As usual, [1]Cory Doctorow talks sense on this one.

[1] https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/06/fortress-mentality/#mbas

If our soon to be ex PM and his gaggle of successors get their way will BT exercise this option? How many outages will ensue? Good luck to the CWU

Openreach already uses MJ Quinn and Kelly supplied subcontractors extensively on domestic work. I assume these are CWU members but I'd not be surprised if the level of union membership at subbies is lower than amongst the salaried crews

I was a wee nipper in the 1970s so a lot of the problems went over my head. Now I'm in my 50s it's so great to be able relive the 1970s all over again with recession, rising prices and constant strikes.

I only hope they also bring back serious naff haircuts and stupid fashions!

We remember the inflation, the power cuts, that whole winter of discontent. We forget that we had historically low levels of poverty.

Not the [1]tank tops, eh?

PS, the music was way better. Even the bubble gum.

[1] https://vintageunscripted.com/2020/05/22/1970s-knit-tank-top-pattern-for-him/

But there were council houses so poor people didn't have to pay "market rents" for a 2 room shit hole. Work was scarce where we lived (in a council house) and if she was out of work our single mum could claim social security (universal credit today) instead of dole (jobseekers' allowance) while we kids were under the age of 16, so she didn't have prove she was looking for work. Today that age is is 3 years old and after that it's jobseekers and the recipient has to be searching for work and available for work for at least 16 hours a week.

I don't remember us living in poverty. Tea was sometimes bread and (butter or jam) when things were particularly bad and we only a proper Sunday dinner if mum was working and had Sunday off - but we got free school dinners and they were good and seconds often available, which is possibly why I still eat like a dog! I had catalogue clothes while my mates had Levis, Wranglers and Adidas, but I was better off than my brother who got to wear my clothes after I grew out of them. I only really ever felt left out when people talked about places they'd been - especially the pictures - cause mum simply couldn't afford it.

But everyone's Uni fees were paid by the council and my full grant at the time it was over £600 a term, which was more per week than my mum took home from the job she had at the time working in a clothing factory.

What I'd really like to understand is why today, given that the tax take is a higher proportion of GDP than it's ever been, we can't afford to provide council houses, better benefits, uni. fees and grants, and all the other support that let me and my brother get out of benefits dependence.

Absolutely, except for the school dinners. I'd often get home ravenous because I'd been unable to force their shite down.

That's an easy one, as services are now privatised, taxpayer money ends up as profit for the company providing the service and is distributed as the company sees fit (usually not in workers' paypackets).

It's called a kleptocracy.

When we moved into a council house in the early 1970's, it had a garden, and a *downstairs toilet* - thanks apparently to the "Parker-Morris" standards. Translating my parents' circumstances to the current day, even if such a palace were available, they wouldn't be able to afford it. So much for levelling up. I'm actually ashamed to live in a country where we can't provide a decent respectable standard of living for so many, while oligarchs and billionaires live it up.

"What I'd really like to understand is why today, given that the tax take is a higher proportion of GDP than it's ever been, we can't afford to provide council houses, better benefits, uni. fees and grants, and all the other support that let me and my brother get out of benefits dependence.

Partly because one of the first things the Thatcher government did was to remove exchange controls. Most people just thought 'Great, I can take more cash on holiday', but it was done so that companies and rich people could shovel their money into offshore tax havens.

Another thing they did was to reduce the top rates of income tax and increase VAT, so the burden of taxation fell less on the wealthy and more onto everyone else.

The tax burden on working people is higher than it's ever been simply to rake back the tax that should be being paid by corporations, but isn't.

This is because we've had 43 years* of government that favours big business over the people who actually vote them in. Of course so many voters believe what the Tories say rather than looking at the facts+. The Tories always claim to be the party of low taxes but in reality you generally pay more tax under a Tory government. The Tories claim to be the party of law and order, but crime tends to increase under a Tory government. And of course the Tories claim to be the party of low unemployment, but all they do is change how unemployment is measured. They love to claim that employment is higher than it's ever been while failing to mention that they will count a school dinner supervisor who works five hours a week as employed even though that person is claiming the full rate of universal credit. But that's the real reason for universal credit. The old version of unemployment used to be anybody who was claiming unemployment benefit or jobseekers allowance or dole or whatever you call it. These days unemployed is anybody who doesn't work at all. And working includes voluntary work that the dole office (sorry DWP) make you do as a condition of continuing to receive your benefits. Volunteer in a charity shop? According to the Tories you are employed.

*Don't try to tell me that New Labour weren't anything other than a slightly more liberal version of a Tory government

+It's amazing how many Tory voters I speak to still believe in trickle down economics

Too late

Apparently, the 'Mullet' has made a comeback. Flares are everywhere.

Current thing that calls itself music is mostly pure garbage. Bring back 'sounds of the Seventies' with whispering Bob Harris.

It’s still on Radio 2. Johnny Walker. Whispering Bob has moved on to “both kinds”.

I really liked his work on the “old grey rag”. Fabulous!

I reckon that BT think they will be able to maintain normal service by using their usual motely band of subcontractors (Kelly's, Quinn's Murphy's, etc.) except of course they won't. Most of those "engineers" can only deal with the most basic of tasks. Any shortage of proper engineers will lead to a backlog of more complex work, especially faults, that the subbies won't be able to handle. If the strike lasts any length of time BT and Openreach will no doubt end up paying out a lot of service credits. Of course they will try to wriggle out of it by claiming the strike is MBORC (matters beyond our reasonable control) but I doubt that will wash. After all the strike at the moment is only over BTs refusal to sit round a table and discuss an improved pay deal. That is not an unreasonable request.

BT, Openreach and all their various resellers are trying to play this down in the same way the train companies did. It started off with them predicting no impact to customers, just like it did with the rail strikes. Then it seems to be turning to there may be some delays to faults and orders, but nothing they can't handle, just like with the rail strikes some services may be cancelled and passengers should expect delays. The final stage for the rail strikes was for the rail companies to tell passengers that most services would be cancelled and people should not attempt to travel by rail. The same will happen with BT. No doubt the evening before the strike commences we will be advised that all orders will be delayed for the duration of the strikes and customer shouldn't bother raising any faults because they are unlikely to get fixed.