…
I miss that part “what every induvidual is gonna do”
It’s the Governement must do this.
The Goverenement must do that.
The companies must do such and such.
We know it all so well, for each other.
We can plan so well for us and we.
Who is this we? If the house need to be decorating, my wife always tells me that “we” are gone do it, but for some reason I stand there always myself and the second part of “we” turns only up as the work is done.
This is a little bit the practice; we should tell the agency, we should tell the employers, we should tell the customer. Its never “me”
We will be in the same position in 2014 everybody shouts, and nobody gets their finger out.
Its not the employers fault, its not the manufacturers fault, its not even the farmers fault.
Its the fault of the British public, the same British public that 3-4 decades ago, only would buy British made or British grown.
That same British public doesn’t care anymore, as long as it is cheap.
The British public pays the least for a loaf of bread in the EU, if you look at the quality your not suprised.
To make it that cheap bread manufactures ( they are not bakers) use a lot cheaper labour and cheap imported ingedients.
The apple industry was once British pride and joy, and for agood reason, quality was probaly the best in the world.
My heart hurts if I see that East European tankers come in with apple juice concentrate to supply the big Cider brands.
Norfolk has one of the best Veg in the world, cauliflower of world class, potatoes to die for, but we like our tins and cheap imported crap.
So are there millions of examples, bacon from Holland and Danmark, beef from Ireland, and lamb meat from New Zealand.
We should be ashame of ourselves and demand Brittish goods, ■■■■ the rest of the world keep our money in our country, that is the only chance we have to survive and to build up again to a better future for everybody.
Merry Christmas
More regulations, load strapping for a start. I can’t see VOSA missing this opportunity to take in more money in fines. The problem like everything else in life at the moment is that everyone wants more money. The government, the fuel companies, the police, VOSA all want more and more money. It doesn’t show but if several different people take a bite out of the pie then the pie becomes smaller, the more pie they bite the smaller the pie becomes until they all bite at the pie as they can’t get anymore but still want the same size bite they have been getting. The bigger and bigger companies have become, the worse state this industry has become. Something major will give through greed within the next 10 to 20 years. It will have to happen. Hauliers can’t keep paying more tax, more fuel, more wages, more costs, more fines. Somewhere it’s all going to come crashing down IMO
Can i just had that that this country’s industry has been lucky in a way that the driver shortage (due to HGV drivers in this country packing in or not wanting to do the job for stupid hours and comparatively low wages) coincided with the influx of EU workers. I don’t count us ‘drivers’ in that phrase of “this country’s industry”, as we all know that the hourly wage for driving a truck should be far higher than that of a shelf stacker or warehouse worker. It’s only a decent wage if you put stupid hours in and get out of bed at stupid times and don’t go home much.
My money is on stobarts stopping the truck business beside it is already loosing lots of money compared to the other parts of their operation.
caledoniandream:
I miss that part “what every induvidual is gonna do”
It’s the Governement must do this.
The Goverenement must do that.
The companies must do such and such.We know it all so well, for each other.
We can plan so well for us and we.
Who is this we? If the house need to be decorating, my wife always tells me that “we” are gone do it, but for some reason I stand there always myself and the second part of “we” turns only up as the work is done.This is a little bit the practice; we should tell the agency, we should tell the employers, we should tell the customer. Its never “me”
We will be in the same position in 2014 everybody shouts, and nobody gets their finger out.Its not the employers fault, its not the manufacturers fault, its not even the farmers fault.
Its the fault of the British public, the same British public that 3-4 decades ago, only would buy British made or British grown.
That same British public doesn’t care anymore, as long as it is cheap.
The British public pays the least for a loaf of bread in the EU, if you look at the quality your not suprised.
To make it that cheap bread manufactures ( they are not bakers) use a lot cheaper labour and cheap imported ingedients.
The apple industry was once British pride and joy, and for agood reason, quality was probaly the best in the world.
My heart hurts if I see that East European tankers come in with apple juice concentrate to supply the big Cider brands.
Norfolk has one of the best Veg in the world, cauliflower of world class, potatoes to die for, but we like our tins and cheap imported crap.
So are there millions of examples, bacon from Holland and Danmark, beef from Ireland, and lamb meat from New Zealand.
We should be ashame of ourselves and demand Brittish goods, [zb] the rest of the world keep our money in our country, that is the only chance we have to survive and to build up again to a better future for everybody.
Merry Christmas
Or we could just put a ban on imported food stuff etc then everyone would be forced to buy British. 
Being serious, quality costs more usually. These consumer programs keep telling us after showing taste tests how a value loaf of bread at 30p tastes exactly the same as a quality branded loaf at £1.50.
We just don’t trust that paying more means a better quality product.
Addiction to full time hours is very damaging.
If the pay won’t go up, the job turns bad, and you don’t like an increasing number of your fellow workers, then the obvious thing to do is CUT YOUR HOURS and downsize your whole lifestyle in favour of a more family-friendly one.
You could be dead in ten years after all. You can’t buy back all that time you gave up in your prime years out of a pension that you may not ever draw, even assuming that it’ll ever be big enough to live a lifestyle any more than a downsized life now represents…
I believe the Japanese worker has gone into such a work lifestyle, because of their prolonged period of economic stagnation that has lasted two decades already, and shows no sign of ending.
Worker’s Debts that can’t be paid off due to a lack of worker prosperity are to blame of course. Low Interest rates just keeps the sucker paying, when they might throw in the towel if prices ever actually became totally unaffordable.
Essexboy:
Juddian:
It’ll be what drivers make of it, if they keep moaning and groaning about pay and conditions whilst doing nothing about it whilst simultaneously applauding idiots who drive through the picket line of those who wouldn’t take it bone dry, then nothing will change.If drivers insist on voting for the same three cheeks of the same arse political party who have proved time and time again since the early 70’s to be traitors who have consistently handed sovereignty and freedom of our country away and allowed millions to come here to overpopulate the land, the same freedoms that millions of good men and true now lie in cold foreign soil long before their times defending, if you continue to vote for them despite all they do to destroy our home then nothing will change.
If drivers vote for those who poke our country’s noses into other peoples affairs and send the cream of our youth to war zones with all the risks that entails for no good bloody reason, and believe the lies and spin of the politicians, then nothing will change.
If drivers vote for those who insist on non stop immigration and constant ever deeper borrowing then don’t be surprised when the country’s road network grinds to a complete halt and an ever higher percentage of your declining wage gets taken back in tax of one form or another.
There is no bloke who wears his underpants outside his trousers going to fly in and put our country right, it is up to us, working people, to do so, we can make a start by no longer doing as we are told by the bought and paid for media at election times, we could indeed take our attention from a pint of beer and the latest soap reality or dance show and bloody think.
We could try our best to stick up for each other instead of sticking knives in each others backs, we could gain some respect for ourselves by acting like the professionals we claim to be, then we might earn the title professional and earn respect.
In our own lives we can make a start by chasing the good jobs, the ones with good terms and conditions, and if lucky enough to get one we can do our bloody best to make sure that job runs well and the company profits and grows thereby securing our own futures too.
Paying as little tax and interest as possible is a good start too, don’t borrow more pay the things off that you have borrowed for as quickly as possible, don’t buy things you don’t need, starve the beast.
Or do the other thing, carry on maoning about our lot and join the others in the race to the bottom.What a cracking post! Agree totally with above ^^^^^^^
This bit especially. I’ve been banging on about this stuff too, but perhaps I should change my name to make my opinions more marketable! 
I don’t believe big companies pay immigrants less.
I’m a london bus driver, my company pays all it’s drivers the same, black or white, immigrant or not, male and female.
Maybe small haulage firms do.
We, as consumers must take some of the blame for poor wages, we want everything as cheap as possible, which means companies must cut costs somewhere, and because wages are normally the biggest outlay, they start there.
rambo19:
I don’t believe big companies pay immigrants less.I’m a london bus driver, my company pays all it’s drivers the same, black or white, immigrant or not, male and female.
Maybe small haulage firms do.
We, as consumers must take some of the blame for poor wages, we want everything as cheap as possible, which means companies must cut costs somewhere, and because wages are normally the biggest outlay, they start there.
full agree.i not see not one agency who pay different pay rate if you have small expirience or you black or you Polish.another think different company ,agency pay different money for job ,not for drivers only.it is normaly,it is busines.if i start work and agree work for this money ,i need work,if i don t like i not start work or company don t give me any work
No
No
No
No
Andrejs:
villa:
commonrail:
i reckon stobart will go bust…againdoubt it mate
not with yes sir no sir 3 bags full sir men like andrejis about
men like andrejis will work very long hours for low pay
they never complain to boss man
they only moan about tacho infringments
when they drive for 5 hours without break
to cut corners
so gaffar is pleaseddon t worry about me
first i work for 9.50 p/h.not bad pay rate.
second-good or bad,but still 0 points.
i not dream about long hours.but if required ,i agree do.but mainly i have about 50 hours per week.and very happy.
about tacho infidgement-yes i have 3 in last month,but to many driver have time from time.in my job company every week put in the desk list of drivers,who must come to manager and sign infrigement,so in the list as well to many,many British surname,name.
On the infringment list, you have to sign ‘overspeed’ infringements - there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s the rest of the infringements that set us apart.
I’ve had 0 infringements in this job, no idea in last job but expect that would’ve been 0 too, had 1 infringement in the 1 before which was a minute over 4.5hrs - old tacho added mins after I’d parked up lol
Just got worse for 50 drivers a Elite Southampton 
The amount of traffic on the roads may drop which would be an improvement. This, I think, will be due to more firms going bust so therefore fewer trucks making deliveries, fewer people travelling to work, fewer trips to the shops as online sales take over from the retail parks. People with and without jobs will have less money to spend as prices rise due to a bad winter for the farmers, fuel prices have all recently gone up, very few firms are giving pay rises so belts get made a bit tighter.
Happy new year!
ZippyUK:
Just got worse for 50 drivers a Elite Southampton
That’s not good, seems a lot of jobs to go at once. I think container traffic is probably one of the most squeezed sectors at the moment.
ZippyUK:
Just got worse for 50 drivers a Elite Southampton
Slightly off topic but there s a comment in that link that redundant drivers are going to have to claim their notice/redundancy through an RP1, ie the government. I have also heard this through an ex Elite driver.
If the company has not ceased trading but just in effect closed a regional depot why are they not liable for these payments and how can the burden be passed onto the state?. This no doubt will mean that the ex employees will only get a reduced settlement.
Cheers
Neilf
neilf:
ZippyUK:
Just got worse for 50 drivers a Elite SouthamptonSlightly off topic but there s a comment in that link that redundant drivers are going to have to claim their notice/redundancy through an RP1, ie the government. I have also heard this through an ex Elite driver.
If the company has not ceased trading but just in effect closed a regional depot why are they not liable for these payments and how can the burden be passed onto the state?. This no doubt will mean that the ex employees will only get a reduced settlement.
Cheers
Neilf
The depots could be separate (Limited) companies, and they could have wnt into administration.
The use of separate Ltd.'s and “shell companies” is very much used in this industry to protect capital and investment.
Don’t know if this is the case here, but it could be.
caledoniandream:
The depots could be separate (Limited) companies, and they could have wnt into administration.
The use of separate Ltd.'s and “shell companies” is very much used in this industry to protect capital and investment.
Don’t know if this is the case here, but it could be.
Forgot about that. Could well be the case because I can’t see the government paying up if they didn’t have too.
I remember working for a company once with a fleet of 30+ trucks that all looked the same until you looked at the O licence discs. The was 4 or 5 different names on them, all legit and all subsidiary’s of the parent company. IIRC when the company was broken up each individual one was sold off separately.
Cheers
Neilf
Well I handed in the keys for the last time a week before Christmas. So that’s a part time seat empty. Although I’ve been told I’ll be welcome to go back anytime, I really can’t see it happening.
Santa:
If you drive wages for the majority up then that will just raise the cost of living to compensate. I remember truck drivers striking for £1 an hour - within a couple of years that wasn’t a good rate any more.Truck drivers will always be relatively low paid. The job is perceived as one step up from labourer and there are plenty of applicants for any vacancy. The only thing that will drive wages up is increased economic activity leading to a shortage of drivers, and regardless of the political colour of the government, that looks to be a long time coming.
When Harold Macmillan said “Indeed let us be frank about it - most of our people have never had it so good” he was absolutely correct. The ordinary man in the street has never, before or since, been as well off as he was at the end of the 50s.
If you want to prosper then try a different career.
Once rationing had ended, the economy was in recovery and most importantly the lost population from WWII had not been made up yet, this country saw the panacea of the Labour Exchange, and it’s golden age for easy-to-come-by jobs.
Imagine going into a place where you pick a job off like Mr Benn?
Insolvency firm Begbies Trainor grabbed the headlines just before Christmas with a claim that 147 retailers across the UK were zombies, the living dead, poised on the brink of insolvency. The headline was scary enough. But the detail was even scarier. I sense that the bloodbath on the high street will reach a rather unpleasant finale during 2013…
We know why high street retailers are in trouble. They face competition from giant online retailers who do not have expensive properties to maintain and enjoy huge economies of scale (i.e. they can screw suppliers). Worse, Tesco (and to a lesser extent the other supermarkets) grab an incremental share of the off-line non food trade each year. And finally, the overborrowed UK consumer (and it seems US consumer) has finally stopped spending. That trend will not change in 2013. In fact none of them will.
The Begbies figure is calculated by seeing the number of retailers who now have trade payables of more than three months turnover and/or a county court judgment against them. Clearly if you are a retailer and you have not paid suppliers for 90 days you really are in the merde. But my suspicion is that there are a stack of retailers who have not paid suppliers for 50 days, are sitting on a pile of unsold stock after Christmas and who might not yet be zombies but they are well on their way.
The quarterly rent cheque for most retailers was due on Christmas Day. Clearly the Zombies (and neo Zombies) will have been hoping that Christmas would save them. I suspect some will have been disappointed and as such 2013 will not be very old when the first of the retailers joins Comet in high street heaven. The next big day is at the end of March. Three months of thin trading, unhelpful banks, nervous suppliers demanding payment… it will prove all too much for another batch. By Easter a second tranche of UK retailers will be toast.
From an investor point of view what does this mean? I suspect that it would be wise not to own any retailer stock with a predominantly high street presence. They are either in the merde themselves or ( like Greggs, for instance) they will lose material passing trade as more and more High Streets lose critical mass, and shoppers are forced out of town or online.
I’d also be careful about property stocks with a high exposure to secondary or tertiary retail — surely they will see increasing voids over the coming year. And of course, needless to say, the banks will take a hit, although one suspects that is the least of their problems.
And so to the macro babble. I mean forecasts. As a bottom up stock picker this is not really my forte but I shall try to do my best. And so the themes for 2013 are:
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Debt. As you may have noticed there is rather too much of it at a Government level across the globe but oddly not so much at a corporate level. There is, in the UK, also far too much personal debt. There is pretence at a Government level that debt can somehow be managed via austerity. But the reality is that Governments across the West are still running vast budget deficits and making no meaningful inroads into that. As such at some stage the pretence will stop. Some Governments will default. Others (Greece) should have thrown in the towel a while back. But my assumption is that the “way out” that will be chosen in due course is to shrink the real value of debt via inflation. As such…
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The bond market is clearly a bubble. Why on earth should one lend to Governments heading for bankruptcy at 0.5%. I would have thought that Spanish type yields are pretty much where yields across the West should be. As such, at some stage the great bond bubble will burst.
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It goes without saying that inflation, the debasement of fiat currencies, will be helpful for prices of a basket of commodities but notably gold. The yellow metal has wavered in recent weeks but the reasons that it has been so topical for a number of years are still very much in place. I expect a gold price of $1700-$2000 to be in play during 2013. Silver, at $30 looks an even better bet. I would expect it to trade at $35-40 during most of the year.
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Increasing prices of basic commodities started the Arab spring. The genie is out of the bottle across the Middle East. In Syria we will see regime change with Assad replaced by the Islamofascist FSA. The next domino… Jordan. The Hashemite regime was imposed by the British and speaks for only a small percent of the population on ethnic grounds. When, not if, the King and has family flee to the West to be reunited with their vast personal wealth ( we tolerate kleptocrats if they are “our” kleptocrats), then a) Israel will be surrounded by hardline Islamofascist regimes and b) the next dominos in the “ swap a kleptocrat for Islamofascism” game are in the Gulf. As such we have three potential regional mega-flashpoints. War with Iran, Israel finding itself at war with its neighbours again and revolutions in the Gulf. My call is that you will get at least two out of three in 2013. As such I cannot see crude trading much below $100 on fundamental grounds but I could see it spiking ( temporarily) towards $180 when all hell breaks loose in the Middle East.
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From one area where there is little democracy to another: the EU. The leaders of the Evil Empire will continue down their increasingly authoritarian path. They will do all in their power to keep the Euro alive, imposing austerity programmes on Countries that simply cannot afford it ( Spain). So the Euro will struggle on. It should be split into two ( the soft Southern Euro and the hard Germany + the Lebensraum countries) but it will not. The price that Europe will pay is increasing calls for countries to either leave the Evil Empire ( the UK) or countries will split into two ( Spain, Belgium). It will not be pretty.
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In the UK I predict that Christmas will have been a weak one for the retailers. And that will set the tone for 2013. I do not expect UK GDP to increase by much, if at all, over the next 12 months. And consumer spending will remain very subdued as folks try to pay down debt in the face of economic uncertainty. Credit will remain hard to come by. As such, until inflation starts to take off — probably not a 2013 phenomena — house prices should fall or tread water.
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The China bubble will carry on deflating at an alarming rate although official statistics will continue to show how the country is booming. The problem here is, again, debt. The Chinese banks have since 2008 leant an extraordinary amount of money to enterprises which are either marginal or fraudulent. Or to sectors ( solar) which the State determined would be growth sectors. Somehow this bad debt issue has to filter through the Chinese banking system. As the level of corporate failures accelerates this could become a vicious circle. I would be retaining zero China exposure.
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In the USA there will be a fudge agreed on the Fiscal Cliff issue. But there will be no meaningful progress on tackling the budget deficit. As a result, by the end of Obama’s second term the US Federal balance sheet will resemble that of Greece three years ago in terms of debt/GDP. At some stage this is going to impact on US growth prospects.
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The New Media bubble will burst. The ability for preposterous start ups to secure funding for business plans with no chance of success is frightening. This is reminiscent of the dotcom boom. The valuations of business that have managed an IPO are simply not justifiable in value investing terms. I am not sure what event will trigger the bubble to burst but it surely will.
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The percentage of AIM companies involved in the resource sector will shrink rapidly. There s simply not the funding available to support a sector where almost half the listed enterprises need to raise capital within twelve months. A good number of companies need to merge or go bust or, more likely, be turned into cash shells to preserve what little cash they have left. Returns can be made but at the smaller end of AIM a bloodbath is already underway. It will continue.
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Does that sound gloomy enough for you? Sorry. My final call is on the FTSE 100 ( 5,954 at Christmas). My year-end target is 5,500. Against a backdrop of minimal global and especially UK GDP growth why on earth should corporate earnings race ahead? I cannot see that happening and as such I do not see 2013 being a great year for equities.
Of course some companies will do well. Those which even against a harsh macro-background have great visibility of earnings should prosper. If you can buy such stocks on a modest rating you will do well.
good luck folks, and I await Carryfast to blame it all on Thatcher