I felt it significant enough to be given it’s own thread.

It doesn’t seem to have triggered much deep thought today though ….

Mods – please delete if is more appropriate in the Ukraine thread.

Unless I’m mistaken, there is a war raging in Europe with no obvious end in sight.

Here we have the head of state of Russia giving a historical account of what happened in the build up to conflict and you don’t think that’s interesting?!

This war is steeped in history and geopolitical strategy (as most are), yet most people (see above) don’t invest the time to research and look at what leads to conflict.

My thoughts were, is Putin looking for negotiation? Why would he do an interview like this?

Russian troll 😂

Can you elect to stop paying NI?

In my family, the men don’t make it into their 70’s. Might as well divert the payment to the STW default – C&H’s

🍊 Awesome news! 🍊

@brownperson

Life in HM Forces (RAF) in my experience was a very positive experience. Training, discipline, travel and all the other good things.

It has to be remembered that the use of HM forces requires a political mandate and therefore the projection of force is a the decree of the politicians and therefore ultimately the constituent.

When the forces are used, they follow legal rules of engagement and are accountable for their decisions, which is why the training is so thorough.

So yes, very positive and I would do it all again in a professional capacity.

The prospect of un motivated civilians being given weapons is not a great position, especially in today’s mentality.

To recruit & retain, a big lever is a pension scheme like AFP75. People stayed, just to reach that.

Now people chase the instant big cash, which the gov departments will never be competitive with. That is also happening in Industry where the final salary pensions have been quietly scrapped.

The youngsters will go through their working life very differently to my generation.

 1tpbikerFree MemberI hate to say it but there is something alluring about that pic of mone above..

shudder.. I need a cold bath

As Sean Lock would say, “That’s a challenging……”

If you compare this situation to all the other gov departments, it’s the ultimate ‘backdoor privatisation ‘!

Gov model – Underfund and run down gov department (HM Forces) until it can no longer fulfill it’s role. Bring in private sector so that .Gov can squirrel public funds to chums.

In this scenario the private sector is the conscripted public 😄

Funds will find their way to chums somehow……. Maybe the drafting contractor.

Address the root cause of the recruit & retain issues that the professional military have suffered for a decades!

This should be the priority, rather than talking about press ganging people who have no motivation.

If you’ve served in either service, we all know the issues and the P**s poor conduct of the .Gov to change anything.

If the professional troops aren’t motivated to serve, what chance is motivating civvies!?

Led by Donkeys!

I agree with most of the things and would like to add:

Good quality shirts, that iron easily and fit well. Essential when heading into the office.

Joinery. If you’re making things yourself this is linked to the tools comments. Good quality cabinetry is so nice!

Speakers. I’m a B&W fan.

Bike suspension.

How about making every vehicle that is registered to use the roads, pays a tax to maintain their upkeep.

How many vehicle’s currently pay zero towards the infrastructure?

I wonder if the decision to fit Shimano motors to their E-bikes was a major mistake!?

If the motors were mounted on standard fittings and therefore you could interchange different manufacture motors, this would help everyone.

Probably too sensible and at least a decade away.

Gutted!

Spent a lifetime riding Orange bikes, loved them all! Current love affair with my Alpine 6 shows no sign of ending.

I’m also a fan of Whyte. I don’t hold out much hope……

In Germany you buy houses based on the M2, not the amount of bedrooms.

Makes a lot of sense.

@trail_rat

That’s my point!

Efficiency increases are sold on paper. Unless you test, you don’t know if the thermal envelope is sufficient to match the spec.

When we moved into our Passive Haus in Germany, they came along with a door seal kit with a fan in it. The property was then pressurised and left to measure it’s losses. It passed to PH standards (which are massively higher than UK BS) and a certificate used.

Not difficult, but Is it being carried out? No

I work in a safety critical industry and if you were called to sign off work that was shocking on the surface, you’d be asking many many questions about the important things that you couldn’t see! Performance testing is the only way to test after a product is completed and we don’t do it, even when it’s regulated!

Meanwhile, the period features look beautiful 😂

@singletrackmind. Your points are not direct examples of passive house.

The key performance test is airtightness, which part L is supposed to improve (let’s forget the use of the words passive house).

As Murphy says, if the ‘ Winkel Spanners ‘ cannot fit windows, stairs etc properly, what chance have you that the thermal envelope of the building is to standard. I would guess – none.

Google search – All dwellings will need to be pressure tested for air tightness. The new maximum target for air tightness is <8m3/(h·m2)@50Pa, which is a 2-point reduction from the current maximum of 10. This is going to drop again to <5m3/(h·m2)@50Pa when The Future Homes and Buildings Standard comes into full effect in 2025.

My thoughts:

1. Why is the house purchase competition process not changed. Eg. You get Murphy to carry out his survey and then you’complete’ depending on your satisfaction?!

2. I’ve never seen any of his videos venture into the building performance. With the new building regs increased to (whatever) near passive house means, I’d think his business should be expanding to pressure testing and thermal imaging to check the structural integrity.

Clearly building control aren’t checking the new airtight limits are being adhered to, so just more insulation materials added to the spreadsheet and overall cost with only minimal benefit.

These would be my stipulations if I were to consider a new build. I don’t think I would be entertained…..

@flicker. There are 2 variables going on. The outside temp reduces which via the weather compensation increases the flow temp as the property will compensate for the property which will be losing more heat.

Those figures should be taken with a pinch of salt though as the main variable is the system design, which if wrong will blow those manufacture quoted figures out of the water due to short cycling of the HP.

What i’d say is that as electric is 3x the price of gas, you are breaking even if you average a CoP of 3. You need to be on a elect tariff that reduces your elect cost to make a saving.

@molegrips @flicker

Those Cop figures are the efficiency that the HP is at when it’s flow temp is at ‘x’

The HP will be connected to a weather compensation sensor, so if it is cold outside, the flow increases and mild it decreases. This trys to match the heat being lost from the building with a proportional heat input. You therefore cannot ask what the outside temp equates to which CoP.

A reasonable exercise for a gas boiler household is to run the flow at 35-40°c through the winter and see if the house can achieve your desired room stat temp. This exercise will off course raise the next problem with UK heating design…..

If you are installing it yourself, I recommend an insulation knife.

I use a Morakniv Insulation Knife 7350*

This allows you to cleanly cut the rolls into widths to fit between the rafters. Then just roll out for a snug fit.

*Other insulation knifes are available

My 8 year old goes to the local BMX racing track. They do coaching sessions at the weekend.

It’s really improved her pumping & jumping when we’re out on the mountain bikes.

Buckfast! 😅

Moco damper passes the car park test, but spend a few hours out all day on a red grade trail and your hands/arms get fatigued.

I bought the Yari fork (similar) when it was on offer a while back. I initially thought it was ok as I didn’t have a comparison. I managed to pick up a charger damper off the bay and it transformed the fork! Massive difference in comfort and handling.

So, I’d say this is a good price, but get searching for a cheap charger damper.

The cars aren’t all stacked 700 ontop of each other 😅

Airport fire appliances are designed to extinguish giant aluminium frames with wings full of fuel in literally minutes. Roughly the same materials as ICE cars.

I guess they are big though, so maybe they couldn’t get close enough to lay the foam blanket over the fire.

My thinking, so totally unsubstantiated.

It’s an airport. You have both airport fire appliances and civilian. Both are equipped to deal with fuel fires, especially the former.

Yet the fire engulfed the whole building. Something must have prevented the fire being extinguished.

EV Insurance will sky rocket after this….

MVHR is the answer….

@hot_fiat

That is the point I’m trying to articulate. I don’t want a full-fat E (Whyte e-180, Patriot) that ride so capably that they detract from the fun that a biker like the alpine offers. Otherwise I’d be very interested in an Orange E bike.

I basically don’t want all the extra weight.

Absolutely love my Alpine 6! Once it’s pointed downhill it’s absolutely crazy 😁

I’m just struggling to come to terms with the weight of a full-fat E…. Waiting to see what the light Whyte E 140 will look like when it’s released.

I think all the Whyte compact frames are the same, but I bought this:

https://www.evanscycles.com/brand/whyte/806-compact-mountain-bike-910519#colcode=91051912

It’s only available in xs now though.

Whyte sizes say small is 5″1′ to 5’5″. I would agree with Whyte.

Oh & is say 5’3″ is a small, rather than an xs?

The Whyte compact may be better suited as it’s a bit more ‘sit up’ than the Ragley.

My wife is 5′ and is loving her Radley mmmbop. If you look at the other PSA thread, CRC are doing them for crazy money!

You’d have to build it up though….

I’ve also just bought a Whyte compact from Evans that was a bit of a bargain (CTW).

I’d recommend both Whyte and Ragley 🙂

There’s some serious discounts in the HT market!

CRC Ragley Vs Whyte 8/900 series.

Was there last weekend. The last long run to the car park is closed. It looked like there had been a landslide, which I wouldn’t imagine will be fixed anytime soon. I wish we’d gone to the Marin…

The problem is, that as a nation the population as a whole doesn’t ever live in another country. This removes the ability to form a sound judgement of what the standard of living is in other countries, out judgements are based on our perceptions and influences.

We realised how bad the UK was when we returned from living in Germany in 2016. It took years to get over how bad the country is and it has continued to decline!

There is reason that we are called ‘The Island Monkeys’ by the Germans. They laugh at how bad it is here when they do their secondments……

We lived in a certified passive house when we were in Germany (3 years). If it’s true passive it won’t need heating, that’s the point!

In Bavaria ,even when the temperature outside was -15, the house didn’t need the heating on and stayed at a comfortable 20-21°C.

MVHR was superb and any washing would dry very quickly.

Building fabric was concrete with about 60cm thick external insulation stuck to the walls and triple glazed. We watched the rest of the estate be built.

Superb place to live, then we had to move back to the UK………

The only benefit I’ve seen is that my fanatically supporting Brexit colleague’s have gone very quiet and probably feel remarkably stupid for getting so suckered in…….

@stumpy01 – Thanks for that advice, I’ll contact the PI direct to see if they can deal with it.

PITA the way this is set up with the external car parking companies!

A little too good to be true for me.

Recently stayed at the Keswick PI after doing Winlatter with the family. Car park is tiny, so had to unload 4 bikes for overnight and park elsewhere.

Just received a fine from the car park owner ‘ Horizon parking’ as my 40 mins to unload triggered a £50 fine! 😞

Just to let everyone know to be wary…….

Appeal in process.

It’s deducted from your salary tax liability, so you’re saving your tax rate + NI. If you’re a high rate tax payer you save more.

As mentioned, because of the variables it’s best to do it on your work website to get an accurate figure that you will see your salary deducted by.

Saddles – from memory, i think i bought a Madison youth saddle for a 24″ wheeled bike i was refreshing.