One just can't get the staff these days

[DaveB]

Conservative peer calls for shortage of au pairs to be fixed by special Brexit rules

A Conservative peer has called on the government to introduce special immigration rules to fix a shortage of au pairs.

Baroness Hodgson of Abinger told the House of Lords that Brexit had meant there was no visa route to bring au pairs to the UK.

Speaking in the House of Lords on Monday, she said the lack of au pairs would affect "hard-working families".

[Whorty]

Conservative peer calls for shortage of au pairs to be fixed by special Brexit rules

I fully back this proposal ... I don't have any kids, but I'm always up for more au pairs in the country .... how old are they again?

[ladymuck]

There is a general shortage in acquiring domestic servants these days. There was a very entertaining piece in the Torygraph the other day (might be paywalled) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/li...ople-problems/

The bit that made me lose my coffee over the keyboard (on account of living round the corner from the location so know it's plausible):

For some months I’ve been hearing friends wail about their trouble finding a nanny. Or keeping the nanny if they have a good one. According to one mole, the nanny for a very successful businessman recently declared she wanted a pay-rise or she was off. The businessman, who negotiates large pharmaceutical contracts for a living, “folded within 32 seconds of the conversation and gave her what she wanted, which was £64,000”.

This isn’t as unfortunate, however, as the family who returned home from the Gulf for the summer and brought their Filipina “helper” with them. She took to meeting up with other helpers and nannies in Holland Park on her day off and soon did a bunk, having discovered how much more she could earn if she found a permanent job in the UK. “My nanny’s run away!” the mother was heard shrieking in the aisles of the Kensington High Street Waitrose.

[ladymuck]

(OT as not Brexit related)
It's not as bad as the Lord who spoke against the bill making voyeurism of breastfeeding women illegal because it could affect domestic pr0nography

[Eirikur]

I fully back this proposal ... I don't have any kids, but I'm always up for more au pairs in the country .... how old are they again?

Is your real name Prince Andrew by any chance?

[Whorty]

Is your real name Prince Andrew by any chance?

Shhhhh

[Gibbon]

The bit that made me lose my coffee over the keyboard (on account of living round the corner from the location so know it's plausible):

An army friend told me about his mate who married and brought over his Thai bride. She'd been here 3 months and he thought it strange she'd not asked for any money. Turns out she'd been very busy as she still 'working' and being very cheap was very popular with the battalion!

[vetran]

I fully back this proposal ... I don't have any kids, but I'm always up for more au pairs in the country .... how old are they again?

Well the Vietnamese one we had when we were kids was only 20 but he did teach us how to make this:

https://www.aspicyperspective.com/vi...-salad-goi-ga/

The Argentinean one was lovely and she was 19. Great tits many happy adolescent memories .

That was of course before 1973 when Au Pairs didn't only come from the EU.

Neither of them suggested they fancied a grey old contractor who recently had a soul patch...

Now the Spanish one who shacked up with the employers husband (our friend) was about 19.

[vetran]

There is a general shortage in acquiring domestic servants these days. There was a very entertaining piece in the Torygraph the other day (might be paywalled) https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/li...ople-problems/

The bit that made me lose my coffee over the keyboard (on account of living round the corner from the location so know it's plausible):

Wage inflation is on its way, soon taxi drivers won't get out of bed for £100k.

That is what happens if you exploit the poor.