Thread: Trivia and other useless but interesting items

Originally Posted by V8Ian

It's not confined to any single industry, Des. We're importing so many skills, from doctors to drivers, usually out of low income, third world countries. Lack of investment in training at all levels has forced lower standards in so many professions.

While in those places which will not be named! Just Kidding Royal Melbourne Hospital, St Vincents Private, Ramsay Health Donvale Rehab. Doctors and Nurses from Iran, Iraq, Philippines and those third world places like the UK, Ireland, Canada, America, South America, China, Africa and more all helped keep me alive and back to running
We are very very lucky to have them helping and fortunate to have a country that they want to move to and live in. Did I mention Racists **** me off

I honestly admit I think I would have a tough time thinking about living in England. Canada would tempt me perhaps

Note our farmers are in a similar pickle to the poms. mango prize rise warning OMG Those Kiwi Gun Shearers at any of your places???

No racism intended James, as I am not a racist either. My point being that many of those acquiring qualifications in third world areas never had the opportunity to be trained to more affluent nations standards.
Points in case, I went to a doctor (Jaden Patel's brother quite possibly) who had no idea of my condition, the prescription that I requested, or the dose required. He had me on this medication for two years, until I saw a locum (also from a third world country), who had a fit when he realised that I'd been on this medication for one year and fifty-one weeks longer than was approved.
In my profession, so many these people cannot perform rudimentary manoeuvres or procedures, but merely had their questionable qualifications RPLed.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

No racism intended James, as I am not a racist either. My point being that many of those acquiring qualifications in third world areas never had the opportunity to be trained to more affluent nations standards.
Points in case, I went to a doctor (Jaden Patel's brother quite possibly) who had no idea of my condition, the prescription that I requested, or the dose required. He had me on this medication for two years, until I saw a locum (also from a third world country), who had a fit when he realised that I'd been on this medication for one year and fifty-one weeks longer than was approved.
In my profession, so many these people cannot perform rudimentary manoeuvres or procedures, but merely had their questionable qualifications RPLed.

No idea what medication you are alluding to Ian but I have struck a couple (GP ) & a specialist who like to keep one on meds with a few visits in between. Not advised to miss those visits in case all sorts of wrath descends on you & all sorts of nastythings will happen to me.

Indoors had a standup barney with one bloke (Chinese) in his rooms, seems he'd just arrived back late from a hospital visit during his lunch break & the patient he visited had some sort of bad skin ailment on his feet. ( ? ) She had to insist on him washing his hands as he hadn't done so he blustered & carried on but finally did. God only knows what it was though.


He was the same bloke who had me coming back each month for a year to his rooms in the CBD even during very hot Saturday afternoons, to visually look me over. (No, he didn't fancy me before you ask. ) I found out a bit later my own GP of many years could have done the same things but the first bloke tried extremely hard to keep me on his list @ $300 Cash per visit. I buggered him off quick smartish but not before he took a shed load of cash from us. Some I got back from the Health Fund but that wasn't the point.


Some of these incomers do not have the same Hygiene or Ethical standards.

I've been watching a show about the Profumo scandal "The Trial Of Christine Keeler" and I like the quote of one of her friends about her life, Mandy "Rice-Davies enjoyed a more successful post-scandal career, as nightclub owner, businesswoman, minor actress and novelist.^[146] She was married three times, in what she described as her "slow descent into respectability"."

Profumo affair - Wikipedia

Originally Posted by V8Ian

No racism intended James, as I am not a racist either. My point being that many of those acquiring qualifications in third world areas never had the opportunity to be trained to more affluent nations standards.
Points in case, I went to a doctor (Jaden Patel's brother quite possibly) who had no idea of my condition, the prescription that I requested, or the dose required. He had me on this medication for two years, until I saw a locum (also from a third world country), who had a fit when he realised that I'd been on this medication for one year and fifty-one weeks longer than was approved.
In my profession, so many these people cannot perform rudimentary manoeuvres or procedures, but merely had their questionable qualifications RPLed.

Ability is not to do with race happily. Truck drivers here or elsewhere are a great example of can or cannot Happily standards "usually" work

There are lots of longevity calculators around but this one is very specific How long have you got left? Find out with our life expectancy interactive (smh.com.au) so looks like I'm not going to make it to Xmas 2050.

The ABS predicts the average person of your age and sex can expect to live another 29.7 years, pushing your predicted death date to...December 24, 2050

He UK fuel shortage is a result of a news story about a small regional operator of petrol stations who had 4 or 5 run out of fuel. It did not go into why they had no fuel but did suggest it was due to a driver shortage. Other media then Picked up and amplified this up for political reasons and the outcome was a run a fuel. There never was a shortage of fuel. Just lowest common denominator headline seeking media reporting

What happens is that most people in the UK only fill the tank to 50% so now they go in and fill it to full. Instant double in demand that the supply chain cannot ramp up to accommodate

There is a shortage of truck drivers across the UK and the Europe. There are some common issues
with COVID seeing drivers taking alternative employment and realizing they can earn the same or better elsewhere and not wanting to go back to driving. These are people who would otherwise not have even considered an alternative career path to driving trucks

This is a particular problem for the UK as the economy is motoring (pun intended) and there are lots of opportunities and low unemployment. UK employers are hiking wages to attract or keep people at the lower end of the wage scale. Know people who had not had a pay rise for 5 years have seen their wages double in the last 12 months. This is starting to flow through to truck drivers but so far is not seeing a flood of drivers returning

Training is then an issue as they cannot train enough drivers to replace those who have left. The system is set up to meet normal attrition demand not the spike in demand now being seen.

In the UK once you are trained then there is a gap as the insurance premiums on a driver who has not been licensed for at least 12 months make them too expensive to hire.

The UK market is different to Australia in that the majority of trucks are company owned with owner drivers being a small sub set who work around the fringes of the market

Industry was noted for low wages and poor working conditions. It was not attracting younger drivers and the average age of a truck driver had been increasing steadily for years. As a result a shortage of drivers has already emerged. This was known and recognized by the industry who had not found a solution

UK wages were kept low as many companies were employing drivers from lower wage EU countries where employment was harder to find and they are paid in their country at local wages rather than UK wages where they are working. Something that was pioneered by the German firm Willi Betz

These drivers went home after Brexit as they were after an income not seeking to move country. This put a strain on the transport industry but did not break it. It will though result in a wage increase as locals will not work for these wages

Also no longer in the market are the EU trucks that did jobs between delivery from EU and departing with next load to EU. They were able to take advantage of cheaper non UK fuel prices and not fill up while in UK

The above is based on various conversations with manufacturers and fleets over the last few months