♪ >> the headlines on al jazeera. america's top military officer has called the end of the 20 year war in afghanistan a strategic failure. during questioning by senators, defense officials admitted taliban forces advanced more quickly than anticipated. more from capitol hill. >> they say that there was an intelligence failure. one reason for that could be that they withdrew advisors from those units three years ago. that would have been under the

trump administration. they said you cannot tell if people are willing to fight if you are not around them. we count tanks or guns but we cannot know the willingness to fight unless we know the soldiers. that is the only clear indication that the military is starting to realize what went wrong in this chaotic withdrawal. >> the taliban says it is planning to reinstate the constitution from nearly six decades ago. afghanistan's new rulers want to apply the 1964 charter but only where it does not conflict with their version of islamic law. lava from a volcano on the spanish island of love, has reached -- la palma has reached the atlantic ocean p its pain has declared the island a disaster zone. >> it purged all of the people there to watch the spectacle out

of the port. they told people to stay on lock to wear goggles, to cover their mouths, to stay close as much as possible. in the air is noxious gases, sulfur dioxide. they are monitoring the level of sulfur dioxide from these toxic gases. and other gases emitted by the volcano. >> the world health organization is promising reform and accountability after dozens of allegations of sexual abuse by workers sent to fight ebola in the democratic republic of congo. the agency has apologized to victims. tunisia has announced a coalition to oppose the president. the group says he lost legitimacy, accusing him of a coup. those are the headlines. next, "inside story." stay with us.

>> a fuel crisis for one of the world's richest nations. petrol pumps and the u.k. -- in the u.k. are running dry because there are not enough truck drivers to deliver the fuel. is brexit to blame? is this supposed the problems within the industry? this is -- has this exposed deeper problems within the industry? this is "inside story." hello and welcome to the program. it is not something you see every day in the u.k. drivers waiting hours to fill their cars. the government says panic buying is partly to blame for the pumps running dry.

fuel companies say there is no shortage of petrol, just a lack of tanker drivers to deliver supplies. the government placed soldiers on standby to help and it's granting temporary work visas to 5000 truck drivers. industry leaders say the measures are not enough to solve the crisis. andrew simmons reports from london. andrew: a new working week and this is not the normal london morning gridlock. the fuel station ran dry two days ago. it has been waiting for this moment. drivers are in short supply, not the fuel. whatever, the result is the same. he ran out of fuel 100 meters from the petrol pumps after a search that started in the early hours. >> very emotional. i cried. i cried. completely unnecessary. i feel so emotional.

>> lives disrupted. this driving instructor tried to get fuel to prepare his learners for their driving test. >> five to six tests coming up between now and next week so i was truly terrified what might happen for this. i have been going around with nothing. >> an opinion poll suggests more than 60% of voters feel the government is mishandling the situation and some of the messaging from ministers is not helping the public mood. >> the only reason that we have an issue at the moment with some petrol stations not having petrol is that people are buying petrol. the most important thing everyone can do is get back to normal, fill their cars up as they normally would, and not to buy petrol unless they need it. collected seems wishful thinking that this crisis is going to go away without government action. crisis?

what crisis? that has been the government stance. people don't like being referred to as panic buyers in a situation such as this. there is public dissent. the pressure is on the government as the tension on them increases. some companies introduce rationing. competition measures have been stopped so fuel companies can cooperate on logistics. another movie government has made is to try backing up u.k. tanker drivers with foreigners no longer able to work here because of brexit. short-term visas are available for 5000 foreign truck drivers. it is not guaranteed to work. andrew simmons, al jazeera, london. >> the back of truck drivers is contributing to the u.k.'s worst shortage of basic good instead 1970's. from building materials to medical supplies, mehdi items are in short -- many items are in short supply. the pandemic and britain's departure from the e.u. have

also disrupted supply chains. the shortage of truck drivers is a problem across europe as well. poland was short of 120,000 drivers last year. there are many needed another $60,000. the industry has been struggling to attract workers as many leave for jobs with better pay and working conditions. since the start of the pandemic, the industry has faced more pressure to deliver essential goods. the huge growth of online shopping has also had an impact. let's bring in our guests. in edinburgh, a lower driver and the editor of truck and driver magazine. in london, chief economic advisor at the center of economics and business research, and in liverpool, a senior lecturer in procurement and supply chain management. welcome to the program. let's begin in edinburgh first. the government says this is

panic buying. the industry says this is a lack of drivers to brexit. what is the truth of it? >> lack of drivers to brexit would grossly oversimplify the situation. if you're talking about the fuel crisis at the moment, that seems to be that the public has collectively gone off and it's not affecting scotland curiously, i have noticed. tanker drivers have to have certification. for them to deliver dangerous goods such as petrol and diesel, i don't understand where a number appealed to one week to the next. this was originally a problem associated to bp and nothing to do with the rest of the industry and the supply of fuel. something has got very blown out of proportion with what is going on the shortage of fuel, it felt to keep the stations replenished

and people seem to be panic buying. the message is not getting out. you have to tell them not to do it. it is strange and unusual times right now as -- the driver shortage situation does keep evolving from one week to the next. >> what is the reason behind that driver shortage question marks at really understand. is it a lack of drivers? is it because drivers from the e.u. don't want to come to the u.k. anymore? why would they? there's too much paperwork. >> brexit is not a major factor in the driver shortage. it played a part in it but there is a huge number of different factors which have all come to play at the same time. there was the tax change which made it a lot more difficult for drivers to operate on a self-employed base this and it made it a lot less attractive. there was a driver cpc deadline in 2019 which allows a lot of

the drivers in the industry because lori drivers -- to keep the license and a lot of guys can just -- they decided they are not going to bother and coronavirus and the law down -- they lost a lot of old drivers. it would take up a lot of the slack. there is also, last year, the onset of the pandemic. we had no new drivers coming through last year at all. nobody was passing drivers test. there's a lot of different factors. you can also say that those people, if you want to become a lorry driver, it is very expense. people who want to cannot do it. there is enough support out there. the industry has an image problem provided there are not enough people wanting to become lori drivers either. there were over 300 tests for

vocational driving tests, not taken up with the dtla mess week and there were hundreds before that, hundreds before that. the governments created this time meeting to release extra capacity by using the ministry of defense. there are not enough people wanting to take the tests at the moment or unable to, so that is quite a curious one from our side. i would like to know a little bit more about that. just to put everything on one simple factor, is not as usually complicated with multiple things all going on at the same time. lacks a perfect storm if you will. vicki price in london. you are an economic advisor. what do you think of the advice coming out from the british government? we will have 5000 temporary visas that will magically sort out the problem, surely. >> what we seem to have it is a shortage of 100,000 lori drivers. it's interesting if you talk to the retailers who have been

shouting about this for quite some time, talk to the general distribution companies as well, which are suffering right now i'm shortage of people prepared to drive the trucks that should be moving things around. brexit is being blamed quite a lot and the worries are that the reaction from the government so far has been slow. if you have 100,000 vacancies and you bring in 5000 in with some special licenses and hope they will do the job for three months and go back because they are meant to be temporary, the problem simply is not going to be solved. no way in which trade is happening, what you find is not many foreign lori drivers want to come in or even businesses want to engage because they cannot do what they did be or. they don't have read them to move around and pick things and move them somewhere else, which means you had that shortage,

too. and willingness for, you know, people to bring it over to the u.k., which deprives you of course of workers who might be able to drive other trucks or even their own truck and take things around because of the change. you cannot do that very easily any longer because we are outside the e.u. >> going to come to you in just a moment that i want to bring in desi rankin. one of the interesting things about this is this temporary visa situation. they will issue 5000 temporary truck driver licenses. they are going to last a month had i was on a couple of romanian chat platforms where they were reacting to this in romania where they were like why would we bother? why would we go for just three months? i got a good job here. i will not give it up just to help them. >> the whole association has been asking for a long time to say, you know, we need visas.

we need to get people in. but we have been asked the question over and over again, who is wanting to come here in this long line of drivers who are prepared to come over to the u.k., and how is this going to work? how on earth are we going to get people who will leave their job and come here for three months? and then what happens, you have to go home again? do they have a job to go back to in romania? perhaps an employer is not going to look favorably on them. where are they going to live? it doesn't make any sense at all, the short-term visa affects. it is bizarre. if they want to go and look to get drivers from other countries, do not think -- you have to look yawn europe, and it needs to be -- you are not going to get a quick fix either. you're probably looking at asia and you are probably looking at africa to get drivers who will

want to emigrate to come here and live here and -- permanently. i don't think that there is a great desire from europe to come here. it is as simple as that area >> i want to put that thought -- you have got a fascinating job title. procurement and supply chain management. as i understand it, supply chain management, as it currently stands, means everything is done quite last-minute. you bring in your good, you take them to the midlands, and then you get another truck and drive that full of good into europe. but brexit has put paid to that. the supply chain was always last minute and brexit does not allow for that. is that right? >> yes. these factors are interconnected in one way or another supply chain within the country is linked also to availability of

facilitators for the supply chain logistics, transportation facilitates the movement of goods and services within a country and these are linked to different deliveries so for instance, some of the -- some of the truck drivers, it is not that. i just react to needs and that is what is causing panic nine. a lot of supermarkets have delays in delivery of their goods and service this. don't know when this. , don't know whether this will continue the ripple effects are in other sectors of the economy. you need to look at it from a systemic point of view. there are different factors playing out here. and the supply chain cannot do that.

>> one of the things that makes this supply chain work is the idea that immigration actually does work in certain sectors of the british economy. i am the son of immigrants. my father is incredibly suspicious he came from practice and to the u.k. because he was asked to do so by the british government back then because there were a certain amount of jobs that the british people did not want today. there was the windrush generation of people from the caribbean. some of those have been deported back to jamaica. there is a mistrust here of the british government's actual promise on whether they will deliver on these visas and this idea of immigration making things work so that is putting people off from coming here and working. it is also mixed messaging going on. you are an economic advisor pete are you shaking your head at the way the messaging is coming out? >> a little bit.

communication has not been at its best bet if you look at the evidence, migration has been a great factor to the growth of the u.k. economy and joining the e.u. has been beneficial from that point of view because businesses have been able to expand. of course, yes, in some areas, wages were cap slightly lower than they otherwise should have been, but not in very many the evidence suggests that overall, this has not happened across economy but it has helped companies respond to the demand and it also helped grow the economy more generally and there were create more jobs. very low unemployment despite the fact that there were so many immigrants coming in and working and many of them becoming permanent from the e.u. the fact that we have left is a bit of a shock to the economy which we have not adapted to yet. the messaging is really quite important. people are not against immigration. we need them in so many areas such as the care sector.

more labor as well. it's not just lori drivers who generally get paid a lot more than who work in the care sector , but it seems to have been spreading a class including the construction sector so it's not good for the economy in the short term. what the oecd has said, that has been looking at inflation expectations in various countries, it has highlighted the u.k. is one country which is going to see more of a push in terms of inflation because of the supply chain constraints you were just discussing earlier, which are going to be much tougher in the u.k. than perhaps in other cases which are also having some of those issues not to the extent we are experienced them here. >> the british tabloids are having a field day with this yet i keep reading headlines which just truck drivers are being offered signing bonuses of 2000 pounds. there's wages of 70,000, 60 6000

to 77,000 -- 66,000 to 77,000 a year. can you bribe people into becoming truck drivers quickly? >> i think a lot of those huge wage figures are absolute nonsense. that is not what i am hearing from drivers i speak to on the current level. that there suspicious sort of figures that were bandied about by very large companies. 2000 pound golden handshakes, these big funds. you can also find them in a lot of places. not good companies to work for. in many cases, there's a lot of undesirable and unpleasant lori driving jobs which companies are struggling to get people to do. and they are putting these big wage figures about but that is not the whole part of it. the conditions that drivers have to put up with are pretty terrible. there has been nothing said from

the government at all about improving parking facilities for drivers because it is difficult for some of them to get safe places to park at night and rest. again, the money thing, i'm very suspicious of it. i don't believe those figures will translate. >> just quickly, just quickly, say if i wanted to become a truck driver in the u.k. now, how long or i make that decision ? how long does that take? >> it depends. they are processing the license at the moment because they are also culpable. they have been slow getting licenses back to people. i know someone at the moment who had an accident and lost a license due to a medical issue. they have been waiting months and months to get their license

back. but if you want to be a truck driver, there are several apps you need to jump through. they are trying to fast-track so you can go straight driving a car to an articulated lori, but there are still several steps. you have to get medical. a perception test. you have to do your driving. you don't need to do a reversing maneuver but you cannot just go and do it and then two weeks later, you are out driving. not even close. quite a convoluted process. >> in liverpool, he is throwing money and shortcuts, as dougie was saying, shortcut in the exam test. a solution to this problem. that is what the government is be doing. >> unfortunately, no. it is just a momentary, you know, -- and then you become a

truck driver. i think some of the horrors of becoming a truck driver within 24 hours or two weeks have been dead. there are a lot of things. what is important now is for the logistics and transport sector to be working together and speaking to each other. you hear a different response from the government. trying to put together a fast-track process for you to become a truck driver we cannot work in silos. logistics and transport. they need to work together and find a solution. the working condition of the drivers -- unobstructed for young people. a lot of the truck drivers, they eat and sleep over in their truck. they do not rest.

there is need for improved working conditions for them. the government needs to intervene here to bring out new employment policies that are targeted for some of the challenges that workers are facing. >> vicki price in london, to make a terrible pun, you can see this truck coming a mile off, couldn't you? you knew that once he left brexit, you would have problems in my chains, in getting good to the u.k. because borders had changed. >> absolutely. what the government here is doing is realized that if they put any extra pressure on inputs coming in and there were they come in fully loaded, that would also make doubly worse in terms of getting goods to where they should be going and we have in fact waived the rights we have had to impose those restrictions to next year now, so already, there has been a delay in that a

number of times this year so it's understood that it is an issue. although we have done that, we don't seem to have really acted at all fast in dealing with the added problems of the supply chain that has been affected so substantially by all the shortages we have been discussing today. yes, this was coming and we should have inched out of the way or done something to slow the speed. at the moment, it looks like we are writing one panic after another and not fantastically well. there are people who think that it is just transitory issues and it will all be solved but it looks to me and any economist that it is pretty negative in terms of what it might mean for growth in the short-term term. we have seen gdp here already slowing down. this dance back have had the opening up has slowed down very significantly and i insist acting that when we get the data

for september, it will not be particularly good either for the price increases. >> vicki price has set a lot of people think this is transitory and it is going to be solved do you think that a lot of people are going to have a miserable christmas? this is not going to finish in the next three months. this is going to take a wild. clients at all cyp bonus cearley need to have a measurable christmas, unless the media, certain sections of it are determined to agitate the public enough to make sure we do it then perhaps it would be well. if you start panicking people now, buying out frozen turkeys before the halloween is off the shelves, it could happen. but it is not a transitory thing. some fundamental changes in the way that road transport operates in the u.k.. the industry has to get people

into drive these trucks. a terrible image problem in the industry and there is a problem in the u.k. of getting people to be interested in vocational qualifications as well as. it is a struggle for people and companies to get people to want truck mechanics. tradesmen in general. that is something that is a struggle as well, getting drivers. to get people -- how do we make the agenda stream more attractive? how do we keep people to say, yes, i want to drive a truck? people still don't seem to want to do it. for an awful long time, lor ries have been seen as a nuisance. they get in your way. and the industry has a big problem in improving the image and also, the conditions as

well, which goes back to the government. there is a lot they need to do to force through parking facilities and force supermarkets to treat drivers better. if i can go off in a whole separate area -- >> unfortunately, we are running out of time. fascinating discussion. one of the things i think coming out of this is that we need more truck drivers. i want to thank all of our guests. i want to thank you, too, for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website . for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. we are at "inside story." for the whole team here, goodbye for now.

brandon: my experience is so different than a mainland chinese, it wouldn't be authentic for me to try to cook food for mainland china because that's not me, and that's not my audience. my audience is san francisco, and these cross-cultural exchanges are the basi for how food evolves. i feel like what we're seeing in this next wave of this generation of american cooks is this newfound confidence in