, back on topic... 

[Blatman]

34 minutes ago, Man On The Clapham Omnibus said:

Now, back on topic... 

 

Yes it must be time for me to say something controversial and start an argument, but I struggle because I cannot be serious...

 

[dombanks]

12 hours ago, jeff oakley said:

A few years ago I went to a clutch manufacturer in Germany who also has a plant in Sheffield.

we were shocked to see women wearing opened toed flip flops whilst doing heavy manual work.

when questioned they told us that they would explain what safety gear they recommend and then staff had a choice.

in the UK they had no choice and were forced to have every risk explained and safety gear enforced.

the accident rate in the Uk was 4 times higher as Germans used common sense where in the Uk the defence was always “you never told me”

Given how I’ve had a bunch of students today say they didn’t know there was a one way system in the building at the uni, despite there being several hundred yellow and black Info stickers on the floors walls doors and pretty much every other surface indicating it, a large 4x5m video wall showing said system, large flat screens on every floor showing the system for the floor and playing a voice command of follow the one way system (in a otherwise silent massive 4 story atrium), sitting through an induction about it, and finally signing a disclaimer saying they understood it nothing about your last statement surprises me with our country

[tolf]

On 27/09/2020 at 19:39, Lyonspride said:

I don't know about Italy, but Germany are extremely conformist, it's part of how Adolf Hitler came to power and why WW2 happened.
In Germany if your expected to do something then you do it, and the majority of German people are extremely intolerant of people who fail to conform, a prime example of this is their attitude to motorbikes and MCs.

Quite.

 

Unlike many areas of the UK where people seem to believe that the rules dont apply to them and they can carry on with life as if nothing happened. 
areas such as:

Slough, Luton, Leeds, Blackburn, Bolton, Kirklees and Wakefield.

WAKE UP people, wash your hands and follow the rules you idiots.

 

PS Is there an elephant in the room???

[Kingster]

On 27/09/2020 at 19:39, Lyonspride said:

prime example of this is their attitude to motorbikes and MCs.

I have always found the Germans to be amazingly friendly and tolerant whenever I’ve been there on a bike, car drivers positively moving aside to let you overtake rather than trying to kill you like many drivers over here like to do!

[Steve (sdh2903)]

45 minutes ago, Ian Tolfree (tolf) - WSCC AO Rep said:

 

Unlike many areas of the UK where people seem to believe that the rules dont apply to them and they can carry on with life as if nothing happened. 
areas such as:

Slough, Luton, Leeds, Blackburn, Bolton, Kirklees and Wakefield.

WAKE UP people, wash your hands and follow the rules you idiots.

 

Think you should say a minority of people don't follow the rules. Not fair to tar all with the same brush. 

 

Secondly when the rules are getting that complicated that even ministers and Bojo himself are getting tied up in knots and getting it wrong what chance do the rest of us have. 

[Mark Stanton]

I recall one of the first televised briefings where Boris requested that the UK general public should act with ......some common-sense ........... cue epic fail, government asking for everyone to use some common-sense 🤪 ........that ran out around the mid 80's 🤪 we now need rules and regulations or better still a pdf handbook that can be downloaded onto our phone that doesn't contravene human rights or civil liberties 🤪 or stop the cretins getting peed-up every weekend

 

 

and breathe 🙄

[Blatman]

10 hours ago, Steve (sdh2903) said:

Secondly when the rules are getting that complicated that even ministers and Bojo himself are getting tied up in knots and getting it wrong what chance do the rest of us have.

 

I think the rules are really simple. First is keep 6 feet or more away from people. If that is not possible wear a mask and that includes outdoors on busy high streets etc where social distancing is not possible. The wearing of gloves seems eminently sensible to me (and I always do) and where that doesn't happen, when one arrives home, wash hands with some sort of soap. Doesn't have to be anti-bacterial (d'oh...) soap it just has to be soap.

 

Where areas are going into different types of restrictions it is incumbent on the residents of that area to understand their local rules. Why would the residents of Wales (for example) care about the restrictions of Burnley (for example) other than to moan that one is disadvantaged over the other by (some sort of stupid, pointless) comparison?

We see all of the various restrictions detailed on the news and yes I agree that when seen all at once it looks confusing but really no-one has to know all of them off by heart and I don't expect Boris, or any other politician to have memorised the lockdown restrictions for all the different regions individually. What we have yet again is opposition for the sake of easy points scoring backed by an inept and sensationalist media. As a "disease" of our political and media systems, cheap points scoring for the sake of it, or for clicks on websites has been with us for far too long and will be around long after Covid-19 has become a once a year reminder to get a vaccine shot along with the one for 'flu.

 

 

[Steve (sdh2903)]

21 minutes ago, Blatman said:

I don't expect Boris, or any other politician to have memorised the lockdown restrictions for all the different regions individually.

 

I'm sorry but I disagree. In times like these people are looking for a strong leader who knows their stuff. At least the junior minister had the common sense to hold their hands up to say 'I can't answer that' rather than Boris making it up as he goes along and then backtracking yet again.

 

26 minutes ago, Blatman said:

What we have yet again is opposition for the sake of easy points scoring backed by an inept and sensationalist media.

 

Yes and he's making it oh so easy for them to do so. 

 

[DonPeffers]

Imagine the (rightful) uproar if Corbyn, Abbott and Ashworth were handling the crisis and we are where we are.

[Steve (sdh2903)]

53 minutes ago, DonPeffers said:

Imagine the (rightful) uproar if Corbyn, Abbott and Ashworth were handling the crisis and we are where we are.

 

Very true. 

 

The sad thing is the very people that are are saying leave off the government they are doing the best they can in the circumstances etc would be the first in line calling for heads if it were the opposition in power. 

[DonPeffers]

From 22 dec 2019 BBC excellent mockumentary Cunk And Other Humans On 2019 Part 6  video 4min 53sec.

 

Worth viewing all 4m 53s,  but one excellent bit starts 1m 21s in from start where Diane Morgan is explaining how 'non-confusing' Corbyn's plan to negotiate a new Brexit deal was........."Corbyn would get new Brexit deal, hold 2nd referendum, he's neutral, then subtract deal you first thought of, fold the result in half and multiply it by the Jews."