Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[Ron Aldo]

I started a new job last month and will be permanently working from home. It's a no brainer for me with the main perk being that I no longer have to pay Scotrail £120 a month for them to piss me off every other day.

The company I left was going though a bit of a hard time with covid just being one of the factors. Just before I left everyone was asked to take a pay cut which, for me, worked out at around 12%. The company office was in Glasgow city centre and was costing a small fortune each month. I think my manager was surprised at how easy it was for everyone to work from home and if they weren't tied into a long term lease for the office space there's a high chance that the need for pay cuts could have been avoided.

[101]

1 minute ago, Michael W said:

My employer gets very nervous about employees working abroad due to the risk of a PE, so no joy for me there sadly! 

If you'd invested in London real estate you must however be shitting yourself. Space will certainly be reduced even if in many cases it won't be eliminated. 

What's PE? 

Yeh I look forward to the sad landlords in London complaining that the can no longer charge about 10x the standard UK rent.

[Les Cabbage]

Personally despising working from home, I think it’s more due to personal circumstance than the actual position though, currently living with parents due to it being nyon impossible for a first time buyer that wants to buy a flat in Edinburgh right now, and having to work from my bed due to having no room for a desk and with the house full of 3 others who work from home 5 days a week in different rooms there’s not exactly much wiggle room.

The thing that gets me the most is finishing up and then having no choice to spend my evening staring at a screen, whether that be my phone, my laptop or my telly, it’s grim although I appreciate it won’t be like this forever (unless new strains identified by SAGE pop up every week until the end of time).

Probably won’t mind it once I get myself a flat and my own space but right now it’s torture and getting into the office like I was able to a couple of days a week back in October/November time would do me the world of good tbh.

[hk blues]

I've been working from home for the past 4 years and am a fan of it.  That said, I have a dedicated room where I work so I can close the door at the end of the  and make the separation from work/private time.  The main thing for me is the time saving by not having to commute.  As for colleagues - I've had good and bad in the past so not having any now is neither a plus nor a minus. 

[Boostin' Kev]

16 minutes ago, Le Tout P'ti FC said:

I'm starting to see clients vacating leases or negotiating reductions in rent. A lot more will be approaching break clauses. It will take a few years for existing leases to unwind, but in 2-3 years more or less every office space will have had some sort of break event / opportunity to consider options without penalty. This will clearly force the decision. Many will of course downsize once given the chance, but no doubt the cost of leasing smaller spaces has rocketed of late.

I love WFH, this is how I did my tea break yesterday. Joyous compared to going into a windowless staff room and making awkward small talk.

Like the mug, take it you bought it more for Mogwai rather than Focus?

[die hard doonhamer]

14 minutes ago, 101 said:

When you moved to where you are did you do so thinking how close it was to the office? 

I know a few folk who shortened their commute by moving closer to work but obviously that costs more so can afford less space, but they like you are trying to leave the city. 

Not really, I bought in the village that I grew up in. However, I would definitely look further out when looking to move next time. My existing commute is a half hour cycle, I'd happily make that an hour cycle if I'm only doing it once every couple of weeks.

[Jan Vojáček]

1 hour ago, ayrmad said:

£2 per hour of travel time sounds very cheap. 

It's only about five or six miles from my house to the office and I have a small, economical car. I just hit every single bit of Glasgow at peak time to get there - hence it takes me about an hour. If I take the train it's £5.70 for a return I think. Which is why I don't use it very often - despite it making the commute a whole lot easier (and I enjoy the walk from Partick station along the Clyde in the morning).

I've probably lost about a grand this year in overtime and additional work, so the WFH saving has been most welcome. The time aspect has been better than anything though. Leaving at 8 and getting back after 6 has become getting out of bed at 8 and a two second commute after work from my work chair to sofa or going out for a walk. It's like finishing early every single day.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Jan Vojáček

[Michael W]

11 minutes ago, 101 said:

What's PE? 

Yeh I look forward to the sad landlords in London complaining that the can no longer charge about 10x the standard UK rent.

Permanent Establishment. They worry if employees are working in other countries then the profits will be subject to local tax as the business may be deemed to be established in that country if it has employees there. There was actually an internationally agreed grace period for this where workers were stuck overseas due to covid and couldn't get home, but this expired in June. 

We've had a few people that aren't British ask if they could go to their home countries since we're all working from home anyway - they were quite flatly told no. 

Some companies are less bothered, right enough, and would be happy for the MD to work from his holiday home in Marbella or wherever. It does present a risk to the business, though. 

I'd be more on board with WFH if there were regular visits to Spain, right enough. 

[Honest_Man#1]

Just now, Michael W said:

Permanent Establishment. They worry if employees are working in other countries then the profits will be subject to local tax as the business may be deemed to be established in that country if it has employees there. There was actually an internationally agreed grace period for this where workers were stuck overseas due to covid and couldn't get home, but this expired in June. 

We've had a few people that aren't British ask if they could go to their home countries since we're all working from home anyway - they were quite flatly told no. 

Some companies are less bothered, right enough, and would be happy for the MD to work from his holiday home in Marbella or wherever. It does present a risk to the business, though. 

I'd be more on board with WFH if there were regular visits to Spain, right enough. 

I was a bit confused as well, wondering why the risk of a Pulmonary Embolism was worse when working abroad.

On another topic, whoever it was that posted the kickback style image of Jason Leitch a few times a while back, might have been @Melanius Mullarkey. Could you post it again so I don’t have to search back through 4000 pages?

[Burnieman]

"The message from Conservative, SNP and Labour leaders: “Tough on holidays, tough on the causes of holidays.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/travel-quarantine-uk-holidays-red-list-b1800673.html

[Sergeant Wilson]

21 minutes ago, Les Cabbage said:

Personally despising working from home, I think it’s more due to personal circumstance than the actual position though, currently living with parents due to it being nyon impossible for a first time buyer that wants to buy a flat in Edinburgh right now, and having to work from my bed due to having no room for a desk and with the house full of 3 others who work from home 5 days a week in different rooms there’s not exactly much wiggle room.

The thing that gets me the most is finishing up and then having no choice to spend my evening staring at a screen, whether that be my phone, my laptop or my telly, it’s grim although I appreciate it won’t be like this forever (unless new strains identified by SAGE pop up every week until the end of time).

Probably won’t mind it once I get myself a flat and my own space but right now it’s torture and getting into the office like I was able to a couple of days a week back in October/November time would do me the world of good tbh.

Look on the bright side, there'll be a few 10000 square foot units available in the city centre soon.

[Left Back]

8 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

It's only about five or six miles from my house to the office and I have a small, economical car. I just hit every single bit of Glasgow at peak time to get there - hence it takes me about an hour. If I take the train it's £5.70 for a return I think. Which is why I don't use it very often - despite it making the commute a whole lot easier (and I enjoy the walk from Partick station along the Clyde in the morning).

I've probably lost about a grand this year in overtime and additional work, so the WFH saving has been most welcome. The time aspect has been better than anything though. Leaving at 8 and getting back after 6 has become getting out of bed at 8 and a two second commute after work from my work chair to sofa or going out for a walk. It's like finishing early every single day.

This is the best bit for me.  my commute was only about 35 minutes in the car but that's over an hour of extra personal time.  I also don't miss the occasional trips to London having to get up at 5 to catch a flight.

[Gordon EF]

24 minutes ago, Ron Aldo said:

I started a new job last month and will be permanently working from home. It's a no brainer for me with the main perk being that I no longer have to pay Scotrail £120 a month for them to piss me off every other day.

The pandemic basically transferred about £3.5k from Scotrail to me. The idea that thousands of folk will be prepared to trek all over the country every morning and evening paying a fortune for the privilege once this is over seems unlikely.

[101]

10 minutes ago, Michael W said:

Permanent Establishment. They worry if employees are working in other countries then the profits will be subject to local tax as the business may be deemed to be established in that country if it has employees there. There was actually an internationally agreed grace period for this where workers were stuck overseas due to covid and couldn't get home, but this expired in June. 

We've had a few people that aren't British ask if they could go to their home countries since we're all working from home anyway - they were quite flatly told no. 

Some companies are less bothered, right enough, and would be happy for the MD to work from his holiday home in Marbella or wherever. It does present a risk to the business, though. 

I'd be more on board with WFH if there were regular visits to Spain, right enough. 

Ah okay that's interesting sure some companies will be caught cold.

I quite like the idea of firing off to a country that lets you work from there for a year, like Barbados and Mauritius. I wouldn't even mind the time difference.

[Michael W]

10 minutes ago, Gordon EF said:

The pandemic basically transferred about £3.5k from Scotrail to me. The idea that thousands of folk will be prepared to trek all over the country every morning and evening paying a fortune for the privilege once this is over seems unlikely.

Will be interesting to see how the rail companies adapt to this. The "breakeven" point for me when I worked in London was 3 days a week. Were I still there and in the office 3 days a week, it would d the same cost to have the season ticket or buy individually, so I would probably cause a lot of moaning about having to go in. Same price for less travel. 

Maybe just me having a tight arse mentality there, but commute costs I think will cause a lot of people to dig in about WFH. Rail companies might need to look at part-time season tickets. 

Edited February 11, 2021 by Michael W
Typos

[Les Cabbage]

7 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Look on the bright side, there'll be a few 10000 square foot units available in the city centre soon.

Could go living in a big ex-wetherspoons gaff.....if I can get toilets moved nearer to anything fucking else

[Elixir]

Quote

Posted at 9:42

Kent variant on course to 'sweep the world'

Cog-UKCopyright: Cog-UK

Prof Sharon Peacock said the Kent variant was "going to sweep the world, in all probability"Image caption: Prof Sharon Peacock said the Kent variant was "going to sweep the world, in all probability"

The coronavirus variant first found in Kent could become the world's dominant strain, the head of the UK's genetic surveillance programme predicts.

Prof Sharon Peacock tells the BBC's Newscast podcast the new variant has "swept the country" and "it's going to sweep the world, in all probability".

She says her work sequencing variants of the virus could be required for at least 10 years.

The Kent variant has already been detected in more than 50 countries.

It was first detected in September 2020 in south-east England and its rapid spread over the following months was cited as the reason for the introduction of new lockdown rules across the UK in January.

Prof Peacock, director of the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium, says: "What's really affected us at the moment is transmissibility."

She adds: "Once we get on top of [the virus] or it mutates itself out of being virulent - causing disease - then we can stop worrying about it. But I think, looking in the future, we're going to be doing this for years. We're still going to be doing this 10 years down the line, in my view."

Yesterday, England's deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, said there was good data showing current vaccines were effective against this variant.

Read more

Excellent news then, given the vaccines are highly effective against it. I also read that the scientists working on the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine believe the evolution of future mutations can be predicted somewhat, i.e. to say if the current Kent variant will eventually take on characteristics of the South African one, this can then be protected against in advance with booster injections.

[Gordon EF]

1 minute ago, Michael W said:

Will be interesting to see how the rail companies adapt to this. The "breakeven" point for me when I worked in London was 3 days a week. We're I still there and in the office 3 days a week, it woukd the same cost to have the season ticket or buy individually, so I would probably cause a lot of moaning about having to go in. Same price for less travel. 

Maybe just me having a tight arse mentality there, but commute costs I think will cause a lot of people to dig in about WFH. Rail companies might need to look at part-time season tickets. 

Yeah, I was commuting 4 days a week before April 2020. The benefit of a season ticket was pretty much laughably small anyway and then once you factor in maybe taking a few days extra holiday or sick days, it might even have been more expensive. Nowhere near enough of an incentive to fork out up front. Thank f**k I didn't.

As a company, I have no sympathy for Scotrail or any future shite they might find themselves in.

[Elixir]

22 minutes ago, Burnieman said:

"The message from Conservative, SNP and Labour leaders: “Tough on holidays, tough on the causes of holidays.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/travel-quarantine-uk-holidays-red-list-b1800673.html

Remember when the SNP were pretending that immigrants were welcome in Scotland, and championing freedom of movement across our continent as part of the EU?

Halcyon days.

[vikingTON]

11 hours ago, Billy Jean King said:

11 hours ago, Left Back said:

It is, I stated this on this thread a few days ago.

Not long to wait then for the public verdict. I also don't buy this "the cult" stuff. A mere 20 years ago Labour could have put up a 200yo skeletal corpse in places like North and East Ayrshire and as long as it was wearing a red rosette it would have been elected. In my younger days I did polling clerk work at elections, people used to come in and actually ask us "which ones the labour box". It's nonsense to think the SNP just have to turn up to be re-elected. It's an insult to public intelligence. If enough people are unhappy at their handling of it they will lose, it will (or should be) the main angle of attack for the opposition parties and if they can't win in that scenario I doubt they will ever get a better chance. To say there is no accountability of politicians is simply untrue.

The first part of this post confirms that the public are braying morons when it comes to elections, and only vote for their favourite team/colour on the ballot paper. But for some reason you think that the same thing does not apply to the SNP after 2014's realignment.

Presumably if we're giving politicians a free pass for scrutiny after winning an election then nobody has a right to criticise the Tories after their landslide win in 2019 and comfortable polling lead now as usual. It's a complete and utter nonsense argument.