It’s a dispiriting today, especially, I suspect, for our UK readers. Perhaps some felids can cheer us up: several readers sent me to the #catsatpollingstations Twitter site, where Brits posted their cats at the polling station. Why do I suspect that most cat owners voted Labour or Libera Democrat instead of Conservative?
Here are some entries
https://twitter.com/weebear1974/status/1205089662227959808
Cats, as ever, capturing the mood of the nation. #catsatpollingstations https://t.co/vV2jyflLfR
— Simon Gallacher (@sgallacher65) December 12, 2019
Clearly not happy about being dragged to a polling station after a trip to the vet.#catsatpollingstations#VoteTacticalNotTribal pic.twitter.com/vJN2JG5ceq
— Brent Rees (@brent_ap_rees) December 12, 2019
Make sure you vote today, dears. I'll be there, making sure. But rest assured, I will remain in charge of everything no matter the result. #CatsAtPollingStations pic.twitter.com/EjVS2dzNch
— Fatwans (@fatwans) December 12, 2019
Quita would like to remind you and the dogs of the UK that her and the other cats also want you to vote today. | #dogsatpollingstations #UKElection #GeneralElection2019 #catsatpollingstations pic.twitter.com/bWrP99W4wM
— Quita the Kitty (@quitathekitty) December 12, 2019
Preparing to #VoteTactically 🗳️ #GeneralElection2019 #catsatpollingstations #dogsatpollingstations @Number10cat @TreasuryMog pic.twitter.com/rQWSzDk94k
— 🐾 Siren Blackcat🐈⬛ (@SirenBlackCat) December 12, 2019
It’s too cold at wet for Ted this time around but apparently it’s cats’ time anyway #catsatpollingstations #dogsatpollingstations pic.twitter.com/2X5jGvEjLR
— Karla (@karlalala) December 12, 2019
We voted #LiberalDemocrats in Kensington #UKElection #catsatpollingstations pic.twitter.com/YPeL8vKiPS
— et101 (@EileenTLondon) December 12, 2019
Xena is ready to cast her vote at @MittonAllHallow #CatsAtPollingStations #GE2019 pic.twitter.com/psHGuf0KZo
— Sarita (@SaritaAinsworth) December 12, 2019
Iggy says vote Labour. His humans have. #VotingLabour #catsatpollingstations (well would be if he didn’t have clever humans). pic.twitter.com/JtN9iOoWah
— Harriet Walker (@hawiet) December 12, 2019
Even one from the Loser:
Zoom in on my watch. pic.twitter.com/IQbxiOZYdz
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 12, 2019
Charlie Hitler [first pic] is a great arsehole cat name.
The last pic of Corbyn’s kitty [day before the election result] is a lot of bother – one is supposed to read the message [white letters] near Corb’s wristwatch, which directs to the white letters on the paperback, which directs to his left ear, which directs to the Kitty’s left whiskers, where the runaround seems to end. The problem is I can’t read that last message! An accidental metaphor for the Labour shit show methinks.
So the grapes of wrath. Is that the expectation now for England. Like Oklahoma in the 30s the people will be jumping in the Auto and heading elsewhere for work. At least now they can drive to other parts of Europe to look for work.
There’s plenty of work in the UK, but part of the story [a small part of the story!] is there’s not enough UK citizens prepared to fill the vacancies at the pay rates, work conditions, job locations & terms/conditions being offered. As an example there’s a LOT of part-time work which employers love because it gets them out of paying their portion of National Insurance [NI] which employers & employees both pay in full time work. Thousands of part-time workers are in for a shock when they retire as they will not be allowed to claim the full £107.45/wk that most people are entitled to. Mums, older people who have cut down their working hours and those struggling to find full-time work are particularly at risk from losing valuable benefits in retirement.
There is a record number of part-timers now [eight million] & the full basic state pension is given to those with 30 qualifying years of NI…
There’s lots of little quirks in UK employment law today that overly favour the employer – retail & other service industries resemble a serf/master relationship now – full of youngsters & part-timers with no career path for either, because employers in retail, restaurants etc do their best to shed workers before they are 25 years old [at 25 the highest level of “National Minimum Wage” kicks in].
Ah, lots of the same thing here although I don’t think it has become as big an issue, although it should. Part time is especially big in retail and the fast food industry. Very few benefits or none. Another popular one here now for many years is getting your employees, workers from an agency. You pay the agency and they can provide you people almost instantly for any amount of time and hours. If the people working this way get any benefits at all they must get them from the agency. The company employing them provides nothing. It really sucks. When I was still working the company I worked for would use these agencies paying the agent something like $15 bucks an hour. They turn around and pay the employee $10 bucks and keep the remainder for overhead and profit to the agency. It also lets you fire people without cause.
Yes Randall – same deal in every particular as here in serf UK! 🙂
Unless living in the UK has become much cheaper than during my last visit, the full £107.45/wk does not sound like enough to allow a person to survive.
I incorrectly gave a figure from around 2012 Charles. The full new State Pension is £168.60/wk, but age eligibility has changed so that one will have to be 66 in October 2020 [at the mo it’s 65]. 67 between 2026 and 2028 & 68 between 2037 and 2039 although that last one hasn’t been confirmed. It is my guess the minimum pension age will increase faster than projected above!
** Pensioners get an automatic £200 “winter Fuel Payment” annually in December
** The Gov has a scheme where you can defer your state pension & get more when you decide to take it up
** One can still earn extra income after pension age
** Buses & trains & TV licence are free – that’s free local travel over quite a substantial area [say Greater London, if you’re domiciled in London]
** State help with paying rent over a certain amount & local council rates [the latter funds bins, fire service & other things] – rates are discounted for pensioners anyway
** free healthcare & dental for all ages of course
The pensioners I know who rely ONLY on the State Pension have around £40-£50/wk to spare for food & fuel if single & they all economise too much on heating – utilities are expensive in the UK. Very hand-to-mouth for those pensioners without a second pension or a part time job. Not practical to run a car for example which is a bugger if one is not 100% fit.
Trains aren’t free. They’re cheaper for pensioners, if you get a pensioner’s railcard, but not free. The TV licence is free only for over-75s. And in practice NHS dental care (ie free) is virtually non-existent in many parts of the country.
Thank you for the corrections Steve – it is easy to get out of date! Only 11 years ago over-60s in England get a free pass to travel on all local bus networks irrespective of ones domicile, thus one could travel free on local buses the length & breadth of England [quite a few bus changes required]. And next year the free over-75 TV for pensioners stops – only those who get pension credit will still be eligible.
“It’s a dispiriting today, especially, I suspect, for our UK readers”
Jerry, with all due respect, please don’t assume that your UK readers all belong to some sort of hive-mind. I’m a professional biological scientist, an atheist and a cat-lover. I voted for Brexit in 2016 and voted Conservative yesterday. I’m delighted with the election result and ecstatic at the prospect of the anti-Semitic terrorist-supporting Marxist creep Corbyn being consigned to the dustbin of history where he belongs. I’ll be raising a glass or two to Boris tonight. This may place me in the minority among your UK readers. I respect the views of those who think differently, but please realise that there is a diversity of opinion among WEIT’s devoted readers over here.
Well said. The same here.
I’m not a “UK reader” but I share your delight with the election result, especially with the prospect of seeing Mr. Corbyn, a man who never met a terrorist or an autocrat without falling in love with him, safely placed in the dustbin of history.
I wonder if Brexit voters will learn anything if it turn into the disaster that seems to be looming? In our disaster, Trump voters have learned nothing. At least a disaster will make it harder for Russia to scam citizens of other members of the EU.
I’m an election inspector, which is Wisconsinite for poll worker, and there are some hard and fast rules we have to follow while on duty. We cannot wear any clothing or accessories with political statements or images. We cannot engage either voters or other inspectors in political conversation, and we cannot carry anything that expresses a political sentiment (so if we bring a book to read during slack periods, leave Aaron James’ book Assholes: A Theory Of Donald Trump at home.
I’ve often thought it would be interesting to have a cat at the polls, but neither of mine take to having strangers around. Isa hides when I have guests, and it took a year before Samone took to me, and she reverts to her former aloofness when anyone who isn’t me is around. Instead of working, I’d be spending all my time looking for a hiding cat.
I had one cat, Kveldúlf, who would have been a great poll cat, but, alas, he went to kitty Valhöll seven years ago.
I had intended to mention that the rules say nothing about bringing cats to work.
🐾🐾
lol—Corbyn reading The Grapes of Wrath. Do we need any more proof of how out-of-date and out-of-touch the man is?
Corbyn is yesterday’s man & too proud to wear his reading glasses. But really all the party leaders are out of touch – Boris is more amenable to obeying [90% of the time] the minders/strategists who gave him his campaign strategy: “STFU, avoid the difficult bends, lie, obfuscate, don’t say pickinninies, don’t say bumboys, don’t show off Latin & use the floppy haired bumbling charm – remember you’re a brainless tool”
ha ha. So true.