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UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

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tek
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#76

Post by tek »

RTH10260 wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 4:52 pm Note: consumers who have contracts following the spot market prices and often get low quotes are now crunched.
See also: Texas.
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#77

Post by RTH10260 »

among other troubles now this
UK carbon dioxide shortage could force farmers to cull pigs
Soaring energy prices slow production of gas used to stun animals before slaughter in abattoirs

Jillian Ambrose and Joanna Partridge
Fri 17 Sep 2021 18.37 BST

Britain’s pig farmers are the latest casualty of the worsening energy crisis which threatens to trigger a shortage of carbon dioxide used across the food and drinks industry.

Rocketing gas prices have caused a Europe-wide slowdown for some chemical factories that produce fertiliser, a byproduct of which is carbon dioxide, used in fizzy drinks and beer as well as in the meat industry to stun animals before slaughter.

Meat industry representatives have warned that farmers may imminently be required to begin “humane” pig culls because of a looming shortage of carbon dioxide to slaughter the backlog of animals destined for abattoirs that are already understaffed amid labour shortages.

It would be the first time that farmers would be required to destroy their animals en masse since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease two decades ago forced the government to send the army to British farms to cull livestock.

Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, said: “We urgently need the secretary of state for business to convene the big CO2 manufacturers to demand that they coordinate to minimise disruption, and provide information to Britain’s businesses so contingency plans can be made.”


https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... -cull-pigs
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#78

Post by RTH10260 »

Christmas meal without a turkey :o
UK carbon dioxide shortage could ‘cancel Christmas’, warns turkey supplier
Owner of Bernard Matthews says supply of poultry will be affected and urges government to act

Press Association
Sat 18 Sep 2021 19.59 BST

The owner of the UK’s biggest poultry supplier has added his voice to UK food producers’ concerns over a shortage of carbon dioxide gas, saying the supply of turkeys for Christmas will be affected.

Ranjit Singh Boparan, the owner of Bernard Matthews and 2 Sisters Food Group, said the closure of two large fertiliser plants in Teesside and Cheshire – which produce CO2 as a byproduct – due to a sharp rise in gas prices has hit supply to the food industry, already affected by a shortage of workers.

CO2 is essential to the humane slaughter of livestock, extends the shelf life of products and is vital to cooling systems for refrigeration purposes, industry leaders have said.

Boparan said: “There are less than 100 days left until Christmas and Bernard Matthews and my other poultry businesses are working harder than ever before to try and recruit people to maintain food supplies.”

He said that “the gaps on the shelves” that he had warned about in July were “getting bigger by the day”.

Boparan continued: “The supply of Bernard Matthews turkeys this Christmas was already compromised as I need to find 1,000 extra workers to process supplies. Now, with no CO2 supply, Christmas will be cancelled.

“The CO2 issue is a massive body blow and puts us at breaking point, it really does … with our sector already compromised with lack of labour, this potentially tips us over the edge.”
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#79

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Why are gas prices rising in the UK? CO2 shortage explained - and how it could impact food supplies
A Government minister has said there is no threat to gas supplies in the UK this winter despite prices going up sharply

By Crystal Chesters
Sunday, 19th September 2021, 12:51 pm
  • The UK has seen a sharp rise in wholesale gas prices, which has resulted in CO2 shortages for food suppliers.

    The government has been holding urgent talks with energy suppliers to understand how wide-reaching the impact of rising prices could be on households and businesses.

Why are gas prices rising?

Prices of wholesale gas are at a record high around the world as economies recover from the Covid pandemic.

According to Industry group Oil & Gas UK, wholesale prices for gas are up 250% since January, and have increased 70% since August.

High global demand, as well as maintenance issues and lower solar and wind energy output has pushed prices up.

In the UK, lower winds have meant less renewable energy is generated. There have also been outages at some nuclear stations and lower flows into the UK of natural gas from Norway.

Dermot Nolan, a former Ofgem chief executive, said the increases were the result of depleted stocks following a cold winter in 2020, as well as reduced supply from Russia, and increased demand for liquefied natural gas from the Far East.


https://www.nationalworld.com/news/poli ... es-3388501
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#80

Post by Volkonski »

The chemistry of ammonia (NH3) and CO2 production from natural gas (methane, CH4).

CH4 + H2O → CO + 3 H2

CO + H2O → CO2 + H2

3 H2 + N2 → 2 NH3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonia_production
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#81

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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#82

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plant less, import more
Food waste piles up as Britain faces farming labor shortages, planting scaled down for 2022

20 Sep 2021 --- Unprecedented labor shortages in the UK over recent months have led to endemic food waste, as crops have been left to rot in the fields. As a result, British fruit and vegetable suppliers are planning to cut down their planting for next year.

A post-Brexit pilot visa scheme rolled out to admit seasonal workers has been insufficient, while nationwide labor shortages have lured away fruit and vegetable pickers to other sectors.

Just last month, UK meat producers looked into hiring prisoners to plug labor gaps that have deepened in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Smaller harvest forecast for 2022

Fresh produce growers are forecasting smaller harvests for the coming year, in anticipation that gaps will be filled by imports.

However, UK F&B businesses are anticipating further setbacks as the enforcement of new post-Brexit border control policy on food and agricultural produce coming in from the EU will be delayed by eight months, following a previous postponement of six months.

Rising wages for harvesters coupled with higher overtime pay have led to workers from abroad returning home after making enough money within a shorter span of time.

For decades, UK farms, similar to others across Europe, have outsourced seasonal labor from the EU, with workers being given passes to move around Britain and work freely.

When Brexit terminated the rights of these individuals to be contracted for work in the UK, a pilot scheme for seasonal workers’ visas was bumped up from 10,000 to 30,000 places this year.



https://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/ne ... -2022.html
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#83

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the British weirdos of post-brexit times
Joe Biden is wrong about Northern Ireland, says George Eustice
Row breaks out over post-Brexit protocol

Steve Swinford, Political Editor | Henry Zeffman, Washington | David Charter, US Editor | Oliver Wright, Whitehall Editor
Wednesday September 22 2021, 11.00am BST, The Times

President Biden is wrong about Northern Ireland because he does not understand the complicated nature of the post-Brexit trade deal, a minister has said.

The US leader warned Boris Johnson yesterday not to abandon the Northern Ireland protocol, which effectively established a trade border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland after Brexit. Johnson wants to change the deal but Biden fears this could inflame tensions on the island of Ireland. He also poured cold water on the prospect of a UK-US trade deal, with ministers discussing plans to join a North American free trade pact instead.



paywall https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bide ... -6h7v0d529
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#84

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Eustice is an idiot.
If you can't lie to yourself, who can you lie to?
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#85

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:o
Boris Johnson admits he has six children
Prime minister, previously coy about his complex family life, answers interviewer during US visit

Heather Stewart Political editor
Tue 21 Sep 2021 15.07 BST

Boris Johnson has admitted for the first time that he has six children, claiming in an interview on US television that he “changes a lot of nappies”.

The prime minister has previously tended to avoid questions about his notoriously complex family life. He has been divorced twice, and conceived a daughter during an extramarital relationship.

But when an NBC interviewer put to him that he has six children, he replied: “Yes.”


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... x-children
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#86

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The energy crisis no one saw coming

A cold winter, a windless summer, and boom in business have combined to create an energy crisis that is hitting particularly hard in the UK. The Guardian’s energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose explains how it happened – and what it will mean for people


Thu 23 Sep 2021 03.00 BST

The gas crisis that has plunged the UK’s energy system into chaos took everybody by surprise – but in retrospect, the chain of events that led us here started almost a year ago. First, a particularly cold winter meant many people turned the heating up. Then factories and businesses started to turn up production as the economy emerged from the pandemic. Russia reduced its supplies to Europe. A windless summer reduced renewable input to the grid. And on top of all that, a fire in Kent shut down a vital power cable connecting Britain to mainland Europe.

The resulting crisis is likely to increase bills for months to come and put the wider economy under serious pressure – but most of us understand little about the system that gets power to our homes, or how changes in supply find their way to our bills. In this episode, Guardian energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose explains the origins of the crisis to Michael Safi and explores what it has revealed about the weaknesses in the UK’s power system, how they can be fixed – and how serious the impact will be on ordinary people.



https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/ ... ng-podcast
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#87

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NYT Newsletter wrote:Boris Johnson’s attention-grabbing U.S. visit

Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, made headlines this week while visiting the U.S., variously telling the world to grow up and accept the challenge of climate change; making fun of France’s neuralgic response to a U.S.-Australia-Britain submarine deal; and even clearing up lingering confusion about how many children he has (six).

A journalist-turned-politician, Johnson has long employed humor, often at his own expense, to make serious points. But it is unclear how well that lighthearted style advances Britain’s post-Brexit position on the global stage. “The problem with being a comedy act is that you’re then not taken seriously,” one British observer said. “That’s why we weren’t consulted on Afghanistan.”

Britain has yet to make progress on a trade deal with the U.S., one of the main selling points of Brexit. President Biden has also made it clear that he would object to any British actions that threaten the peace in Northern Ireland, such as its vows to overhaul its post-Brexit trading arrangements there.
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#88

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and no EU workers in sight...
UK needs nearly TWO MILLION workers: Active job posts reveal bosses are crying out for 55,019 care staff, 36, 471 chefs, 32,615 sales assistants - amid urgent calls to relax immigration rules to ease crisis
  • Job market data from September 13 to September 19 shows firms in the UK posted 220,000 new job roles
    The figure, from September 13 to September 19, brings the total number of active jobs to more than 1.9million
    Job advert figures also show more than 7,500 job adverts have been posted for HGV drivers in UK last week
    The Road Haulage Association estimate the UK to be short 100,000 HGV drivers, amid driver shortage chaos
By JAMES ROBINSON FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:26 BST, 24 September 2021 | UPDATED: 15:13 BST, 24 September 2021


Which industries are looking for new staff?
These are the number of new job adverts posted in the UK from September 13 to September 19, according to data analysed by Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).

Care workers: 55,019
Chefs: 36,471
Primary school teachers: 32,942
Metal workers: 22,956
Cleaners: 28,220
HGV drivers: 7,513
Bar staff: 6,557
Sales assistants: 32,615
School secretaries: 2,678
Lollipop men and women: 2,478
Postal workers: 2,251

*The figures are for jobs posted between September 13 - September 19. In total there are more than 1.9million active job adverts.


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... staff.html
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#89

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“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#90

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Supermarket food shortages will be over by Christmas, Downing Street says
Shoppers will enjoy a ‘normal Christmas’, Boris Johnson’s spokesman predicts – despite industry warning of ‘permanent’ gaps on shelves

Rob Merrick
Deputy Political Editor
Friday 10 September 2021 15:44

The days of people picking up almost any item they want, whenever they want, are over - says a trade body

Supermarket food shortages will be over by Christmas, No 10 says – rejecting industry warnings that shoppers must get used to “permanent” gaps on shelves.

Boris Johnson’s spokesman set up the hostage to fortune as he dismissed an extraordinary claim that the days when people could pick up almost any item they want, whenever they want, are over.

The gloomy boss of the Food and Drink Federation said there was no prospect of the problems – triggered by a combination of Brexit and Covid – ending quickly.

“It’s going to get worse and it’s not going to get better after getting worse any time soon,” Ian Wright told an event organised by the Institute for Government.

“The result of the labour shortages is that the just-in-time system that has sustained supermarkets, convenience stores and restaurants – so the food has arrived on shelf or in the kitchen, just when you need it – is no longer working.



https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 17896.html
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#91

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Boris is in denial.
“If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war.” ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#92

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a vlogging truck driver flogging the government

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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#93

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BP says nearly a third of its UK fuel stations running on empty
By William James

BRIGHTON, England, Sept 26 (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) said nearly a third of its British petrol stations had run out of the two main grades of fuel on Sunday as panic buying forced the government to suspend competition laws and allow firms to work together to ease shortages.



https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/behave ... 021-09-26/
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#94

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Boris Johnson to consider using army to supply petrol stations
Ministers to discuss emergency plan Operation Escalin after BP reveals a third of its forecourts have shortages

Aubrey Allegretti
Sun 26 Sep 2021 20.28 BST

Hundreds of soldiers could be scrambled to deliver fuel to petrol stations running dry across the country due to panic buying and a shortage of drivers under an emergency plan expected to be considered by Boris Johnson on Monday.

The prime minister will gather senior members of the cabinet to scrutinise “Operation Escalin” after BP admitted that a third of its petrol stations had run out of the main two grades of fuel, while the Petrol Retailers Association (PRA), which represents almost 5,500 independent outlets, said 50% to 90% of its members had reported running out. It predicted that the rest would soon follow.



https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... l-stations
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#95

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I wonder how many army truck drivers have the extra education to transport dangerous goods, how to handle spills. Driving civilian tanker lorries is not the same as handling rugged military vehicles. Also too, petrol delivery requires filling the tankers and handling and unloading of the fluids at the destination with some paperwork that may be company specific. Expect some hickups.
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#96

Post by keith »

RTH10260 wrote: Mon Sep 27, 2021 2:18 am I wonder how many army truck drivers have the extra education to transport dangerous goods, how to handle spills. Driving civilian tanker lorries is not the same as handling rugged military vehicles. Also too, petrol delivery requires filling the tankers and handling and unloading of the fluids at the destination with some paperwork that may be company specific. Expect some hickups.
Who drives the trucks that deliver munitions? On battlefields, no less?

Who drives the trucks that deliver petrol for trucks and tanks and the Generals Limousine Hummers". On battlefields no less?

Who drives the trucks that deliver petrol and torpedos and what not to submarine pens.

etc. etc. etc.
Has everybody heard about the bird?
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#97

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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#98

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:cantlook:
Fuel supply crisis: Grant Shapps blames haulage group for creating 'manufactured situation' as pump chaos continues
A cabinet minister says there is "plenty of fuel" and urges the public to be "sensible" as he attacks an industry body for sparking the crisis, claiming it was "desperate to have more European drivers undercutting British salaries".

Monday 27 September 2021 03:17, UK

The transport secretary has said there would be no fuel queues if motorists filled up as normal as he accused a haulage group of triggering the "manufactured situation".

Speaking to Sky News' Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme, Grant Shapps insisted there was "plenty of fuel" and urged the public to be "sensible" as some retailers were forced to shut their pumps and ration sales in the face of long lines at petrol stations for a third day.'

The cabinet minister's comments came as the government announced a temporary visa scheme that will allow 5,000 HGV drivers and 5,500 poultry workers to be brought in from abroad on three-month contracts to keep supermarket shelves stocked with turkeys in the run up to Christmas and tackle fuel delivery problems.

However, business leaders have already warned the package of measures "will not be enough".

Mr Shapps said: "I think the important thing to know is that within the country, at the six refineries and 47 storage facilities, there is plenty of fuel, there is no shortage of fuel within the country.



https://news.sky.com/story/supply-crisi ... o-12418458
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#99

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‘Getting into Europe is a relief every time’: an HGV driver reflects on UK crisis
Christopher Johns talks about what conditions are like for drivers in the UK and whether any solutions might be forthcoming

As told to Jedidajah Otte
Mon 27 Sep 2021 16.46 BST

Christopher Johns, 37, from Burwash, Sussex, has been an HGV driver for more than 10 years, and drives long distance in UK and Europe. Here he speaks about what conditions are like for HGV drivers in the UK, and why he feels there may be no quick solution to the current truck driver crisis.

“I’m always staggered by how much truck drivers have been taken for granted in the UK. We work so hard for very little money. Our wages have desperately needed improving for such a long time. A friend’s starting salary at Lidl is the same as that of many trucker friends. I could earn more if I did temp work, like many others do, but I have a wife and three kids, I need job security. I only earn enough now because I do a lot of overseas work, where you get bigger expenses allowances.

“The difference between how truck drivers are treated in the UK and the rest of Europe is huge. We aren’t catered for in the UK. There are inadequate or no facilities at all across parts of the UK, particularly in the south, to handle a driver’s needs.

“We can spend a week or two or longer away from home. This means we are forced to sleep in tiny lay-bys or industrial estate roads, with no access to basic amenities. The larger services on the big motorways are still not equipped with enough parking for large-scale vehicles, and they charge trucks around £30 a night for the privilege. The rest of Europe doesn’t charge for parking. France, for instance, supports HGV drivers with the Routier chain of partnership restaurants and bars – they provide showers, free parking. Getting into Europe is a relief every time.



https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -uk-crisis
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Re: UK - England, Wales, N.Ireland, Scotland

#100

Post by RTH10260 »

:brickwallsmall: :brickwallsmall: :brickwallsmall:
Petrol station chaos worsened by motorists filling up with wrong fuel
More than five times as many people as usual in the UK put diesel in their petrol engine or vice versa

Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent
Mon 27 Sep 2021 15.03 BST

The chaos on Great Britain’s petrol station forecourts has been worsened by hundreds of panicking motorists filling their tanks with the wrong kind of fuel, breakdown services have reported.

With queues snaking hundreds of metres from some filling stations – and tension building between motorists in places, more than five times as many people as usual in the UK have mistakenly put diesel in their petrol engine or vice versa.


https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... wrong-fuel
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