FOOD SHORTAGES TO WORSEN IN THE COMING WEEKS

The Daily Express reports that food shortages are expected to worsen in the coming weeks due to a lack of labourers across the food supply chain. The industry has warned this week that food shortages are now ‘inevitable’ due to labour shortages. The supply chain is creaking under pressure due to worker shortages in a number of sectors. There is a lack of drivers, as well as those working in harvesting, manufacturing, and packaging. Trade bodies, logistics firms, and supplies have warned that several factors are contributing to supermarkets’ ability to keep shelves fully stocked. These factors are becoming more difficult to control due to the reopening of the economy and the upcoming start to the school summer holidays. The strain on the supply chain is expected to intensify in the coming weeks as workers start to use up to five weeks of their accumulated holiday days while on furlough. Even though most companies see a diminished workforce during the summer months, this is usually balanced out by an equivalent drop in demand as Britons head abroad. But with most people staying at home this year, the demand on supply chains is set to be constant.

VIOLENT ATTACKS ON SUPERMARKET STAFF

The Sun reports supermarket chiefs have stepped up security after an alarming rise in violence against staff. The number of serious assaults – some involving weapons – has rocketed by half during the pandemic, according to figures obtained by The Sun on Sunday. Tesco have reported 20,000 serious incidents on workers in the past year, meaning one in every 12 employees has been the target for an attack. The chain has spent £250 million on extra security measures to protect its staff. Last night a Tory MP called for a specific offence of assaulting shop workers and other customer-facing frontline workers. Former minister Esther McVey said that they should be given extra government support if they are expected to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing inside stores. She said: “There seems to be a disregard for our hard-working shop workers who have had to deliver many of the Government’s policies, effectively policing Covid rules. We need to look after and protect them just as they have spent the last 15 months protecting us by continuing to work and ensuring the nation was fed.” These front-line staff are taking the brunt of what is going on and dealing with frustrations surrounding Covid rules, and it is horrific that they are being subjected to violent attacks for simply doing their job.

EMPLOYERS NOW SEE THAT EMPLOYEES DON’T HAVE TO SHOW FACETIME

The Mail on Sunday reports that a permanent switch to increased home working after the pandemic could result in more gender inequality, experts have warned. As the end of Covid restrictions get closer, bosses are considering whether to bring back employees full time or to move forward with a hybrid model that would see employees split their time between the office and home. Professor Cary Cooper, a psychologist from Alliance Manchester Business School, said: ‘Employers now see that employees don’t have to show facetime. The big question we don’t have the answer to is, during this 15-month period, have enough men said to themselves life isn’t just about work. Did they begin to reprioritise and understand how important the family is?’ Cooper told the Guardian that if men choose to take up the offer to return to the office while women use the hybrid model, it would be problematic, adding: ‘Women will be working substantially from home and the men will go in more days a week than the women, and that will adversely affect their career.’ It comes as millions of office staff could be given a ‘default’ right to work from home under post-pandemic plans from ministers. The proposals would change the law to make it impossible for employers to insist on staff attending the workplace unless they can show it is essential. The Government will consult on the plan – part of a drive to promote flexible working – over the summer, ahead of possible legislation later this year.

FREEDOM COULD COME EARLIER SAYS EXPERT

The SUN reports that freedom from lockdown could come ‘sooner rather than later’ on July 5 thanks to the Covid vaccine push. Brendan Wren, professor of vaccinology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that having 81 per cent of adults vaccinated was ‘very encouraging.’ Asked whether the success of the vaccine programme means England could open earlier than July 19, he told Sky News: “We’d still need to be vigilant – but vigilance and vaccination are the two words. So, I think if the numbers continue to be promising then I think there’s great hope we could open up on 5 July.” But he added that a “pretty miserable winter” is ahead – with lockdowns on the cards in order to battle the virus later in the year. This weekend, Brits queued to receive their Covid vaccines in their thousands after the rollout was opened up to all over-18s.

JUST WHEN THEY THOUGHT IT WAS ALL OVER

The Mirror reports that scientists have said the country could face a ‘fourth wave winter’ with more Covid lockdowns if hospitals become overwhelmed, but it would be much milder than previous ones . Professor Calum Semple, member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), which advises the Government, said that children and elderly people will be vulnerable to endemic viruses towards the end of the year. This is because social distancing has reduced everyone’s exposure to the usual endemic respiratory viruses so there could be a rise in bronchiolitis, and a rise in community acquired pneumonia in children and in the frail elderly. 

FORGOTTEN HEROES OF EMPIRE

The Daily Mail reports that perhaps those of a woke disposition should sit down before reading any further. For this is surely anti-wokery of the most brazen kind. At a time when the justice warriors of the Left are furiously trying to pull down statues, plaques and portraits of anyone remotely connected with Britain’s imperial past — from sea captains and sugar merchants to Winston Churchill and even the Queen — here is an outfit which is busily trying to keep them up. What’s more, it even wants to restore them to their former glory and trumpet their existence to the world. It wants to repair the broken effigies of colonial troops in the Caribbean. It is working to mend the cracked marble and faded inscriptions honouring imperial forces from Africa to the Indian Ocean — and here in Britain. While others might want to ‘cancel’ the lot of them and consign them to the dustbin of history, this plucky young charity, the Remembrance Trust, has other ideas. Its stated goal is to preserve the memory of those who made great sacrifices — and in some cases paid the ultimate price — in the name of the deplorable British Empire.

HOUSE PRICE INFLATION IN RURAL AREAS UNFAIR

The Guardian reports that rural house prices in England and Wales are increasing twice as fast as in cities, triggering a fresh affordability crisis for young people, with hot spots flaring up across the country from Lincolnshire to Lancashire as people seek more space post-pandemic. Prices are rising 14.2% a year in countryside locations on average compared with less than 7% in urban areas, figures analysed by Hamptons estate agency for the Guardian show. It is compounding existing affordability problems in places such as Cornwall and Devon, but the biggest percentage increases of up to 30% were in Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, around Lancaster, in Arun in West Sussex and Amber Valley in Derbyshire. Hamptons said registrations to buy in its rural offices were up by 50% on the same period for 2019, while city buyer registrations rose just 9%. “People struggle to stay because of the affordability and there is not much turnover of housing,” said Elizabeth Williamson, an independent councillor in Broxtowe, whose three children aged 24 to 30 have left the area partly due to local housing being unaffordable. The average rural house price in the borough rose from £234,150 last May to £303,780 a year later. In Arun, close to the West Sussex coast and the South Downs National Park, Chris Morgan, 46, a sales manager who rents and has a budget to buy of about £200,000, said people moving from London and working from home on higher salaries than locally had driven prices further out of reach. Rural house prices in the area rose more than 29% to £387,510 in the last year.

BORIS AND RISHI SET TO CLASH OVER PENSIONS LOCK

The Independent states that Boris Johnson is headed for a clash with his chancellor Rishi Sunak over Treasury plans to suspend the pensions ‘triple lock’ for a year, according to reports. The pair are also said to be at loggerheads over the prime minister’s desire to build a new royal yacht at a cost of £200m, cap social care costs at £50,000 and make further green pledges at the Cop26 climate summit in November. It follows days of speculation over the government’s spending plans after it emerged that a rise in average wages during the pandemic would result in a 6 per cent increase in the state pension – at a cost of £4bn.

Mr Sunak confirmed on Thursday that he was prepared to keep his ‘triple lock’ promise despite rejecting the £14bn Covid catch-up plan for schools to help pupils recover from lost lessons in the lockdown. Downing Street also insisted that Boris Johnson was ‘committed to the triple lock’.

BBC UNDER FIRE OVER JOB ADS

The Evening Standard reports that the BBC is under fire for only allowing people from ethnic minorities to apply for a trainee position working on shows including Springwatch. The broadcaster is advertising a one-year, £17,810 trainee production management assistant role with the position ‘only open to black, Asian and ethnically diverse candidates’. Positive discrimination is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, but ‘positive action’ is permitted for trainee and internship roles in areas where there is under-representation. As well as Springwatch, the successful candidate will get to work on The One Show and The Truth About series. The advert, drawn up by Creative Access for the BBC’s science unit based in Glasgow, says: “The successful candidate will be someone with a desire to build a career in the TV industry and a demonstrable interest in BBC Studios.” A BBC spokesman said of the controversial advertisement: “The BBC is a welcoming, inclusive organisation committed to representing and reflecting our audiences. We support a scheme organised by Creative Access, an independent organisation dedicated to increasing diversity in the creative industries, which provides development roles, fully in line with the Equality Act.”

AND FINALLY

The Mirror reports that a walker was forced to do a double take when looking at a plaque on a memorial bench in Margate recently. Memorial benches are usually a nod to a loved one who has passed away, placed in their cherished spot. It’s a place those left behind can go to remember them. Whether it be a beauty spot, local park, or in their favourite hidden gem, the benches typically bear the names of the people they are dedicated to. They often have touching inscriptions that many don’t pay close attention to, but one walker was forced to do a double-take when looking at a plaque on a bench in Margate recently. It reads: ‘Dedicated to Hayden Kays. Forever missed by his friends and family — he’s not dead yet. He’s just become increasingly anti-social.’

 

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email