back to article Broadcom sends its England-based staff back into office as UK lockdown eases – though Welsh workers get a free pass

Broadcom has sent staff back into corporate offices in England – though workers elsewhere in the UK can continue working remotely, a letter seen by The Register reveals. An internal missive to staff stated that those in England are expected to join a socially distanced return to work this week while employees living in Wales …

  1. Pen-y-gors

    Aaah...

    It's great being Welsh! And once we're fully independent (coming soon) it'll be even better. The English can then sort out their own political problems.

    1. BebopWeBop

      Re: Aaah...

      You might hope so, but voting patterns, unfortunately, don't seem to support it . Meanwhile, I hope that in Scotland we can do so.

      1. Irongut

        Re: Aaah...

        After the actions of those in power in England over the last few months it can't come soon enough.

      2. TheMeerkat

        Re: Aaah...

        It only works now because both Welsh and Scottish government expect the U.K. to cover the costs. If they were independent they would tell the workers to start working earlier than U.K. did.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: independent

      And "home rule for Crick"? All socialism requires divide and conquer

      And of course, you'll be able to join the EU along with Scotland! Hahahahaha

      1. Irongut

        Re: independent

        Away and vote fae Trump ya big tumshie!

        1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

          Re: vote fae Trump

          If you use the US Political spectrum as a basis with the GOP on the right and the Dems on the left, even the most rabid right wing Tory is well to the left of the majority of Democrats.

          Most of us would be regarded as truly commie or at the very least hard socialists (by the US Measure)

          That means very, very few of us would vote for Trump (even if we could). The exception would naturally his holiness, Lord Almighty Farage.(sic...) who is apparently very pally with 'Tweeter In Chief'.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: vote fae Trump

            >>who is apparently very pally with 'Tweeter In Chief'

            That's because Farage once told Trump he likes to go out on the piss. And Trump now thinks Farage is a fellow watersports enthusiast.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Aaah...

      We'll just have to find bailout money and grants from somewhere else....

    4. Trigonoceps occipitalis

      Re: Aaah...

      Wales: the first part of the English Empire.

  2. BebopWeBop

    That might have something to do with the fact that Wales has different rules on lockdown?

  3. nematoad
    WTF?

    Why?

    ...will come on site for one out of every four weeks while the remainder of the workers work from home"

    So what is the rationale for this? Is it because people are more productive if working in the office or is it because the bosses like to see the minions with their noses to the grind-stone?

    Looks more like a lack of trust and a bit of willy-waving from the C suite.

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Why?

      It would be interesting to see whether this is more or less efficient than everyone working from home but we'll never be told.

    2. Stevie

      Re: Why?

      One word: Meetings!

      I mean, f*ck that "Teams" shirt. Everyone talking at once and the boob who answers from a public park bench next to roadworks, and the idiot who bought a headset and thinks you have to have the microphone right in front of your gob so when they speak it is deafening and when they listen it is like having Darth Vader on the f*cking line, and that tw*t who thinks no-one can hear the TV belting out Star Trek: The Next Generation in the "background".

      Gah!

      Where's the Tylenol?

  4. cantankerous swineherd

    and a manager will be along to tell them they "aren't allowed" to wear masks.

  5. ElNumbre
    Facepalm

    Remote Tools.

    If only there was a company who helped design and make mobile hardware to support remote collaboration and working.

    Maybe Intel?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Reporting the news and facts becomes a political opinion piece on the actions of Dominic Cummings. Call this journalism?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How was Barnards Castle?

      "Reporting the news and facts becomes a political opinion piece on the actions of Dominic Cummings."

      You mis-state the article. It does not "become a political opinion piece". It includes a single phrase, in the Register's characteristic sarcastic style, referring to the man who wrote the lockdown rules and was too important to follow them.

      This is on the same day of a much longer opinion piece, clearly labelled as opinion, on the US President, which allows readers to clearly see what a "political opinion piece" looks like on this site. This article is not one. But maybe you're a little sensitive about it right now Dominic?

    2. DavCrav

      "Reporting the news and facts becomes a political opinion piece on the actions of Dominic Cummings."

      It's not an opinion piece. Cummings did break lockdown.

      "Call this journalism?"

      What? Telling people stuff governments prefer you to 'move on' from? Yes.

      1. DavCrav

        In case there is further confusion on this issue, I would like to offer a fact-based journalistic article about this issue, and an opinion piece about it. Exercise for the reader: compare and contrast.

        -----------

        Fact-based journalism.

        In Cummings's press conference he admitted breaching lockdown on two separate occasions, and offered an excuse that he claimed was reasonable for a third. The first breach occurred when he went to work despite his partner exhibiting covid-like symptoms. No reasoning was given. He used as his reasonable excuse for leaving London shortly after a subsection of the regulations intended to cover victims of domestic abuse.

        While in Durham, Cummings admitted breaching lockdown to take a trip to Barnard Castle. His reason was to test his eyesight. This excuse was not widely believed by those in attendance. If this reasoning were true, it would be a direct breach of the Road Traffic Act, as it is unsurprisingly illegal to test one's eyesight by driving for an hour with a four-year old in the car. In addition, it is almost certain not to be considered a reasonable excuse under the Coronavirus Act.

        His wife accompanied him on this eyesight-testing trip. She is an experienced driver in her own right. A Downing St spokesperson claimed it was "irrelevant" that the day the family embarked on a trip to a local beauty spot in apparent breach of lockdown was the wife's birthday.

        -----------

        Opinion piece:

        Cummings's press conference was clearly a pack of lies, from start of finish. His excuse of going on an eyesight-testing trip on his wife's birthday was so ludicrous it makes one wonder if his Svengali credentials aren't just a little overblown.

        The only reason he hasn't been fed to the dogs by now, like Ferguson was, is that Boris Johnson is so unable to perform as a Prime Minister (unlike his ability to perform at fathering, and then abandoning, children) that he simply cannot fire the man with his hand up his backside. Of course Johnson thinks looking after your own children is an exceptional circumstance. He's never had to do it in his life.

        Cummings clearly broke the law, but he'll get away with it because he's powerful and you aren't. Johnson won't fire him, because he's so utterly useless at politics that he wouldn't survive a week without him. He's willing to destroy 'his' entire government's health message in order to save his boss's job. Johnson is a disgrace to the skin he occupies. He's an incompetent, arrogant, pathetic excuse for a human being, from the tip of his stupid hair to the soles of his stupid feet.

        History, and hopefully a jury, will judge him.

        -----------

        Hope this helps.

      2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        I'd like to see someone who has been fined challenge it and call Cummings as an expert witness on the correct interpretation of the rules. And then another. And another....

  7. Mike Shepherd
    Meh

    "...part of the essential critical infrastructure..."

    You have to wonder long these people spend in front of the mirror.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "essential"

    I assume there's a bit of mental gymnastics in play here - their chips are used in kit that is being used by those in essential roles, therefore they are as essential as those users, unless they're Welsh. Smacks of executives trying to justify their own jobs.

    Meanwhile, I work at a company that truly is essential, though my role isn't, and we've been told that those who can work from home should expect this to continue until at least August.

  9. thepeopleschamp

    We use Symantec Security Cloud who were taken over by Broadcom earlier this year. I've been unable to contact Broadcom support since the lockdown so this is good news.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They’ve been doing the same thing in the US, according to people I know there. The CEO just doesn’t like or trust remote work. Of course, he doesn’t seem to like or trust his workforce either.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      And over in America...

      Yeah, true - I've acknowledged that in the article.

      C.

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