Re: Real Effect?
Manufacturers might also start paying attention to avoiding single-sourcing of components and easing up on the JIT approach.
32779 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2014
A long time ago I took over a Housing Association application and discovered that the forms for every single aspect of the database were in a single program and thus anyone who need access to, say, property maintenance schedules could see anything else, such as rent arrears for any tenant. I made a start on unpicking it before I left. Back in the day neither the original client nor the developers seemed to have noticed nothing wrong with the original version of that. It sounds as if someone at WHA might not have either.
"And if something bad happens not virus related, hospitals may be too overloaded to treat you in time and/or properly."
Try to avoid that happening, to you or others. I happen to live in a country area with narrowish lanes (fortunately not Devon/Cornwall narrow) with a fair number of bends many of which are blind because of retaining walls and a popular walking destination. With the rapidly improving weather it would have brought a good number out to visit anyway and there's plenty of room to leave a few metres from other people.
But....The usual.
Pairs of cyclists riding side-by-side using the whole width of the road.
Cyclists ignoring the stop lines on the blind junction/corner.
Cars driving along too fast.
Lots of walkers about who need to keep on the visible side of any corner.
Yes, come and walk by all means. It will do you good. But stay safe. Country lanes are busier than you might think. Oh, and by the way, it's lambing time (thank goodness, it really cheers the place up) so keep control of the dog and keep clear of the sheep yourself; ewes can be very protective and even hornless breeds have a lot of hard bits.
Short answer - we don't know how whether she's silent or not; media attention is elsewhere and it might never go back to her.
Somewhat longer medium-term answer: The world is getting a hard lesson on what happens when you disrupt the status quo. When the dust settles some of the "must do this RIGHT NOW" policies might start getting looked at more closely. There may be a realisation that change needs to be paced. Disruption gets looked at askance.
Somewhat longer long-term answer: Societies start looking more carefully at how they work. Is it really a good idea to concentrate work places into ever larger cities with ever-increasing commutes? Can work be returned to being closer to where people live? Should production be diversified and with shorter supply lines? The past few decades haven't been sustainable. Stand by for the new watchword: deglobalization.
My cousin-in-law is much better behaved.
Usually it's a matter of being asked to call in when I have time. A few weeks ago he rung up in a panic and said he was bringing his laptop round for me to look at right now. Unfortunately just as we were about to eat so SWMBO was finishing making dinner so that had to be put on hold. It turned out he was updating his anti-virus on his W10 <spit> laptop and it had just hung and wouldn't respond to anything, not even attempts to switch off.
A few minutes later - he only lives a mile away - he arrived. The screen was dark but the power LED was on. Fair enough it wouldn't respond to anything, not even a prod at the power switch. Best described as lights on but nobody at home. So while he was busy explaining his woe to SWMBO I gave the power switch a press and hold and watched it power off. Fortunately* it recovered itself to a stable state.
Unlike some folks' friends and rellies he was prepared to accept the difference between an long and short press on the power button as yet another thing to be grateful to learn. I wonder if that's because he himself had spent his working life in a skilled occupation and takes a fundamentally different attitude to practical knowledge.
* It's Windows: I wouldn't want to have to start debugging a mess and as he insists it's for his grandchildren to use play games on he wouldn't want me to install Zorin on that one; that being my usual approach to debugging Windows.
Two workers are being taxed on the same rules for earnings but one gets benefits the other doesn't then if those benefits can have an assessed value why shouldn't they be taxed? As things stand some, such as a company car, are taxed. But other things such as regular work as opposed to zero hours or SSP aren't. The logic is that either they should be or the difference in status should be recognised. For a long time that difference in status was recognised by the company model - the company was taxed as a company and was responsible for paying the extras to the worker out of company funds.
As the economy moves towards the gig model then regular employees will start to be seen as privileged tax dodgers benefiting from un-taxed perks that the majority don't get with popular pressure to correct that.
"I do know contractors who have paid themselves just as salary without any bonuses or dividends. but most contractors who use dividends and/or spouse payment do escape more NI and tax than the corporation tax they pay"
A sensible approach is to take out a regular salary but at a scale which enables you to build up a surplus against non-billable time for any reason. "Any reason" includes sickness. It also means being out of contract. A call from an agent starts off with "Are you available". That instant availability that clients are looking for costs because it means being out of contract and having been out for maybe some time. When a sufficient buffer is built up then the company can distribute dividends.
You're compensating in one direction - the unconfirmed cases vs the confirmed. You also need to take into account that some of the current cases are current because they haven't died yet. The death numbers will lag by a few days. Also some of those who have symptoms may actually have a different infection. What's actually needed is to look at the deaths as a percentage of those confirmed as having had the disease and are now clear.
"And to some extent its probably right, for eample delivery drivers that HAVE to rent the van from the company and have strict rules on how they can behave."
Those of us with long enough memories can remember that this was the sort of thing IR35 was supposed to clamp down on. Allegedly. Odd that it never turned out that way.
Who pays your sick pay when (and it's likely to be when, not if) you need it in the coming weeks?
Who do you think pays the freelancer's?
How about this - if the freelancer has to look after themself and you get it as part of your employment why should your entitlement not be treated as a taxable benefit?
You're looking at two different circumstances and either ignorantly or wilfully seeing them as the same.
ANd if freelancing is such a good wheeze with no downside risk, why didn't you go that route? Don't tell us it's altruism on your part.
"Companies have already forced a lot of contractors out, I myself finish this week and with the global pandemic, there is zero chance of renegotiating to extend it further."
It would depend on circumstances of client companies but those who need to keep trading and are having staff shortages could find themselves needing to engage extra help.
They may also have worked out that there's more to employment conditions than their few factors. When client companies have been forced into large-scale handing out of SSP to actual employees it would be difficult to defend the notion that that the freelancers who are dependent on their own businesses for this are really disguised employees. Normally it's a minor consideration that can be swept under the carpet; suddenly it's not.
Essentially they're printing it. It may well lead to inflation somewhere down the line.
Call it making the best of a bad job or needs must when the devil drives or whatever. It's something that has to be done and when it's in response to an external problem there's justification. A decade ago it was a response to a problem of HMG's own making by a long run of infeasibly low interest rates (basing inflation rates on a measure that disregarded the house price bubble); that wasn't justifiable.