First political blunder from Starmer. By trying to give something to both sides (Corbyn's reinstatement did make malcontents), he's only making sure malcontents will be on both sides.

 

The unpublished draft report into Priti Patel’s conduct has concluded that she fell short of the ministerial code, according to sources. Apparently, Patel failed to treat civil servants with “consideration and respect” and there was evidence of bullying. It has been alleged that Johnson tried to sweep the allegations under the carpet. Johnson is now in possession of the report and I would be very surprised if Patel is held to account.

 

She'll at best get a mild rebuke.

 

BoJo’s too busy putting together his exciting plans for an artificial intelligence centre and a new RAF space command.

 

It's national anti-bullying week.

Unless you're home secretary, in which case it's get-away-with-bullying week.

 

Gotta form a wall around the "Prittster"




god I hate this government

 

She's sittin' Pritti .



(I'll get me coat.)

 

She’s Pritti horrible, if you ask me.

 

Philip Rutman was never asked to contribute to the inquiry and BoJo has been allowed to sweep the whole matter under the carpet. Apparently, Patel was urged not to shout and swear at staff a month after becoming Home Secretary. Despite being urged several times to treat staff with respect, Patel maintains that she was unaware of the impact of her behaviour.

I’ve encountered people like this in the workplace and they’re entirely aware of the impact of their behaviour. It’s my experience that supervisors resort to shouting and swearing because they can’t cope with their own responsibilities. The source of their anger and frustration is always their own inadequacies.

 

100% agree.

My boss is demanding of me and I'm demanding of my team. At no point have I ever sworn AT my staff nor have I belittled them or criticized them in front of other people. I have been on receiving end of bosses like her and after my last boss I left that job moving to a smaller company doubting my own ability and wanting a quiet life away from stress.

Bullying does devastating impact to individuals and teams, there is no excuse for it and for an MP to be doing it is borderline unforgivable, the fact she was warned and continued to do it takes it over the line.

I can totally get that people make mistakes and if this was the "first offense" and was a failure of the individual and training then as much as I want them all out on their ear, her saying sorry and committing to training to eradicate this trait would be an acceptable first step to a redemption of sorts but there is clearly a history of her doing it and she should be rebuked appropriately (if that involves sacking as per the MP handbook thing then so be it).

Johnson has again failed to handle this effectively to no ones surprise

 

I can definitely relate to your experiences. I had a supervisor who would shout and scream like a child throwing a tantrum when things got out of his control. After his inexperience and stupidity placed me in serious danger, I moved on and I’m much happier for it.

This is probably why I find Patel so infuriating. It doesn’t matter what the workplace is or what the job is, tyrants like her can have a significant impact on people’s professional lives. BoJo’s failure to hold Patel to account shows how detached he is from people who work for a living.

 

One of the things that destroyed the 'Australian experience' for me is bullying. At first I thought it was me, but then over the years I discovered just how widespread it is here, and how often bullies are protected. I've spoken to a number of other expats and they have had similar experiences.

One Australian whom I considered a close friend left Cairns because of bullying. She worked on the Gold Coast and in various parts of NSW and said it was even worse down there. Now I know nursing is a strange profession that seems to attract bullies (though I am not saying all nurses are bullies- most are not), but the many others I have spoken to here over the years have related similar issues in different businesses and professions.

I hate to say it, because I had no pre-conceived idea about this before coming here, but I think bullying here is a serious social issue. So much so, that I would not be surprised if it impacts Australia's productivity.

One aspect of this is schadenfreude, which is central to the Aussie sense of humour, and many Aussies derive no end of pleasure out of the humiliation of others. If it can be done in the work place, so much the better; bullies love an audience. None of them ever like it done to them though, and I've seen violent retaliation to that humour.

Which currently leaves me completely adrift, with the literal disintegration of British society it seems, I wonder where life will take me next? There are certainly bullies in the UK too.

I think I'd like to live on a small island.

 

Arcadia has collapsed into administration - this is going to be very nasty for very many people.

 

Very much expected with Mr Green in charge

It would have happened anyway but not for around 10 - 15 years, the pandemic has just sped it up. Good luck to the new job hunters

 

It'll also cripple or take out many small businesses, similar to what happened with Carillion.

 

I know that the retail sector was in decline before the pandemic hit, but this is going to devastate many people. There’s going to be a lot of people with no experience outside retail and they are going to have an uphill struggle to gain alternative employment. I hope that people will be helped to retrain and gain new skills.

 

Damn, Arcadia yesterday, Debenhams today

 

Debenham has been teetering on the edge for a while now, though, so it's not entirely surprising...

 

True, it's more the timing.

 

As a larger man I always liked Debenhams as finding clothes on the high street in my size is increasingly rare. Here's hoping the employees can find employment again soon.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk

 

We’ve been watching the decline of the high street for a while now, but the pandemic has really accelerated this sad process. My local shopping centre has been decimated over the last decade and about 50% of the units are sitting empty or have been boarded over. There is a Topshop and a large Debenhams in this shopping centre. Closing these shops will seriously harm the local economy. Of course, my town is not unique and the same will be happening all over the country.

 

I brought my prom dress and shoes at Debenhams. They were gold, and the most comfortable dress shoes I ever wore.
Also got my wedding shoes and bridesmaid dresses at Debenhams.

My hometown's local council want to spend ££££ to redevelop the town's shopping centre with a well-known shopping centre brand onboard. They were half way through the slow persuading of the leaseholders to move out before the pandemic hit. If they do rebuild it, I can't see how they'll find anyone as anchors since their main anchor closed fifteen years ago and was never replaced.

I now live in the next town over, of which their shopping centre, though smaller, was doing pretty well before the pandemic. Unfortunately, Debenhams is an anchor there (though it never got as much foot traffic as the rest of the centre).

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55266678

In scenario that surprises no one, Boris finally admits that the Oven Ready deal that will be the easiest of all time because they need us more than we need them is odds on likely now going to be a no deal (sorry, Australia deal)

So as of Jan we will have chaos at the border (greater than the extent we already have and drove the close down of the Honda plant the other day), Tesco has already said it is stockpiling. The government is already organising military jets to bring in the vaccine and the hit to GDP will be greater than the impact of covid.

I predict panic buying again in January followed by riots in Feb.

The Tory's have messed this up big IMO and after their inept display with Covid I do not in anyway have any faith that they can see us through the pending storm that is coming, even with a deal I had limited faith.

But still, we now have blue passports and the Garden of Kent is being turned into a car park for the nebulous concept of sovereignty.

Rule Britannia and all that

 

Ah, but there is a get out clause: "It's all Labour's fault."