So, who will be making your Christmas memorable?
If you live in the south it will be Southern Rail. They will be on strike until 2018 (or longer).
If you intend to send cards or gifts through the post, then The Post office will definitely make your Christmas merry. At their busiest time of year they will possibly be 'sacks down' to ensure your post doesn't arrive until somewhere in 2017.
If you live in Derby, your rubbish will not be collected for around a month, ensuring those wonderful piles of rat infested, rotting, Turkey remains will be littered along their pavements. Other areas might well follow their example.
If you live in London, I wouldn't rely on the Tube running. Those drivers like a quiet and peaceful holiday just like everyone else.
If the Bernard Matthews factory was to go on strike, it would be the cherry on the cake.
If your Christmas will be unaffected by some Trade Union or other, think yourself very very lucky.
Many a true word. Bernard Matthews has just been subject to a rescue takeover and £23M owed to creditors, many of whom are local companies here in Norfolk, as well as the employee pension scheme, will not be paid. So Bernard Matthews is something we will not be talking about over Christmas dinner here.
ReplyDeleteI just threw the BM bit in as a joke; I had no idea they were in trouble. What on earth would the UK do at Christmas, if they went under.
DeleteWe are not eating enough turkey in the UK and Jamie Oliver is not very popular here for the start of the slide - think back to Turkey Sizzlers and the ban in school dinners.
DeleteSorry Rachel... part of the not eating turkey is down to Bernie himself.... he took the Norfolk Black and removed the flavour! Then began to bastardize other products, i.e.: lamb... into the bargain. And once he'd shown it could be done.... others got in on the act and undercut...and overproduced thus driving everything down!
DeleteHere, in France, the turkey meat is a wonderful Dark moist morsel.... from turkeys with colour!
I'll certainly agree with you there; our annual turkeys (2) are always magnificent, and I'm pleased to say weigh around 3 - 4 kilos each.
DeleteThe Sizzler episode was another nail in the coffin. Profits that year slid further. Bernard did all right for many years with his tasteless turkeys.
DeleteBoth Lady M and myself didn't realise how much we liked Turkey until we moved here. They are almost a different bird; much smaller, much tastier, and much more moist.
DeleteReminiscent of UK in the 70s.
ReplyDeleteDidn't know about the Bernard Matthews fiasco, although no doubt he will come out of it very nicely himself?
Bernard Mathews is dead! And has been for a few years.... that is also part of the reason the business went under... he was an entrepreneur of the biggest kind, and started the business on a bike! Lose a leader like that, and once the imagination he had has gone.... pop! There goes the dynamite!
DeleteI feel sad for friends in Norfolk ... Bernie the Bootiful built an empire that became too big for its own health.
ReplyDeleteFriends in South Norfolk especially are "linked in" to the BM food chain....and to hear that they are unlikely to be paid is terrible. And as for the pensioners...that is disgusting!!
Leave your successful empire to your sons or eager partners, and you can expect it to go down the drain quite quickly. No-one is ever as focused as the original founder; unless you're very lucky.
DeleteNo, we didn't know about Bernard Matthews either. Heavens - another Christmas "tradition" gone to the wall ! What will all those works canteens serve up in place of his turkey roll, at the annual Christmas Lunch?
ReplyDeleteAgree with cumbrian, it's all very reminiscent of the 70's. They seem to be following the French, who like to strike at the drop of a hat !
It's become almost inevitable; when Christmas comes along they all start to strike. Then when they get the sack in the new year, they blame the government.
DeleteIt is a takeover by 2 Sister Group so it is carrying on. They dont pick up the debts or pension deficit though so the fallout in this county to small suppliers is big.
DeleteHere the rubbish collecters will be on strike for sure, train drivers, air traffic controllers and they'll all be in syntagma square throwing Molotov cocktails and keeping the police on the streets as well. If we're lucky the farmers will be out blocking main roads with their tracters. They have the best Xmas of all. They leave their tracters in the middle of the road and light fires and bbqs to cook whatever they have down on the farm. Good old boys..and girls...drinking a few beers and downing some prime lamb and pork
ReplyDeleteThe French air traffic control people always go on strike in full Summer; they're no fools, they're all off to their second homes in Senegal or Algeria.
DeleteVery true Cro - causes maximum disruption, guaranteed to ruin everyone else's holiday. That's after they've all made sure that they are able to get their flights to Senegal or Algeria !
DeleteThe whole world is starting to look like our "world" here.
ReplyDeleteThe 'Go out and stab someone' diktat has certainly arrived in Europe, but luckily we don't yet have people firing rockets at us 24 hours a day.
DeleteWhen people go on strike they don't do it for fun and to spoil everyone else's party. Of course, it's a bloody nuisance when you depend on trains, or when your bins aren't emptied whilst your council tax bill most certainly will not be reduced despite services not rendered.
ReplyDeleteNo one likes inconvenience which is, of course, the reason strike action is taken precisely when it has maximum impact on the maximum amount of people.
And let's not forget that those going on strike and their families and friends will suffer consequences, delays, whatever too.
Where any of R's sympathy for BM comes into I don't quite understand. In my book Jamie Oliver is a bloody hero for making sure that twizzlers are no longer in production. 21.5 % fat, only 35 % of turkey in a twizzler plus unmentionable other ingredients, on a school lunch plate? Feeding the brains of the future with rubbish?
When it comes to birds, like you, Cro, the ones I buy are "happy" birds, birds from a farm not a conveyor belt. Sure, at a price. Whoever said all food should be cheap? Mine is a goose.
U
The train drivers are striking because of so-called 'danger issues'. About half of all trains in the UK already operate under the same rules, and no-one complains. Militant Union members are simply making a political point. This is a cynical, unnecessary, strike, and is costing the country MILLIONS.
DeleteI was stating facts about Bernard Matthews for others here. Any sympathy I have is for the creditors of the business who are not going to be paid many of whom are small buainesses and the self-employed and for the employees effected by the future defaut of the pension scheme
DeleteCan't help but laugh at BOTB's comments about "feeding the brains of the future with rubbish" ! That's exactly what many parents feed their offspring !
DeleteWell put Rachel!
DeleteYIPPEE: The Argos delivery drivers are now jumping on the bandwagon, and will also go on strike!
ReplyDeleteWell, that's going to ruin a lot of people's Christmas ! After studying the catalogues for months, then deciding what to buy, now it won't be delivered !
DeleteNow that New Labour has gone down the plughole, striking is the only weapon left to stop privately run corporations from fleecing the staff. Everyone has been forced to resort to return to the bad old days of too powerful Unions after the appallingly self-motivated behaviour of Scargill's personal battle with Thatcher, and Blair got the unions to keep their mouths shut with the promise of political power. The actual workers have never been involved in any of these back-room deals.
ReplyDeleteThe Unions are their own worst enemies. The bosses, of course, have comfortable office jobs, good salaries and pensions, and just about everything else subsidised. Why should they care if a few minions lose their jobs.
DeleteAfter reading your post, but before I began reading the comments, I did google Bernard Matthews, since his name was unfamiliar to me.
ReplyDeleteNow I know a lot more.
At Christmas, his is one of the best known names around.
DeleteMy turkey and the vegetables are in the freezer - pud left over from last year - I can survive.
ReplyDeleteI have one Turkey in the freezer, and I shall hope to buy another on the 23rd, otherwise I'll de-frost the frozen one.
DeleteThe last time I bought a supermarket turkey (asda) I got it home and discovered it had a strange growth on its back. I took it back. They took one look and immediately gave me hush money in vouchers which I quickly spent on things like nuts, mince pies, and fruit. That was a while ago. A time when chickens were kept more than 18 to the sq. meter. Maybe they still are.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine that being really off-putting. Like being sold a cancerous Turkey. YUK.
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