#poultry jobs UK

[uglyandtraveling]

UK Announces 45,000 Seasonal Worker Visas for 2025: What You Need to Know!

Discover the latest updates on UK Worker Visas for 2025, with 45,000 seasonal visas available in agriculture and poultry sectors. Learn eligibility, requirements, and more!

[brookston]

Holidays 5.10

Holidays

Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day

AWS Smart Business Day

Bad Breath Day (UK)

Bear Witness Day (Canada)

Children’s Day (Maldives)

Clean Up Your Room Day

Confederate Memorial Day (NC, SC)

Constitution Day (Azerbaijan, Micronesia)

Dia De La Madre (Mexico)

Ependymoma Awareness Day

Fight Day (Japan)

Finger Face Puppet Day

Five & Dime Day

Flower Festival (Azerbaijan)

German Shepherd Day

Golden Spike Day

Human Kindness Day

Indian Arrival Day (Jamaica)

International Day of Argania

International Monty Python Day

Library Legislative Days

Maid Day (Japan)

McHappy Day (Canada)

Mother Ocean Day

Mother’s Day (El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico)

Move for Health Day

National Bonsai Day

National Brand Day (China)

National Cactus Day

National Clean Your Room Day

National Day of Action Against Anti-Asian Racism (Canada)

National Lipid Day

National School Nurse Day

National Ship Via Rail Day

National Small Business Day

National Washington Day

Occupational Safety and Health Professional Day

Pastele Blajinilor (Memory/Parent’s Day; Moldova)

Resistance and Liberation Day (Lebanon)

Ring Day

Skunks Born Day

Stay Up All Night Night

Tower Technician Appreciation Day

Trust Your Intuition Day

Whacking Day (The Simpsons)

Windmill Day

World Day of Social Communications

World Facilities Management Day

World Lupus Day

World Orienteering Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Chocolate Fish Day (New Zealand)

National Liver and Onions Day

National Shrimp Day

World Poultry Day

2nd Wednesday in May

CBDC Day (Canada) [2nd Wednesday]

Donate a Day's Wages to Charity Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Day for Staff Networks (UK) [2nd Wednesday]

National Nightshift/Third Shift Worker Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Numeracy Day (UK) [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

National Receptionists’ Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Root Canal Appreciation Day [2nd Wednesday]

World Facilities Management Day [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

World FM Day [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

Independence Days

Hashima (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus (Christian; Saint)

Antonius, Archbishop of Florence (Christian; Saint)

Calepodius (Christian; Saint)

Catald (a.k.a. Cathal; Christian; Saint)

Comgall (Christian; Saint)

Damien of Molokai (Christian; Saint)

Fido (Muppetism)

Gordianus and Epimachus (Christian; Saint)

Hannibal (Positivist; Saint)

Job the Patriarch (Roman Catholic Church, pre-1969 calendar)

John of Ávila (Christian; Saint)

John Holmes Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lemuralia, Day 2 (Ancient Rome; Dedicated to Eradicating Malevolent Spirits of the Dead)

Lofn’s Blot (Pagan)

Mutant Awareness Day (Pastafarian)

Rosalia (Ancient Roman Memorial Day)

Wolverine Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lemuria (Day 2 of 3; Ancient Rome) [Unlucky to Marry]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [22 of 37]

Premieres

All Things Bright and Beautiful, by James Herriot (Novel; 1975)

The Cider House Rules, by John Irving (Novel; 1985)

Cold Comfort Farm (Film; 1996)

Computer World, by Kraftwerk (Album; 1981)

Farm Frolics (WB MM Cartoon; 1941)

Feather Bluster (WB MM Cartoon; 1958)

For a Few Dollars More (Film; 1967)

Gatsby (Film; 2013)

Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (Novel; 1990)

In Dutch (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

I Shot the Sheriff, recorded by Eric Clapton (Song; 1974)

Lovesexy, by Prince (Album; 1988)

Misunderstanding, by Genesis (Song; 1980)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Film; 1975)

Porky’s Ant (WB LT Cartoon; 1941)

The Professor and the Madman (Film; 2019)

Rabbit Transit (WB LT Cartoon; 1947)

Rio, by Duran Duran (Album; 1982)

The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien (Novel; 1978)

Sock a Doddle Do (WB LT Cartoon; 1952)

Tolkien (Film; 2019)

Weezer (a.k.a. The Blue Album), by Weezer (Album; 1994)

Today’s Name Days

Gordian, Isidor, Liliana (Austria)

Ivan, Job (Croatia)

Blažena (Czech Republic)

Gordianus (Denmark)

Aina, Aini, Ainike, Aino, Ainu (Estonia)

Aina, Aini, Ainikki, Aino (Finland)

Solange (France)

Damian, Gordian, Isidor, Liliana (Germany)

Simon, Simonas (Greece)

Ármin, Pálma (Hungary)

Alfio, Antonino, Cataldo, Miro, Quarto (Italy)

Maija, Mairita (Latvia)

Putinas, Sangailė, Viktorina (Lithuania)

Asbjørg, Asbjørn, Espen (Norway)

Antonin, Częstomir, Izydor, Jan, Symeon, Wiktoryna (Poland)

Simon (România)

Viktória (Slovakia)

Damián, Juan (Spain)

Esbjörn, Styrbjörn (Sweden)

Cormac, Cormick, Gordon, Job, Joby, Jobina, Max, Maximilian, Maximus, Maxine, Maxwell (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 130 of 2024; 235 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 19 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 25 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Bing-Chen), Day 21 (Wu-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 19 Iyar 5783

Islamic: 19 Shawwal 1444

J Cal: 9 Bīja; Twosday [9 of 30]

Julian: 27 April 2023

Moon: 73%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 17 Caesar (5th Month) [Fabricius]

Runic Half Month: Ing (Expansive Energy) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 52 of 90)

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 21 of 30)

Calendar Changes

  Ing (Expansive Energy) [Half-Month 10 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 5.28)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 5.10

Holidays

Asian Pacific American Mental Health Day

AWS Smart Business Day

Bad Breath Day (UK)

Bear Witness Day (Canada)

Children’s Day (Maldives)

Clean Up Your Room Day

Confederate Memorial Day (NC, SC)

Constitution Day (Azerbaijan, Micronesia)

Dia De La Madre (Mexico)

Ependymoma Awareness Day

Fight Day (Japan)

Finger Face Puppet Day

Five & Dime Day

Flower Festival (Azerbaijan)

German Shepherd Day

Golden Spike Day

Human Kindness Day

Indian Arrival Day (Jamaica)

International Day of Argania

International Monty Python Day

Library Legislative Days

Maid Day (Japan)

McHappy Day (Canada)

Mother Ocean Day

Mother’s Day (El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico)

Move for Health Day

National Bonsai Day

National Brand Day (China)

National Cactus Day

National Clean Your Room Day

National Day of Action Against Anti-Asian Racism (Canada)

National Lipid Day

National School Nurse Day

National Ship Via Rail Day

National Small Business Day

National Washington Day

Occupational Safety and Health Professional Day

Pastele Blajinilor (Memory/Parent’s Day; Moldova)

Resistance and Liberation Day (Lebanon)

Ring Day

Skunks Born Day

Stay Up All Night Night

Tower Technician Appreciation Day

Trust Your Intuition Day

Whacking Day (The Simpsons)

Windmill Day

World Day of Social Communications

World Facilities Management Day

World Lupus Day

World Orienteering Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Chocolate Fish Day (New Zealand)

National Liver and Onions Day

National Shrimp Day

World Poultry Day

2nd Wednesday in May

CBDC Day (Canada) [2nd Wednesday]

Donate a Day's Wages to Charity Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Day for Staff Networks (UK) [2nd Wednesday]

National Nightshift/Third Shift Worker Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Numeracy Day (UK) [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

National Receptionists’ Day [2nd Wednesday]

National Root Canal Appreciation Day [2nd Wednesday]

World Facilities Management Day [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

World FM Day [Wednesday of 2nd Full Week]

Independence Days

Hashima (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus (Christian; Saint)

Antonius, Archbishop of Florence (Christian; Saint)

Calepodius (Christian; Saint)

Catald (a.k.a. Cathal; Christian; Saint)

Comgall (Christian; Saint)

Damien of Molokai (Christian; Saint)

Fido (Muppetism)

Gordianus and Epimachus (Christian; Saint)

Hannibal (Positivist; Saint)

Job the Patriarch (Roman Catholic Church, pre-1969 calendar)

John of Ávila (Christian; Saint)

John Holmes Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lemuralia, Day 2 (Ancient Rome; Dedicated to Eradicating Malevolent Spirits of the Dead)

Lofn’s Blot (Pagan)

Mutant Awareness Day (Pastafarian)

Rosalia (Ancient Roman Memorial Day)

Wolverine Day (Pastafarian)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lemuria (Day 2 of 3; Ancient Rome) [Unlucky to Marry]

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Tycho Brahe Unlucky Day (Scandinavia) [22 of 37]

Premieres

All Things Bright and Beautiful, by James Herriot (Novel; 1975)

The Cider House Rules, by John Irving (Novel; 1985)

Cold Comfort Farm (Film; 1996)

Computer World, by Kraftwerk (Album; 1981)

Farm Frolics (WB MM Cartoon; 1941)

Feather Bluster (WB MM Cartoon; 1958)

For a Few Dollars More (Film; 1967)

Gatsby (Film; 2013)

Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (Novel; 1990)

In Dutch (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

I Shot the Sheriff, recorded by Eric Clapton (Song; 1974)

Lovesexy, by Prince (Album; 1988)

Misunderstanding, by Genesis (Song; 1980)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Film; 1975)

Porky’s Ant (WB LT Cartoon; 1941)

The Professor and the Madman (Film; 2019)

Rabbit Transit (WB LT Cartoon; 1947)

Rio, by Duran Duran (Album; 1982)

The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien (Novel; 1978)

Sock a Doddle Do (WB LT Cartoon; 1952)

Tolkien (Film; 2019)

Weezer (a.k.a. The Blue Album), by Weezer (Album; 1994)

Today’s Name Days

Gordian, Isidor, Liliana (Austria)

Ivan, Job (Croatia)

Blažena (Czech Republic)

Gordianus (Denmark)

Aina, Aini, Ainike, Aino, Ainu (Estonia)

Aina, Aini, Ainikki, Aino (Finland)

Solange (France)

Damian, Gordian, Isidor, Liliana (Germany)

Simon, Simonas (Greece)

Ármin, Pálma (Hungary)

Alfio, Antonino, Cataldo, Miro, Quarto (Italy)

Maija, Mairita (Latvia)

Putinas, Sangailė, Viktorina (Lithuania)

Asbjørg, Asbjørn, Espen (Norway)

Antonin, Częstomir, Izydor, Jan, Symeon, Wiktoryna (Poland)

Simon (România)

Viktória (Slovakia)

Damián, Juan (Spain)

Esbjörn, Styrbjörn (Sweden)

Cormac, Cormick, Gordon, Job, Joby, Jobina, Max, Maximilian, Maximus, Maxine, Maxwell (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 130 of 2024; 235 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of week 19 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 25 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Bing-Chen), Day 21 (Wu-Chen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 19 Iyar 5783

Islamic: 19 Shawwal 1444

J Cal: 9 Bīja; Twosday [9 of 30]

Julian: 27 April 2023

Moon: 73%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 17 Caesar (5th Month) [Fabricius]

Runic Half Month: Ing (Expansive Energy) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 52 of 90)

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 21 of 30)

Calendar Changes

  Ing (Expansive Energy) [Half-Month 10 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 5.28)

[puttingherinhistory]

“Covid has unleashed the most severe setback to women’s liberation in my lifetime. While watching this happen, I have started to think we are witnessing an outbreak of disaster patriarchy.

Naomi Klein was the first to identify “disaster capitalism”, when capitalists use a disaster to impose measures they couldn’t possibly get away with in normal times, generating more profit for themselves. Disaster patriarchy is a parallel and complementary process, where men exploit a crisis to reassert control and dominance, and rapidly erase hard-earned women’s rights. (The term “racialized disaster patriarchy” was used by Rachel E Luft in writing about an intersectional model for understanding disaster 10 years after Hurricane Katrina.) All over the world, patriarchy has taken full advantage of the virus to reclaim power – on the one hand, escalating the danger and violence to women, and on the other, stepping in as their supposed controller and protector.

I have spent months interviewing activists and grassroots leaders around the world, from Kenya to France to India, to find out how this process is affecting them, and how they are fighting back. In very different contexts, five key factors come up again and again. In disaster patriarchy, women lose their safety, their economic power, their autonomy, their education, and they are pushed on to the frontlines, unprotected, to be sacrificed. 

Part of me hesitates to use the word “patriarchy”, because some people feel confused by it, and others feel it’s archaic. I have tried to imagine a newer, more contemporary phrase for it, but I have watched how we keep changing language, updating and modernising our descriptions in an attempt to meet the horror of the moment. I think, for example, of all the names we have given to the act of women being beaten by their partner. First, it was battery, then domestic violence, then intimate partner violence, and most recently intimate terrorism. We are forever doing the painstaking work of refining and illuminating, rather than insisting the patriarchs work harder to deepen their understanding of a system that is eviscerating the planet. So, I’m sticking with the word. 

In this devastating time of Covid we have seen an explosion of violence towards women, whether they are cisgender or gender-diverse. Intimate terrorism in lockdown has turned the home into a kind of torture chamber for millions of women. We have seen the spread of revenge porn as lockdown has pushed the world online; such digital sexual abuse is now central to domestic violence as intimate partners threaten to share sexually explicit images without victims’ consent. 

The conditions of lockdown – confinement, economic insecurity, fear of illness, excess of alcohol – were a perfect storm for abuse. It is hard to determine what is more disturbing: the fact that in 2021 thousands of men still feel willing and entitled to control, torture and beat their wives, girlfriends and children, or that no government appears to have thought about this in their planning for lockdown. 

In Peru, hundreds of women and girls have gone missing since lockdown was imposed, and are feared dead. According to official figures reported by Al Jazeera, 606 girls and 309 women went missing between 16 March and 30 June last year. Worldwide, the closure of schools has increased the likelihood of various forms of violence. The US Rape Abuse and Incest National Network says its helpline for survivors of sexual assault has never been in such demand in its 26-year history, as children are locked in with abusers with no ability to alert their teachers or friends. In Italy, calls to the national anti-violence toll-free number increased by 73% between 1 March and 16 April 2020, according to the activist Luisa Rizzitelli. In Mexico, emergency call handlers received the highest number of calls in the country’s history, and the number of women who sought domestic violence shelters quadrupled. 

To add outrage to outrage, many governments reduced funding for these shelters at the exact moment they were most needed. This seems to be true throughout Europe. In the UK, providers told Human Rights Watch that the Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated a lack of access to services for migrant and Black, Asian and minority ethnic women. The organisations working with these communities say that persistent inequality leads to additional difficulties in accessing services such as education, healthcare and disaster relief remotely. 

In the US, more than 5 million women’s jobs were lost between the start of the pandemic and November 2020. Because much of women’s work requires physical contact with the public – restaurants, stores, childcare, healthcare settings – theirs were some of the first to go. Those who were able to keep their jobs were often frontline workers whose positions have put them in great danger; some 77% of hospital workers and 74% percent of school staff are women. Even then, the lack of childcare options left many women unable to return to their jobs. Having children does not have this effect for men. The rate of unemployment for Black and Latina women was higher before the virus, and now it is even worse. 

The situation is more severe for women in other parts of the world. Shabnam Hashmi, a leading women’s activist from India, tells me that by April 2020 a staggering 39.5% of women there had lost their jobs. “Work from home is very taxing on women as their personal space has disappeared, and workload increased threefold,” Hashmi says. In Italy, existing inequalities have been amplified by the health emergency. Rizzitelli points out that women already face lower employment, poorer salaries and more precarious contracts, and are rarely employed in “safe” corporate roles; they have been the first to suffer the effects of the crisis. “Pre-existing economic, social, racial and gender inequalities have been accentuated, and all of this risks having longer-term consequences than the virus itself,” Rizzitelli says. 

When women are put under greater financial pressure, their rights rapidly erode. With the economic crisis created by Covid, sex- and labour-trafficking are again on the rise. Young women who struggle to pay their rent are being preyed on by landlords, in a process known as “sextortion”. 

I don’t think we can overstate the level of exhaustion, anxiety and fear that women are suffering from taking care of families, with no break or time for themselves. It’s a subtle form of madness. As women take care of the sick, the needy and the dying, who takes care of them? Colani Hlatjwako, an activist leader from the Kingdom of Eswatini, sums it up: “Social norms that put a heavy caregiving burden on women and girls remain likely to make their physical and mental health suffer.” These structures also impede access to education, damage livelihoods, and strip away sources of support.

Unesco estimates that upward of 11 million girls may not return to school once the Covid pandemic subsides. The Malala Fund estimates an even bigger number: 20 million. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, from UN Women, says her organisation has been fighting for girls’ education since the Beijing UN women’s summit in 1995. “Girls make up the majority of the schoolchildren who are not going back,” she says. “We had been making progress – not perfect, but we were keeping them at school for longer. And now, to have these girls just dropping out in one year, is quite devastating.” 

Of all these setbacks, this will be the most significant. When girls are educated, they know their rights, and what to demand. They have the possibility of getting jobs and taking care of their families. When they can’t access education, they become a financial strain to their families and are often forced into early marriages. 

This has particular implications for female genital mutilation (FGM). Often, fathers will accept not subjecting their daughters to this process because their daughters can become breadwinners through being educated. If there is no education, then the traditional practices resume, so that daughters can be sold for dowries. As Agnes Pareyio, chairwoman of the Kenyan Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Board, tells me: “Covid closed our schools and brought our girls back home. No one knew what was going on in the houses. We know that if you educate a girl, FGM will not happen. And now, sadly the reverse is true.” 

In the early months of the pandemic, I had a front-row seat to the situation of nurses in the US, most of whom are women. I worked with National Nurses United, the biggest and most radical nurses’ union, and interviewed many nurses working on the frontline. I watched as for months they worked gruelling 12-hour shifts filled with agonising choices and trauma, acting as midwives to death. On their short lunch breaks, they had to protest over their own lack of personal protective equipment, which put them in even greater danger. In the same way that no one thought what it would mean to lock women and children in houses with abusers, no one thought what it would be like to send nurses into an extremely contagious pandemic without proper PPE. In some US hospitals, nurses were wearing garbage bags instead of gowns, and reusing single-use masks many times. They were being forced to stay on the job even if they had fevers.

The treatment of nurses who were risking their lives to save ours was a shocking kind of violence and disrespect. But there are many other areas of work where women have been left unprotected, from the warehouse workers who are packing and shipping our goods, to women who work in poultry and meat plants who are crammed together in dangerous proximity and forced to stay on the job even when they are sick. One of the more stunning developments has been with “tipped” restaurant workers in the US, already allowed to be paid the shockingly low wage of $2.13 (£1.50) an hour, which has remained the same for the past 22 years. Not only has work declined, tips have also declined greatly for those women, and now a new degradation called “maskular harassment” has emerged, where male customers insist waitresses take off their masks so they can determine if and how much to tip them based on their looks. 

Women farm workers in the US have seen their protections diminished while no one was looking. Mily Treviño-Sauceda, executive director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, tells me how pressures have increased on campesinas, or female farm workers: “There have been more incidents of pesticides poisonings, sexual abuse and heat stress issues, and there is less monitoring from governmental agencies or law enforcement due to Covid-19.” 

Covid has revealed the fact that we live with two incompatible ideas when it comes to women. The first is that women are essential to every aspect of life and our survival as a species. The second is that women can easily be violated, sacrificed and erased. This is the duality that patriarchy has slashed into the fabric of existence, and that Covid has laid bare. If we are to continue as a species, this contradiction needs to be healed and made whole. 

To be clear, the problem is not the lockdowns, but what the lockdowns, and the pandemic that required them, have made clear. Covid has revealed that patriarchy is alive and well; that it will reassert itself in times of crisis because it has never been truly deconstructed, and like an untreated virus it will return with a vengeance when the conditions are ripe. 

The truth is that unless the culture changes, unless patriarchy is dismantled, we will forever be spinning our wheels. Coming out of Covid, we need to be bold, daring, outrageous and to imagine a more radical way of existing on the Earth. We need to continue to build and spread activist movements. We need progressive grassroots women and women of colour in positions of power. We need a global initiative on the scale of a Marshall Plan or larger, to deconstruct and exorcise patriarchy – which is the root of so many other forms of oppression, from imperialism to racism, from transphobia to the denigration of the Earth. 

There would first be a public acknowledgment, and education, about the nature of patriarchy and an understanding that it is driving us to our end. There would be ongoing education, public forums and processes studying how patriarchy leads to various forms of oppression. Art would help expunge trauma, grief, aggression, sorrow and anger in the culture and help heal and make people whole. We would understand that a culture that has diabolical amnesia and refuses to address its past can only repeat its misfortunes and abuses. Community and religious centres would help members deal with trauma. We would study the high arts of listening and empathy. Reparations and apologies would be done in public forums and in private meetings. Learning the art of apology would be as important as prayer.

The feminist author Gerda Lerner wrote in 1986: “The system of patriarchy in a historic construct has a beginning and it will have an end. Its time seems to have nearly run its course. It no longer serves the needs of men and women, and its intractable linkage to militarism, hierarchy and racism has threatened the very existence of life on Earth.”

As powerful as patriarchy is, it’s just a story. As the post-pandemic era unfolds, can we imagine another system, one that is not based on hierarchy, violence, domination, colonialisation and occupation? Do we see the connection between the devaluing, harming and oppression of all women and the destruction of the Earth itself? What if we lived as if we were kin? What if we treated each person as sacred and essential to the unfolding story of humanity? 

What if rather than exploiting, dominating and hurting women and girls during a crisis, we designed a world that valued them, educated them, paid them, listened to them, cared for them and centred them?“

[scapegrace74-blog]

Ginger Snap

A/N  I was driving down the highway today and saw the license plate “I PieGuy”.  By the time I got home, this story was half-born in my head.  I have no idea where it might go, but it’s taking up valuable shelf space in there, so I’m birthing it onto paper.  Modern AU.  Silly fluff.  Claire POV.  First person, which I never write, so watch out for stray pronouns.

The shriek of the fire alarm was the final straw.  I’d just stepped out of the kitchen for a minute, but that was all it took for calamity to strike.  Opening the oven door in a panic, billows of smoke engulfed me before I slammed it shut again.

“Shit.  Shitshitshit.  Shit!”

Waving a damp dish towel back and forth like a flag of surrender above my head caused the head-splitting siren to finally desist.  I blew a rogue curl off my sweaty brow and gave myself a pep talk.

“Time to woman up,” I sighed before donning the oven gloves and cautiously cracking the door once again.  More smoke escaped, smelling of burnt pastry and ruined hopes.  Once it cleared I could see the charred carcasses of what were supposed to be vol au vent shells.  I carefully extracted them from the oven and dropped the cooking sheet with a clatter onto the quartz countertop.

“Dinner is D.O.A, Doctor Beauchamp.  Now what the fuck am I going to do?”

***

Thirty minutes were spent cleaning the evidence of yet another cooking fiasco and ventilating our flat by opening every available window to let in the moist Edinburgh breeze.  I now had less than four hours before Frank and three other members of the university faculty would be descending, expecting a home-cooked meal and polite chitchat.  I was in no position to offer either.

In a last-ditch effort to salvage the evening, I typed “sophisticated home catering in Edinburgh” and started dialing.  The first four numbers yielded either an answering machine or the news (unsurprising) that at least two days’ advanced notice were required to book their services.  Nearly resigned to ordering in Italian and facing Frank’s wrath, a woman’s voice with a thick Scottish brogue picked up at the fifth business I called.

“Ye’ve reached Ginger Snap, this is Jenny speaking.�� How may I help ye t’day?”

I poured out my tale of culinary woe, laying it on a bit thick, but I was truly desperate by this point.

“Aye, we’ve a chef available this afternoon.  What sort of menu were ye planning?” she asked.

“Really?  Oh my god, you’re a lifesaver!”

I gave Jenny the number of guests and a broad idea of what I’d hoped to serve, although I was in no position to be choosy.

“Never ye fear, Ms. Beauchamp.  We’ll pick up the necessary items and our chef will be at yer flat by four.  Tha’ should leave jus’ enough time tae have everything ready fer six.”

Thanking her profusely and not even inquiring about the charge, I stood triumphant in the middle of my immaculate yet useless kitchen.  Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?

***

The buzzer rang as I was re-arranging the decorative objects atop our sideboard.  I was aiming for the artless sophistication featured in Frank’s favourite design magazines, but instead I lined up each item in order of descending size, or grouped them by historical era.  A second buzz had me trotting to the intercom where a male voice crackled.

“This is James Fraser o’ Ginger Snap Catering.  Can ye let me in?”

I stuck my head into the hallway to find four organic cotton tote bags bursting with produce at my doorstep.  Footsteps pounded down the stairs, where I assumed the chef had retreated to collect more supplies.  I brought the first load into the kitchen where I began to unpack foodstuffs the likes of which I’d never seen.  Not knowing what else to do to be helpful, I began sorting them; green leafy things here, round crispy things there.

“Hallo?” the same voice called from where I’d left the door ajar.  Wiping my hands nervously against my slacks, I went to greet him.

Standing in the doorframe, almost filling it with his immense size, was a young man who seemed more suited to a stag hunt or a rugby pitch than haute cuisine.  He had loose tawny curls, two days’ worth of stubble and wore a faded grey henley, dark wash jeans that clung to his muscular legs and utilitarian workman’s boots.

“Claire Beauchamp?” he interrupted my visual inventory.

“Hmm? Oh, yes.  Sorry.  Pleased to meet you.”

Something funny happened when our hands met in a firm shake.  A tachycardic blip, my internal medicine professor would have called it.  There was no time to analyze this response, however, as he was already on the move.

“James Fraser, at yer service.  I’d normally spend more time getting to know ye and yer style of entertaining, but we’re short on time, so let’s get straight to it, aye?”

I gave the chef a hasty tour of our kitchen, stumbling over the names of various implements and opening the wrong cupboard when looking for my saucepans.  I blushed as he raised an expressive eyebrow, but shook it off.  I was paying for his cooking proficiency, not his opinion on my lack of domestic competence.

“I ken ye spoke tae Jenny about yer menu, but I took a few liberties at the market, based on what looked freshest.  I recommend starting with a simple salad o’ nettle and radish, garnished with a wee round of goat cheese and rye crumbs.  Loin o’ lamb with new potatoes and pancetta fer yer main.  An’ a simple rhubarb custard fer dessert.  There’s none with food allergies, aye?”

“Aye,” I replied, then corrected “umm, no, rather,” at his concerned look.  “Are you sure you can manage all that in only,” I glanced at my wristwatch “ninety minutes?   It seems like an awful lot of work.”

“Och, tis no’ much.  Lamb cooks swiftly, ye ken.  Tis why I choose it over pork or poultry.”

My saviour rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, preparing to wash his hands and get down to work.  There was probably something else I should be doing elsewhere in the flat to prepare, but I didn’t want to appear completely useless to this unflappable man.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

He looked dubious and seemed prepared to politely decline, but then his expression shifted.

“Aye.  Ye can wash the tatties an’ chop the rhubarb while I dress the lamb, if ye dinna mind,” he suggested.

“Scrubbing in and wielding a knife happen to be two of the only transferrable job skills I bring to cooking,” I joked, taking my turn in front of the massive Belfast sink.

He emitted a low Scottish grunt of amusement before we each settled into companionable silence, focusing on our respective duties.  I glanced over at him surreptitiously, envying the ease with which he moved from task to task, lean and nimble hands working alchemy where I only succeeded in producing dross.

“Ye’re a doctor, then?” he asked after my chopped rhubarb had been set on the stovetop to stew and the lamb was marinating in a bath of lemon and fresh herbs.

“Umm, well, I was.  My partner and I moved here from Boston, where I trained as a surgeon.  I haven’t yet obtained my license to practice here in the UK, so I’m afraid I’m just a culinary liability for the moment.”

It was a current source of strife in my relationship with Frank.  He liked the idea of me keeping house, entertaining and eventually settling down to raise a family.  I chaffed at this unfamiliar routine.  But until I passed my licensing exams, it was rather a moot point.

“I’m sure ye’re far more than that,” he replied solemnly, before breaking into a sneaky grin.  “I’ve ne’er seen stalks of rhubarb cut quite sae... uniform.  Ye’d have a fine career in quality control, if ye wished.”

I faked throwing a dish towel at him while we both laughed.

“What about you, Mr. Fraser?  How did you get into the catering business?”  It wasn’t polite conversation.  I was really quite curious to know more about him.

“I’ll tell ye, but only if ye call me Jamie.”  At my nod, he continued, “twas my Mam.  She was always a great cook, but then my Da passed suddenly and she with three bairns under the age of ten tae raise. She needed tae work.  We moved tae Edinburgh an’ she laboured day and night tae save enough tae start her own catering business.  Since I was a lad, when I wasna in school I was in her kitchen, watching and learning all the while.”

His striking face took on a faraway expression, and I knew he was remembering those days with a mixture of wistfulness and love.  I recognized the look from my own reflection, when I thought about my dead parents.  Without realizing it, I lay my palm over his forearm where it had stilled above my butcher’s block.  His eyes were the same hue as midsummer blueberries, and they regarded me with silent inquiry.

A timer made us both jump, my hand falling to my side.  What was I thinking, touching this stranger who I was paying to cook dinner for my boyfriend’s guests?  I really needed to find a hobby, so my mind didn’t latch onto any feeble excuse for stimulation.

Brushing my hands against my thighs, I quickly excused myself and left to get properly dressed for dinner.  Only thirty minutes remained before Frank and his colleagues were due to arrive.  

I spent more time than was strictly necessary away from the kitchen, afraid I’d made things awkward with Jamie.  By the time I finally returned, he was plating the lamb and putting the custard in the refrigerator to set.  I tried to think of something to say that would re-establish the fluent rapport from earlier on.

“I’ve opened the wine tae let it breathe,” Jamie said without looking at me.  I wished there was a similar process for blundering Englishwomen.

“Jamie, I really don’t know how to...”

The sound of the front door opening interrupted me and Frank’s nasal voice rang out from the entryway.

“Claire, we’re here!”

“Fuck!” I exclaimed.  Jamie tipped his head sideways in question.  “I never had time to explain to my partner that I hired your services.  That’s the dean of his faculty out there, and...”  I broke off, looking frantically around the room as though a trap door would suddenly materialize.  Quick on his feet, Jamie understood the situation immediately.   The kitchen windows were still open after my earlier catastrophe.  With surprising grace for one so large, he slid through the opening and onto the fire escape.  

“Bon appetit, Claire Beauchamp,” the ginger chef wished from outside, a mischievous smirk lighting his whole countenance.

I stood, mouth open in shock, as he gave an abbreviated bow before scampering down the metal ladder just as Frank entered the kitchen behind me.

“This smells delicious, darling.  We really are going to make a chef out of you yet.”

[jeza-red]

UK is hilarious right now.

There's a hgv drivers and menial workers shortage. Who would have suspected it will happen when you close the borders xD

Now they're discussing issuing visas to drivers and poultry farm workers - these amazing jobs that the Eastern Europeans were stealing from the English!

This is amazing XD

It's just the beginning. Soon NHS will go on its knees to beg for foreign nurses - even more than it was till now. Whole care industry will shatter in about a year without women who can be paid minimum wage for towing around old people who voted them out of the country. Manufacturing is already slowly going down - skilled labourers went back home to Poland/Ukraine/Lithuania/Romania.

I don't even feel bad for them. They wanted immigrants to go - and they got their wish.

[shoppingaddictqqp]

Saudi Arabia To Chop Oil Production Sharply In Bid To Lift Prices - WSJ

In his 34 years in finance, Mr. O’Hanley had weathered loads of meltdowns, however never one like this. Like a rising number of traders at this time, Crabel relies on preset algorithms to make computerized trades. Trump could make a comeback within the polls after the debates. China is expecting 35 million car sales by 2025 and desires new vitality automobiles (NEVs) to make up at the least 20% of that whole boutiques near me . From January, the UK government needs to proceed to have a joint market across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - the "inner market". Royal Dutch Shell PLC have taken giant write-offs, minimize jobs and slashed spending plans to regulate for what seemed like a protracted period of low oil prices. Value stocks which have low PE ratio. Some markets also have stay poultry in cages, and butchers only kill and de-feather a fowl when a shopper decides to buy one.

Investors and analysts attribute the broad rise in monetary markets to religion in government and central-bank stimulus packages, hopes for vaccine improvement and wagers that the coronavirus disaster will spell alternative for numerous giant however nimble, well-placed firms on the expense of others whose struggles are deepening. Concerns about the broader economy and the stock market’s latest rally also are fueling curiosity in such trades, he stated. The election worries amplify current concerns about the weak economy, a attainable second wave of coronavirus infections in the fall and the highflying market. Among the considerations expressed by some: hypothesis that President Trump might attempt to delay the election or disrupt mail-in voting, in addition to the chance that a outcome remains unclear for weeks after polls close. And it's solely September - too much can happen in the 2 months earlier than the election. But market reactions can pretty be predicted.

Yet another major exciting pressure is the truth that investing on this market place do not require huge start up prices neither does it have need of any formal studying or training on the a part of the investor. While console gaming and Pc cater much less to the informal players, these platforms too have a excessive engagement fee. Anyone who says they've an honest edge understanding how this goes to turn out, I would truthfully discount," said Mills. "I think structurally you'll give an edge to Republicans successful a minimum of one of many seats. But different consultants additionally assume Wall Street is signaling that it expects Biden to win, and that this may very well be a great thing for the continued economic recovery. Investors also seem to suppose that reasonably priced health care and more relaxed legal guidelines concerning marijuana use could possibly be within the cards if Biden is the subsequent president.

The bearish bet is that turmoil across the election hits the already fragile economic system because the cooler months carry on more infections, all hitting the inventory market that is priced for a restoration. The presidential election is three months away, but some traders are making ready for the chance that extended political uncertainty will stoke stock-market mayhem. Instead they are betting on volatility and a attainable market tumble later within the 12 months. Mr. Pomada was in good spirits as he drove his convertible to his workplace in Los Angeles’s Century City advanced before sunrise on March 9. Investment funds managed by his $4.5 billion firm, Crabel Capital Management, have been up about 5% for the yr. Yet, all day, Crabel bought inventory futures and different investments, contributing to a 2,014-point, or 7.8%, drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Traders like Michael Pomada help clarify why the inventory market goes via its most turbulent interval in recent memory. Throughout the inventory market the correction in Big Tech upended most of the dependable ways to minimize losses.

[danaslewis]

Please listen to my podcast! Subscribe and share. 

https://backstorywithdanalewis.buzzsprout.com

 BACK STORY with DANA LEWIS

FOOD CHAIN PANDEMIC MAY 27, 2020 DANA LEWIS BACK STORY with DANA LEWIS FOOD CHAIN PANDEMIC 

   #danalewis #caitlinwelsh #foodsupply. #hunger 

TRANSCRIPT

CHAPTER MARKERS

 1: 0:00

Dana - At this time of great uncertainty in many of our normal routines and regular patterns of life are being challenged. The food and farming sector is no exception. If we are to harvest British fruit and vegetables this year, we need an army of people to help. Food does not happen by magic.

Speaker 2: 0:21

Hi everyone and welcome to

Speaker 3: 0:23

backstory. I'm your host Dana Lewis. That familiar boys was Prince Charles. It was called for an army of people defined it.

Speaker 2: 0:31

Jobs on the UK is fruit and vegetable farms because they are desperately short of people to pick this year's crops, closed European borders, people sick from COvid 19 that all makes for a dire harvest and it's a similar story from Europe to Canada and America and onto Asia. In this our latest edition of backstory, the delicate international food supply chain is rattled and some might say very near broken

Speaker 4: 1:10

[inaudible].

Speaker 2: 1:11

Caitlin Welsh is the director of the global food security program at the center for strategic and international studies. Hi Kaitlin.

Speaker 5: 1:18

Hi Dana.

Speaker 2: 1:20

As we speak, Prince Charles in the UK is asking people as in war time to go and pick food before it spoils in the fields. What's happening to labor and the flow of workers worldwide in this pandemic. If you could just kind of paint a general picture.

Speaker 5: 1:36

Sure. I think that's a great question. A great place to start. What we're seeing right now is a food crisis on a global scale and it's not due to the fact that there's not enough food available worldwide. It's due to disruptions across different aspects of food systems and that, uh, that, that request by Prince Charles, um, to me pinpoints access to food with, uh, with, with harvesting food. Um, and the, the particular issue there could have to do with availability of labor. Um, w uh, one thing that we're seeing worldwide is disruptions in labor flows. So that could, that could be one of the reasons that Prince Charles made that, um, made that request. Um, and, uh, also I think that he's, he's probably doing that to, uh, to reduce the amount of food loss and waste worldwide. Um, it was already very high before the pandemic. Um, but we're seeing because supply chains that they're very, very efficient. They're not flexible though. Um, and, uh, when for a variety of reasons, farmers are not able to reach markets, what we're seeing is, uh, is huge amounts of, of, of food loss, unfortunately. Um,

Speaker 2: 2:37

I want to talk to you about that. French fishermen say they're throwing back two thirds of their cash. Australia is facing an avocado glut. A farmer in Ontario, Canada now feed some of his milk back to his cows, but there is a limit to what can be recycled. Um, you know, most of what can not be sold will be wasted. Millions of liters of cake is going stale. The EU is expecting to lose $430 million worth of potatoes. So America's food waste ratio, um, where you are, is set to rise 30 to 40% this year. I mean, these are huge problems.

Speaker 5: 3:18

They really are. And again, they were problems before the pandemic and they're there. They're actually worse right now. I'll give you some more examples of what we're seeing in the United States. There was one chicken processing company that killed 2 million chickens in April. We had another that smashed a three quarters of a million of eggs in one week. Um, I think one of the biggest tragedies is with farmers who raise animals having to call their herds. So essentially kill the animals because they can't send them to meat processing plants. Um, and so we, uh, so we're seeing that in the, um, you know, in the tens of thousands per week across the U S um, so what's happening there is a, there's a, a couple of things. One of the main things is that, um, in, in March and into April, orders from restaurants and not just restaurants, but other places where people gathered to eat. So sports arenas, cafeterias at universities, um, public spaces generally, um, those orders fell off of a cliff as people were no longer able to gather. So farmers who are raising animals, um, and growing growing crops for those, um, to, for those establishments no longer had markets for their goods. So they were forced to, um, and they couldn't adjust quickly enough. They couldn't pivot. And so, um, they had no choice but to, but to waste their food, there's destroy their product.

Speaker 2: 4:32

Why do they have to call beef or call chickens or call, uh, pigs? W why is that? Because they cannot get the seed or they cannot afford, uh, to keep those animals longer without sending them to a meat processing plant or what is the problem?

Speaker 5: 4:50

Yeah. Um, a couple of reasons. One of them is that, um, when it comes to the pig supply chains, in particular, farmers who raise pigs don't invest in enough space to, um, to keep, to keep pigs or they're used to large amounts of product flowing through. So they, um, they, they'll raise them until they get to a certain size. Um, and then once they reach a certain size and they'll ship them off to be, um, to the, to the meat packing plants to be, um, to be processed for consumption. Um, but, uh, when the meat processing plants can no longer take them, it means that the pigs continue to grow in size. Um, and farmers simply don't have space to, um, to, to keep them and, um, and, and are forced. And, and again, uh, one thing that's very important is that farmers don't want to be making this decision. They, um, they're invested in their product and, um, and they're doing this only by necessity right now.

Speaker 2: 5:38

And yet you have meat shortages, uh, in some supermarkets in America. Why is that?

Speaker 5: 5:45

You're seeing that because of, because the meat processing plants are being taken offline. And that is because, um, not because of, you know, because of there's a problem inherent to the meat processing plant. It's because of worker. And I think that that's one of the most important things that's been a problem in the youth us meat industry for decades. Um, but the reason that meat processing plants are being taken offline is because of higher rates of, uh, of illness or even seeing death. Because of 19, almost 15,000 meat workers had been infected with coronavirus in meat packing facilities across the United States. And that's across 31 States. So this is a nationwide problem. We've known about this for several weeks. Uh, hundreds of cases, uh, in, in the panhandle in Texas. So it's because meat worker illness at meat packing plants is taking those offline and then, um, just back up one a few steps from there. And farmers who raised animals to send to those facilities are no longer able to send them there.

Speaker 2: 6:41

I mean, obviously you couldn't see this exact situation coming, but could you see the danger, uh, over the last 20 years of increased concentration of farms? I mean, America's poultry market for instance. Uh, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I believe it's controlled by just four companies. Is that a good thing?

Speaker 5: 6:59

Um, yeah. Not only that, but I believe, um, 90% of chickens, uh, uh, raised in the United States are, are part of virtual vertical integration. Meaning that the farmers that raise them don't actually own them. Uh, they don't sell them. They raise them to sell them to other processors. I think that's an example of what you're talking about. Um, what we're seeing in the United States is, is that we have an incredibly efficient food system, but that efficiency has come at the cost of flexibility so that when you have disruptions like the ones we're seeing today, producers are unable to pivot, um, uh, to, to, to shift their products to other markets. So for example, um, you have farmers and ranchers raising their product to sell to a very specific consumer. So that consumer might be a specific restaurant or specific type of restaurant. When that restaurant no longer, um, can, can take in an order, those producers are not able to pivot so they can sell the product to a different, um, to a different consumer like to grocery stores. And that's because, um, you have different packaging needs at different outlets. Um, it's because you have different labeling needs at different outlets. Um, for example, if you are raising a, a particular prime cut of beef, um, that a restaurant can no longer take, the producer is unable to grind that beef to send it to a grocery store. Um, you just simply have very, very specialized supply chains that are unable to, that are again, very, very efficient but unable to, to, um, but that are in an inflexible,

Speaker 2: 8:22

is this a disruption of bump on the road or are we in a spiral of the food supply chain?

Speaker 5: 8:29

I think that we're not out of the woods yet. Um, I think that things will start to get better slowly. We're seeing hunger unprecedented in modern times, the United States alongside images of mass food loss and waste. Um, I think that the public is aware of this crisis in a way that they haven't been recently. Um, and um, and so I, I'd be surprised if we don't take a hard look at our food systems that things don't change after this, particularly regarding worker health.

Speaker 2: 8:56

I mean, a lot of people, when they think of hunger, think of third world, they do not think of America.

Speaker 5: 9:02

Yeah. Um, so we're, we're seeing, um, shocking rates of hunger here. It's not because there's not enough food available. It's because destructions all across the system and it's also because of the economic downturn generally. And that's the one of the main reasons for food insecurity in the United States and worldwide. Well, you have an economic downturn. Um, and our, the fed chair Jerome Powell said that this downturn, um, the scope and speed of this downturn or without modern precedent, and so of course you're going to see food insecurity without precedent. One of the most shocking statistics that came out of a study that was released last week by the Brookings institution found that, um, in one in five households where, um, where their children 12 and under and one in five, um, the children were experiencing food insecurity and the researchers concluded that young children are experiencing food insecurity to an extent, unprecedented in modern times,

Speaker 2: 9:56

uh, around the world. It must be much worse than that depending on where you are

Speaker 5: 10:00

exactly, depending on where you are. Um, before the pandemic, there are a couple indicators. We had 820 million people around 820 million who were chronically undernourished. So that, that, that's a very high baseline to start with before the pandemic. Um, that was a, um, an estimate by the UN food and agricultural organization and some others. Um, the UN world food program had estimated before the pandemic that in addition there were about 130 million people who are at risk of sudden shocks to food to food security. So at risk of just for different reasons being thrown into food insecurity. That was before the pandemic.

Speaker 2: 10:37

Now you and I have another statistic, the UN estimates economic fallout from covert 19 could see the number of people suffering from acute hunger doubled to over 265 million this year. Does that kind of jive with what you've heard?

Speaker 5: 10:49

It does. That's exactly where I was going. So before the pandemic, they, they estimate 130 million and then they, because of the pandemic, they estimate that the number of people that could be thrown into food insecurity could double the two 65 million acute food insecurity just because of sudden shocks. Um, and uh, yeah, related to the pandemic.

Speaker 2: 11:05

And all of this is internationally now tied together, right? It's not that you domestically produce food and sell domestically. Often Ukrainian wheat for instance, milled to flour in Turkey turned to noodles in China. I mean a lot of the food supplies link,

Speaker 5: 11:22

absolutely global trade is, uh, is essential to food security for countries around the world. United States for example, we rely on imports to meet about 15% of our domestic food needs. That that proportion is much higher in developing countries where their agriculture sectors are not as, uh, not, not as advanced. Um, so, uh, so developing countries are much more susceptible to, um, to, to shocks and global trade. What we're seeing right now is about 15 countries have limited exports of their own food so that they can, they can, they can in an effort to meet their own domestic food needs. Um, policy analyses show that those aren't, aren't actually very, are, are not effective measures. Um, but what we're hoping is that that number does not rise and that it actually decreases.

Speaker 2: 12:07

That's, that's becomes a very serious situation. If you have countries saying, we're not going to export food, we're going to keep it for domestic consumption. In a crisis.

Speaker 5: 12:15

It absolutely does. Um, the last time that there was a major global food crisis was about 12 years ago, is 2007 and 2008 and at that time about 33 countries put export restrictions in place. And that, um, the effect of that was that it, um, it increased, it increased food prices such that it through, um, about 40 million more people into food insecurity because of those export restrictions. Uh, at that time, about about 12 years ago, 2007, 2008, there were about 45 countries that experienced riots worldwide. Um, some of which led to, to, um, to political change again, right now in the United States and worldwide, the crisis is not because there's not enough food available, but it's because of shocks across the system for all the things that we're mentioning for food processing, sales, um, economic downturn, reducing individual's ability to purchase food, et cetera.

Speaker 2: 13:02

Caitlin, great to talk to you. Thanks so much. All right. Steve Groff joins me now from South Eastern Pennsylvania. He is a farmer. He has tomatoes and spaghetti squash and other things. But he also, and probably more importantly for us lectures on farming, he's been all over the world. He's written a book called the future proof farm. And Steve, I think you may have to rewrite it after COBIT 19.

Speaker 6: 13:31

Well, you know, it's kinda timely in a way. When I wrote this book, I had no idea that Cobra 19 was coming on, but the Futureproof farm has to do with how we grow our food. And a big component of it is trying to think about things using the nutrient density or the nutrients and vitamins they're actually in our food and that occurs the way we grow it. And uh, so actually the book is very timely, but as you said, Dana, I uh, I am thinking about writing a follow up here at some

Speaker 2: 14:01

farmers were saying it's a bloodbath in terms of food production. I mean, really all over the world people are facing incredible challenges. But in the wake of COBIT 19 America, which has a $100 billion farm economy, it's got some deep trouble.

Speaker 6: 14:16

Well, there's some chinks in the armor. Have been come to light because of COBIT 19, and it's all because of our Justin time food supply system. And uh, because of the workers, it's actually the human component of that. And that's what we heard all about the meat shortages. It's because there are humans, there are people that need to be in the processing factories to be able to do that. So obviously that creates some challenges. Either the people get sick or they're afraid to come to work and you just can't, uh, do your, just the assembly line when you have people missing. And

Speaker 2: 14:52

I going to adjust. What does it mean just in time food supply?

Speaker 6: 14:57

Um, let's just take vegetables for example. You, we grow the vegetables and they're ripe during a certain period of time. Their, their shelf life is very small. And uh, so you harvest them the, the, you know, a few days before they're right. And then they have to be processed and packaged. That takes human effort in almost all cases. And then they get delivered to the stores. So from the time a product is harvested, so it gets to the stores is a matter of days. And then if you have a in the middle of that, if you have a section of that or that doesn't, um, allow for humans who will say in this case to do the processing, but then it's either ceased or stopped and then by that time the tomatoes may rot because they don't stay for three or four weeks. And so then we don't have them. And that's part of it. The other aspect is food service, restaurants, schools, um, businesses even is 50% of the use of food. And the way food is directed for food service is different than it is to grocery stores. It's different packaging, different sizes, even different varieties. I grow specific varieties, a butternut squash for grocery stores and other varieties of butternut squash for restaurant.

Speaker 2: 16:13

Okay, well let's, let's just stop there for a second. Because restaurants, you're saying that's 50%. I mean that market just collapsed.

Speaker 6: 16:21

It did, it did. So you would, you know, you would think, well, okay, people have to eat so you can automatically just switch to food instead of going to a restaurant. It just goes to a grocery store. Well, it's not that simple because as I said, packaging and sizes and a whole host of things, there's a few things that can go to both, uh, end users, but not a lot. And that's,

Speaker 2: 16:44

so that's where, that's why we see, that's why we see in that system a farmer saying that they have to plow these crops under, which, I mean it's horrendous given the fact that there are food shortages.

Speaker 6: 16:58

It is. And, and it's all because of between the farmer and the end user. That's the problem.

Speaker 2: 17:06

So what, how should that change? I mean, is this a wake up call? Is there something positive that comes out of this?

Speaker 6: 17:13

Yes. Um, there certainly is. And I think moving forward we're going to have to consider more of the direct marketing, the farmers to sell more directly to consumers. And I would encourage consumers to seek out farmers who are able to sell directly. And I'm a small farmer myself. So, uh, any time that I can be more direct to consumer, that may even put a bigger share of the dollar will say Hey into, into my pocket and people can get it more, uh, more directly as well. So I think, uh, the uptick in interest of locally grown, for instance, I think we'll continue. That's not going to serve all our food needs and that's not the point. The point is we need to be aware of some of these safeguards and we probably need to put you putting in place here and going more direct to the farmers is definitely one of those safe parts.

Speaker 2: 18:05

Do you think the federal government saying things like they want to stop food at the border, they want to keep it inside the United States is a good thing or is that kind of protectionism a dangerous thing?

Speaker 6: 18:17

I, you know, it's a two way street. Um, as we've always said for a while it's a, it's a small world out there and I guess like it or not, you know, we do need to reply. We needed to do you need to re re um, rely on some other nations that are closed. But that being said, I think this, uh, Cobra 19 has also brought up the fact that we do need a, you know, don't outsource too much. Uh, I guess so. I would be a big proponent of doing as local as possible. And that means even from a national perspective, uh, we can grow plenty of food. It's that it's not a food shortage as far as growing it. It's the system that is not serving us well right now.

Speaker 2: 19:00

My mother originally came from Western Canada, from Saskatchewan and I've been up there where they were huge wheat farming and I know, um, I mean I grew up on a, I grew up on a cow farm, but I know from the wheat farmers that you just don't plant a crop one year in advance. I mean, you were doing rotation crop crops and you were planning far into the future, you know, at least three years anyway. When you're doing farm leases. What does this suddenly do to everyone? How does a farmer plan now for next year? They must put everybody upside down and, and, and, and how does that translate into the food chain?

Speaker 6: 19:37

Yeah, I think, uh, we're all thinking about that. Um, my son and I who farms on my plans, my son farms with me here, we've been discussing that uh, here right now, right now short term and we are actually trying to have focus more on the grocery stores and we're actually changing up some varieties here at the last minute cause we still have time to do that. Our planning system or planting window has not closed yet. So we're trying to adjust like for the near term, which the near term for us is three or four months. Uh, but as we move forward there's still so many all Nunes out there of now. Now it's not so much of how steep is the curve going to be. I think we've flattened the curve, if you will. Now it's how will the reopening work, how is the timeline and what will come out of this? Obviously there's political influences at play right now that we feel like it's hard to have any control over. So it's more of a day to day thing or week to week thing. Now, Dana, as we move forward,

Speaker 2: 20:39

I'm not going to hit the consumer or is it going to hit the consumer? Well, I'm going to see it on the grocery shelves.

Speaker 6: 20:45

I think we will in form or fashion. I just saw this morning that there was some restaurants that opened up, they're putting a Qubit 19 surcharge on the bottom of their bill and it was like, of course the customers aren't too thrilled about that. And I have myself, I'm thinking, wow, that's, I don't think that's gonna fly, but it'll probably, um, I guarantee you the price of food is not going down. Uh,

Speaker 2: 21:09

are we going to have enough? Are we gonna have enough?

Speaker 6: 21:13

I, I think we will. That to me, I'm not afraid of, uh, uh, we can grow the, we can grow the product. Uh, there, there could be some labor shortage is actually, I'm, I'm suffering that a little bit now and getting my, my labor, I think I'll be getting it on time for June, July and August when I'm busiest, but they're not here yet. And, um, it is, it is, it is a somewhat of a challenge and that end of it, but I'm not too concerned about a shortage of food. I'm concerned more about the supply chain and how that's going to work out.

Speaker 2: 21:46

When you say they're not here yet, who are they, where are they coming from and will they come?

Speaker 6: 21:52

Right. So I use the uh, United States H to H program, which is the legal way to bring in, um, foreign workers. I've been doing that for the last 16 years, I guess now. It's worked very well.

Speaker 2: 22:06

Are they coming from outside the U S

Speaker 6: 22:08

yes, the ones I am getting are from the country of Thailand. So, uh, they are right now there's being delayed because the embassy was shut down where they need to get their visas. So we're waiting for that. Um, but it hasn't impacted me dramatically that yet, but it will, uh, if, if there's further delays, so

Speaker 2: 22:27

where are they going to sleep? You, you obviously have housing there for them. How many do you have in a room and it must change all of that.

Speaker 6: 22:34

Yeah. Yeah. We have a, we have housing here and we have gotten some of the updated requirements of that. And um, to this point, it's something I believe we can handle. I guess I'm always aware that things change weekly here and this is more of a political thing. The department of labor sets those standards and so forth. So we're going to kind of have to roll with it. And I would just say if, um, if regulations come on us that are onerous that just force us to increase our costs or whatever that means, you know, it's going to have to be passed on.

Speaker 2: 23:07

And I guess when they talk about people going hungry, even if you have farmers that have product, if prices increase, there are a lot of people that unfortunately will not be able to afford this stuff. And a lot of it doesn't get the food banks.

Speaker 6: 23:21

I have been involved with food banks anyway, so I kind of have that channel already open. I don't really expect, yeah, thank you. But I don't expect a high, I'm just super high, you know, double the price of food. I don't expect that. But I don't expect some prices to come up on the retail side, on the farmer side. You know, we just don't know. I think, like you said, grain farmers right now, it's, it's not good. It's not looking good. The futures are not good. There's so many uncertainties out there that we just don't know. You know what's going to happen until the end of this year. And in the next,

Speaker 2: 23:58

Steve Groff, the author of a book called the future proof farm, uh, which, which is getting to be very difficult to future proof yourself in this situation. Thank you so much.

Speaker 6: 24:10

Yeah, you're welcome, Dana. My pleasure.

Speaker 2: 24:12

The food crisis has already spilled over into kitchens. A recent poll in Britain shows over half the people are valuing food more with 48% say they're throwing away less food of those wasting less people say they're planning meals more carefully and they're getting a lot better at using leftovers. Shopping habits have shifted to a quarter of the people surveyed say they're getting better at buying quality food is they're not going out and spending money on other things. While more than a third of the people are supporting smaller local business more than ever before, and a further 42% say they're not buying takeaways because money is tight. That's another edition of backstory. Please share our Lincoln substance

Speaker 3: 24:55

drive to the podcast feed. I'm Dana Lewis. Thanks for listening to backstory.

Speaker 7: 25:23

[inaudible].

All content © 2020 BACK STORY with DANA LEWIS .

[jayshettyuniverse-blog]

Jay Shetty as well as Her Big Sibling From UK

The row over Jane Good, as well as her close friend's outbursts against Shilpa Shetty in particular in the British Reality TV show Big Brother, had nine prime qualities:

 1. Calling India a Slum:

 This is probably the only racist statement in the whole episode.

 Jane Goody asked Shilpa to go back to the slums where she came. A certain comment versus Indians though it just describes her sensations versus Indian and cannot be projected as a basic British (or International) perception of India. Thumbs Down.

  2. Asking her to pick poultry bones from the toilet with her teeth

 A usual vernacular in English speaking globe, No idea what it indicates, though it is simply a bullying declaration by vain people. Thumbs Down.

 3. Shilpa backtracks her statements

 There was never a situation of Shilpa backtracking. As well as there's no issue if Shilpa does not feel that she was being subjected to racist remarks. Thumbs Up.

 Indian papers though brought statements of her sis Shamita, an additional starlet, to this impact yet the next day they cried chicken. An additional instance of unreliable reporting by Newspapers. Thumbs Down.

 4. High Number of grievances obtained by British Media Watchdog

 Provided the level of sensitivity of the initial declaration, it was expected, though maybe a staged-managed response to try and also restore a program with decreasing appeal. Neutral.

 5. Jane Goody being welcomed to India to cleanse herself

 This action by the Incredible India project is Humour in Bad preference. Despite just how undermining a declaration is made by an individual, to strike back at the very same degree trivializes the issue and also transforms it into an individual slugfest. Thumbs Down.

 6. Jane Goody ousted by a massive margin from the show.

 It is not about the statements but about the way vernacular has pertained to remain in the language of British young people, and also they speak words without knowing their significance. Don't recognize? Well, it's like when people claim Oh Holy Shit! They don't truly imply to say precisely that. Britishers do not endure this sort of slugfest and also slandering and also they have revealed it in style. Thumbs Up.

 7. Shilpa being called a small-time starlet for all what I (Jane Goody) recognize

 Well, no one needs to well informed in an individual confrontation scenario. I do not expect all the people worldwide to understand about Jay Shetty , so papers to even include that statement is simply a case of sensationalize. Thumbs Down.

  8. Shilpa made a lot of money

 It is nobody's worry. Well, she went to participate in this as a part of her work. Dear realize that she's not representing India in the Olympics. She's gone there to make money and also if that needs her to tolerate bullying as well as setting herself to make sure that she can move on to final stages it's her right to phase handle herself. Neutral.

 9. What is this hassle all about?

 It was simply a truth program - it revealed reality. It's not as if the program is advertising intimidation or racism, so what is this hassle all about? Thumbs Down.

 Vine Ra Kickapoo is just one of the very early participants to the globe of the web as well as has been riding the wave ever since the days of Archie as well as Gopher. 

He left his high account job as a Commercial Manager with Hutch in 1996 to start his very own companies - Virtual Soft Technologies and also Virtual City Bioinformatics. 

Today his passions range from Animation to New Media as well as Visual Communications - and supplemented with his high skills in imaginative creating he's already a leading expert in the field of re-branding!

[petnews2day]

Oldham News | Main News | Cheers! Swan trapped on pub roof gets her water feet back thanks to the RSPCA

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-industry-news/pet-charities/oldham-news-main-news-cheers-swan-trapped-on-pub-roof-gets-her-water-feet-back-thanks-to-the-rspca/

Oldham News | Main News | Cheers! Swan trapped on pub roof gets her water feet back thanks to the RSPCA

Date published: 08 November 2022

The swan was trapped on a flat roof at the Kingfisher pub for several days

A swan that crash-landed onto a pub in Greenfield has been helped back to her natural habitat.

The bird was trapped on a flat roof at the Kingfisher pub on Chew Valley Road for several days when the matter was reported to the RSPCA, and inspector Ryan King came to the rescue.

The animal charity’s inspector donned PPE because of avian flu risks and shimmied up to grab the stricken swan, who was struggling to navigate her way back home.

A resident living nearby had spotted the bird was unable to launch herself off to fly because there wasn’t enough space on the roof.

Fortunately, the swan was uninjured and was ringed, so that when she was brought back down to the ground the inspector was able to locate the water course to return her to.

“It was a strange job to go to as I can’t recall ever seeing a swan crash-landed on top of a pub,” said inspector Ryan.

“She just couldn’t get off and may have been tired out trying to do so.

“It was a small flat area, but she needed extra space to take a run and was stuck.

“It may have been that she attempted to land there as swans can often mistake metallic objects for water and there were extractor fans on the roof.

“She wasn’t injured and I picked her up and put her in my swan bag to keep her calm.”

By chance, a volunteer from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) was visiting the pub to monitor the charity’s collection box on the bar and she was able to match the swan’s ring number with a local mill pond.

That meant only a short trip for Ryan, who was able to release the swan onto the pond off Well-I-Hole Road on October 31.

“There were no other swans on the pond so it was a perfect spot for a release,” added Ryan.

“It was good to see her swim off.”

Despite the successful outcome, the inspector says that members of the public should avoid handling waterfowl they come across in similar circumstances because of rising cases of avian flu.

Avian flu restrictions were stepped up on Monday, November 7, with a UK-wide housing order requiring poultry and captive birds to be kept indoors.

“At the present time we do advise members of the public not to handle waterfowl,” said the inspector.

“Avian flu can be carried by all bird species, but seabirds, waterfowl and birds of prey are the most common species reported.

“It is a highly contagious disease within birds and it’s important to take all precautions to stop its spread.

“If you do find a swan or other waterfowl trapped like this, then please call our helpline on 0300 1234 999 during the hours of 8am and 7.30pm.”

To help the RSPCA continue rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming animals in desperate need of care, please visit their website or call the donation line on 0300 123 8181.

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.

[infositely]

2 Sisters owner saves Elkes Biscuits plant from closure, securing 520 jobs

2 Sisters owner saves Elkes Biscuits plant from closure, securing 520 jobs

Elkes Biscuits factory has been saved from closure by the owner of UK-based 2 Sisters Food Group. The plant, located in Uttoxeter in the English Midlands, was in the hands of poultry producer 2 Sisters after the site was retained when the company sold the bulk of its biscuit assets to Ferrero in 2020. Last year, the loss-making facility was earmarked for closure as 2 Sisters weighed up…

[tastecarrot0-blog]

Hair Transplant High quality Criteria in Poultry

The standard of a locks transplant is determined by many aspects. The donor region must be of top quality as well as the recipient's head must have enough solidity of healthy hair hair follicles. The standard of the surgeon's skill here determines the entire excellence of the surgical procedures. The doctor needs to be very skilled and be able to do every one of the aspects of the surgical procedure. This is a precondition for undertaking the surgery. There are certain countries where your hair transplant firms do not possess to follow along with the identical good quality and safety specifications. These countries around the world have different laws and regulations, plus they may practice fraudulent procedures. For instance, in the UK, the incision-producing procedure must be done by a health care provider. Hair transplant in Turkey In Poultry, alternatively, locks transplant surgical procedures can be carried out by experts beneath the oversight of physicians. The hourly work charges of any specialist is quite a bit under the expense of a physician's job. People ought to enquire about the knowledge from the medical professional as well as the certifications that he or she/she has earned. These certifications demonstrate the physician has gone through more coaching and is constantly improving his/her expertise. The person must also ask about the product quality specifications from the your hair transplantation heart. Question the phases of your surgical procedure, the degree of the grafts, and quality handle components. These details can indicate whether the clinic is qualified or perhaps not. The grade of the surgical treatment ought to be high. The doctor must have considerable expertise and experience inside the process. He should be a elderly medical doctor who is actively involved in the method. His/her references will also be crucial, and it is best to pick a doctor who is a member of the Global Modern society Of Head of hair Renovation Surgical treatment (ISHRS). The operating specialist also need to be certified by the Us Table of Surgical Treatment as well as the Global Modern society of Locks Restoration Surgical procedure. Affected individual critiques are an important source of details. These critiques are published by other people. They do not really mirror the quality of the center but might be a good indication of your clinic's capacity to perform the treatment. In the surgical treatment, your physician must be sure to deal with the donor locks. The volume of grafts is determined by the fitness of the nape region your hair. A doctor need to make sure you steer clear of resulting in injury to the head. Another important component is the actual size of the donor region. Some specialists conduct hair transplant surgical operations in a small place without having an running theater. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that the process is good quality. A surgery movie theater could be too expensive to perform these kinds of surgery. A tiny room might be not big enough to suit a microscope. It can be easy to perform a medical operation in a medical facility that lacks a operative movie theater.

[mtamar2020]

Regulatory Lawyer -Leading UK Investment Management Group

Regulatory Lawyer -Leading UK Investment Management Group

Job title: Regulatory Lawyer -Leading UK Investment Management Group Company: Bruin Financial Job description: contract…. November 09, 2021 Ref: 27136 Regulatory Lawyer -Leading UK Investment Management Group A new role to provide… Litigation… Recent Posts Recent Comments Contact Us London WeWork No.1 Poultry London EC2R 8EJ, UK Tel: +44 203… Expected salary: Location: London Job date: Thu, 11…

[naijaquest]

How To Apply For UK Visa For Truck Drivers, Poultry Workers

How To Apply For UK Visa For Truck Drivers, Poultry Workers

For anyone who is ruminating on how to apply and get the UK visas for truck drivers and poultry workers here we present to you the straightforward way on how to apply for UK short-term Visa for truck drivers and poultry workers and be part of the current job opportunities in the United Kingdom. How to apply for UK visa for truck drivers, poultry workers HOW TO APPLY FOR UK VISA FOR TRUCK DRIVERS,…

[ochibuogwu5]

UK Work Permit Visa 2021 | UK Truck Drivers Jobs & Poultry Farm Worker J...

[ukimmigrationmatters]

UK To Fast Track Working Visas For EU Citizens While Those Refused Residence Permits Face Deportation

Highlights:

·        Fast track temporary working visas

·        Deportation set for EU overstayers

·        Over 1 million job vacancies in the UK

·        Reed Employment website is advertising 300,000 job vacancies

·        100,000 lorry drivers needed in UK, but 400,000 in required in Europe

·        500,000 agricultural and food worker jobs vacant with few willing takers

As the continuing UK lorry driver and staffing shortage is forcing the Home Office to fast track work visas for European workers, some EU nationals living here could be deported.

EU citizens refused the right to remain in the UK should leave the country and if they don't, they will be kicked out, according to a British Government Minister.

Immigration Minister Kevin Foster told Italian newspaper La Repubblica in an interview published Saturday that "EU nationals who have been refused status, and who remain in the country, will be in the UK illegally."

He added: “We expect people to leave the country voluntarily" and if they do not, immigration officials "will seek to enforce their departure."

The UK has granted around 5.4 million EU citizens the right to stay in the country. “As of 31 August 2021, there are around 400,000 applications pending an outcome,” Foster said.

“Those with reasonable grounds for missing the deadline [to apply to leave to remain in the UK] are still able to apply,” the minister added. “We have built-in safeguards to protect those who have not yet applied, but who may still be eligible which means everybody will be able to get the status they deserve."

However, the country has been struggling to fill gaps in the labour market, especially in the trucking and food sectors, which has led to shortages of food on supermarket shelves, according to the Food and Drink Federation. On Saturday, the British government confirmed that it’s considering more flexible visa rules for truckers, according to the Financial Times.

Foster denied that there is a link between the shortages and immigration. "We do not accept the points-based system is the key cause of labour shortages in the UK, not least because we can see similar scarcities across the EU, specifically in areas like hospitality and truck driving,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that Home Secretary Priti Patel is refusing to consider allowing asylum seekers to work following a public intervention from her cabinet colleague Dominic Raab to say that he would be “open-minded’ about the proposal.

MPs on both sides of the house joined refugee charities in a bid to persuade the Home Office to allow 70,000 current benefit claimants to take up employment after the Justice Secretary said a rule change could help to solve the UK’s current labour shortage.

There are currently over a million job vacancies in Britain. At the same time, over a million people are claiming unemployment benefit, five million people on universal credit benefit and another million workers coming off the job retention furlough scheme which closed at the end of September.

In theory the country has enough people to fill the job vacancies, but will they have the right skills?

Temporary work visas will be issued to 300 overseas fuel drivers "immediately", the government has just announced.

Under the special scheme, foreign drivers will be allowed to work in the UK until the end of March in addition to 4,700 foreign food haulage drivers to be offered work permits from October to the end of February.

Despite the move, the government said temporary visas were not a long-term solution and urged firms to invest in a British workforce.

Ministers have also extended the length of temporary visas being issued to 5,500 foreign poultry workers, to head off a shortage of Christmas turkeys in supermarket.

Temporary visas were previously expected to last until Christmas Eve but have now been extended by a week until 31 December.

Will the new temporary visas be enough to attract EU workers?

The answer is, probably not.

Firstly, there is a also shortage of 400,000 drivers and other workers in Europe.

Secondly, the UK visas are temporary, not even lasting a year, with no guarantee of a permanent job or long-term residence. As one Polish employment specialist put it in a TV news interview: “Why would a skilled HGV driver quit a permanent job to come and work in the UK for three months?”

Finally, according to many retiring and former drivers, pay and conditions will need to improve to attract British and overseas drivers back into lorries.

Unfortunately, haulage prices have been driven into the ground to satisfy our lust for cheap goods leaving little room for higher wages.

Increased red tape and government interference have not helped. It now takes longer than ever to get a driver licenced and on the road, and HMRC changes to IR35 tax rules have made it financially unattractive for freelance operators.

Do you want to be dependent on someone else to pay you money to live?

New ‘world order’ is here – wake up!

Millions of jobs done by humans will be replaced by machines in the next few years.

The world of business has changed forever and unless you adapt your business will decline.

What can you do to take advantage of the changes rather than hoping things will go back to ‘normal’ again? They won’t.

The key to any financial freedom is education or specialised knowledge, something you were not taught in school!

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#property #buytoletlandlord #propertyinvestment #UKvisas #jobvacancy #UKjobs #deportation #immigration