Dunno whether to laugh or cry ...
https://www.news.com...52f183782a8abfd
âDo you work in business?â: UK PMâs brutally awkward conversation with homeless man
The UK Prime Minister has gone viral for a brutally awkward conversation with a homeless man, asking whether he works âin businessâ.
December 26, 2022 - 2:13PM
The UK Prime Minister has gone viral for a brutally awkward conversation with a homeless man, asking whether he works âin businessâ.
Rishi Sunak was serving breakfast during a visit to The Passage homeless shelter in London on Friday when the exchange occurred, with critics dubbing it âexcruciatingâ.
The man, who introduced himself as Dean, asked the PM: âAre you sorting the economy out?â
âThat is exactly what Iâm trying to do,â Mr Sunak responded. âDo you have a ⊠do you work in a business?â
âNo, Iâm homeless,â Dean replied. âI am actually a homeless person. But I am interested in business.â
âYeah, what kind of business?â the PM asked.
Dean said he was interested in finance because âwhen finance and stuffâs doing well, we do well in Londonâ.
Mr Sunak, a former investment banker, enthusiastically explained that he used to work in finance.
âIs that something youâd like to get into?â he asked.
âUm ⊠yeah I wouldnât mind,â Dean replied. âUm ⊠but I dunno â Iâd like to get through Christmas first.â
The PM asked: âYeah ⊠whatâs the plan? What are you doing this weekend?â
Dean said he was hoping to âget into some temporary accommodation so Iâm not on the streetâ.
A clip of the exchange posted on Twitter by ITV News has been viewed more than 11.3 million times.
âExcruciating,â human rights campaigner Stefan Simanowitz commented.
âSunak asks a homeless man in a homeless shelter whether he âworks in businessâ, then proceeds to talk about the financial services industry. Utterly bizarre,â wrote Adam Bienkob from Byline Times.
âThereâs out of touch and then thereâs a millionaire asking a homeless man in a homeless shelter if heâs in financial services,â author James Felton wrote.
âWhen youâve never met real people and understood their lives then youâre the kind of person that asks a homeless person if he âworks in businessâ,â solicitor Nazir Afzal said.
âRishi Sunak to a homeless person: âWhatâs your plan? What are you doing this weekend?â Taking in a show, maybe?â actor Reece Dinsdale said.
âOne of the richest men in Britain serves a fried breakfast to a homeless man for the cameras. He appears to ask him if he aspires to work in finance. I mean, in the same time he could have offered to change his life around,â BBC presenter Adil Ray said.
The PM said his government has pledged ÂŁ2 billion ($A3.6 billion) to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over three years.
During the same visit, Mr Sunak blasted strikers threatening Christmas holidays for millions, saying he was âsad and disappointedâ at the chaos.
The PM again held firm against giving out bumper pay rises to millions of workers, saying it would be the right decision in the long term to help inflation go down.
A barrage of industrial action has been taking place across Britain as people grapple with the worst economic situation in decades.
On Friday, Border Force staff walked out, threatening people trying to get back to the UK in time for Christmas.
Previously in December, transport workers disrupted peopleâs festive preparations as they held a week of industrial action.
And following action by the NHS, nurses announced plans for another two days of strikes in January as talks remain deadlocked.
But Mr Sunak insisted the government had acted âfairly and reasonablyâ on public sector pay.
âI am really sad and I am disappointed about the disruption that is being caused to so many peopleâs lives, particularly at Christmas time,â the PM said during the visit.
âWhen it comes to the difficult question of setting public pay, the government has acted fairly and reasonably in accepting all the recommendations of the public sector pay review bodies. I would urge everybody who is travelling at the moment to just please check before you make your journey so you know what it happening.â
But he refused to rule out giving NHS staff a one-off payment as a sweetener for them to call off more disruptive action.
âOur door is always open ⊠there are lots of things people have raised as things that might make a difference, weâd be happy to talk about all those things,â he said.
Mr Sunak said not having huge pay rises was the right thing to do âin the long termâ is the âright thing for the whole countryâ.
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