Good morninglovely people
Some people just don’t get it. Let’s agree that we can’t always agree. We may see a different perspective but acknowledgement is vital. Sometimes people simply don’t care to even try.
Listening to our PM at his party conference last week felt like ”a doesn’t care” or worse “just doesn’t have a clue moment”. To hear him say the challenges business is facing is self-inflicted because we have used immigration as an excuse for failure to invest in our people, in skills and in the equipment and machinery they need to do their jobs! Hello……
This man has never done a day’s manual labour in his life; apart from a little painting on the Costa del Sol. He’s clearly very good at getting dressed up to visit factories but can’t see through his goggles to the quality of investment and skill our manufacturing and service industries have achieved over the last decade and more.
The Brexit vision may be beneficial for some but has left catastrophic damagefor my community. The trials Covid has added has unbelievably calmed me. There is so much out of our control I’ve found it easier to be unemotional and try and move on, but I felt this was rich beyond belief.
Business (especially independent businesses) is not living in a Dickensian or 1970’sworld (I hope the Brexit reality is not driving us back there) where our workers rights and development are ignored or abused. There has been huge progress in the employment market, perhaps thankfully to our European friends who are sadly no longer able to influence our policies.
For years cyber and the professions have been crowned king. Different industries require different skills. Web designers and lawyers won’t make your coffee or plumb in your dishwasher. To save costs we can’t invest in a state of the art, Amazon style depot where we sit our customers on a super fast conveyor belt and feed, water and charge them in record time (without a washroom break) and then stamp them “pass” and say “next please”. One brush doesn’t fit all.
The building industry is reporting unprecedented challenges too. Material supply and labour shortages with resulting rocketing prices. Maybe Boris is off learning a new trade as he knows the rates for decorators are breaking all records? The lack of apprenticeships available post 2007 crash has been highlighted for years. The drive to formal education, heavily promoted by governments, again has devalued the power and the value of our working hands in Britain. Covid, and Brexit, have created a gap that has seen this all catching up with us and it’s out of control to fix.
Sectors like construction and hospitality are about investing in people, they always have been. Both create the perfect environment to nurture. We can develop an unskilled kitchen porter to be head chef, but it takes time and it takes an inbuilt drive and ambition from the individual, not just a supportive employer. There are more industry skills programmes for our sector than ever and many were well established pre-pandemic. Hospitality and it’s lifestyle, will not be to everyone’s taste. This is partly down to the perception of the public to appreciate its long term value. Are parents saying at the kitchen table, yes when you leave school you can be a waiter? Join a company that will develop your skills with the public to manage a team of 40 or 50 people and earn enough within 10 years to have a down payment for a house and have great fun and great food along the way? I’ve got a long list of team we’ve nurtured along this career path. Today labour is more transient and the thought of 10 years in the same business is unthinkable.
It’s the government’s job to create an environment for sustainable growth across all industries. Most importantly it’s their job to manage our public’s health and finances well. Lives aside, individuals and the private sector can’t be left with the tax bills from their mistakes.
The more we can invest and grow our team the more we can grow our business. The more we can grow our business the more we can contribute to our wider economy through balanced taxation. It’s that simple. There is no logic or benefit to not investing.
Governments should not be allowed to waste money. We go bust they get a peerage. Whether it’s failed Track and Trace / Test and Protect systems, Vaccine Passport apps, PPE purchasing, infrastructure expenditure, politicians expenses, the list is long and the costs indirectly affect the investment levels that are available for our people.
We have one tax system regardless of industry sector. We need a system that’s relevant and fit for purpose for each sector. The inequalities of online retailing and high street retailing highlight this so clearly. Part of the Labour Party Conference suggested abolition of business rates and taxation of cyber business sounding more conservative, than their Conservative counterparts.
Much has been lost by many in many different ways over the last many months so to listen to an arrogant PM after such a journey was hurtful.
To ice the cake, this week the first Covid Inquiry was released, “the most epic public health failure in our history”. The journey isn’t even over yet. We have the highest Covid deaths in Europe and the highest Covid cases at the moment in Europe. It’s looking like we may have the worst economic performance too. Who’s paying the price for these statistics?
I have empathy for the challenges but we have a political system that isn’t delivering what we need. Many of our politicians do care and we thank them for it but somehow the closer to the top they get the harder it is to see what’s needed at the bottom.
Keep well and keep safe and thank you most sincerely for all your support, it is never taken for granted.
On a lighter note, October isn’t too early to start thinking about Christmas is it?
Carina
P.S. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Sir David Amess
