It’s worth shopping around on platform fees – for example some of Vanguard’s products are actually cheaper to buy and own (annual fees) on Hargreaves Lansdown than going direct via Vanguard.

Same four walls
18 months now
Missing human contact
Not in prison 😂

Is Reece’s “fiscal prudence plan” the one where she spends an additional £1/4 trillion over a 10 year term without any clue of how it will be paid for?

The whole thing falls apart with her very first announcement.

I got my dates wrong I my earlier post.

His mum’s funeral was on Monday this week.

On Monday and Tuesday the media were reporting on his apparent absence from the public eye / “avoiding the media” – most of the journalists would have course have known full well where he was which speaks volumes.

I think the day after she died he announced the pact with Australia and the USA so presumably had been a bit busy with the details of that and handling the news of her death at the same time.

Like I said in my previous post – how many of us would have handled the death of a (by all accounts) loved parent any better?

To the OP if your dad is over 70 has he actually applied to renew his license?

Unless he renews it he is automatically disqualified from driving and also driving uninsured.

If your dad isn’t fit to drive and won’t surrender his license it may be worth letting his GP know that his fitness to drive is very much in question – in the interests of keeping both your parents safe as well as other road users.

“he’s done a two minute piece for the bbc looks like he’s got 2 black eyes. Not sleeping well ?“

He buried his mum last Monday and has a one year old baby. I’m sure we’d all deal with it a lot better.

“ So what should “the media” do?
Not report the fact that fuel supply was essentially in a delicate balance due in no small part to a diminished pool of skilled labour, traceable (at least in part) back to Brexit?”

I think that would have been the responsible thing to do.

There are c8,300 petrol stations and the supply constraint is reported to have impacted the low tens of those / 0.3%.

On any given day some petrol stations are closed for refurbishment, tank inspections, new pumps being installed etc etc – the number is probably the same.

If we take another sector, is it national news if 0.3% of schools, GP surgeries or corner shops are running at reduced capacity or at worst, shut for a day or two?

The UK’s new ex-EU policy seeks to balance production and biodiversity, reduce the risk of floods and improve soil quality.

The U.K. made quite a strong case for these changes as an EU member in 2014.

The policy is set out for anyone who wants to read it – the thinking seems fairly sound based on a quick read:

https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2021/06/23/how-farming-is-changing/

Whether the traffic is stationary or not is besides the point – research shows that drivers remain “distracted” up to 5 minutes after the finish using their phones.

My view is that cycling mikey has probably done more to proactively improve road safety for cyclists than the 32,920 Met Police officers put together.

As long as there isn’t a leak or something underneath the foundations I’d just helicoil the cracks and then re-render.

Duncancallum above nails it really.

The European Road Haulage Assoc have been raising the lack of drivers being trained as an issue since 2005.

The reasons for the decline in drivers working (there are 600,000 licensed in the U.K. but not working) are why we are where we are:

– massive downward pressure on wages caused by free flow of labour (e.g. Romanian drivers living in their cabs for 2 months at a time then going back home vs. Drivers here who have housing costs)
– IR35 which means individual lorry owners are now classed as employees and can’t recover costs
– low productivity at distribution centres caused by poor dock scheduling, lack of warehouse optimisation and slow unloading
– a myriad of controls (backed by fines) on where drivers can park
– antisocial hours exacerbated by planning restrictions that require shops to have deliveries in the early hours of the morning
– loss of amenities for drivers in the pandemic – no toilet facilities, meal facilities and the constant threat of robbery whilst parked up

Your optimism in the independence of the BoE and belief their mandate is still to control inflation is heartening naïve.

I know several people who have worked directly for MPC members at the Bank and it’s fair to say that it’s almost a badge of honour that the committee pays very little attention to political noise – which is as it should be. In reality the government has very little direct influence over rate setting because it’s data driven – with the Bank now tracking C1B data points every month to inform their understanding of how the economy is performing.

I think it will continue to rise in the short term mainly due to:

– global gas shortage stemming from ramp up of industrial activity in Asia
– U.K. / France interconnector fire – c50% of electricity is made using gas so the existing pressure on gas prices makes the impact bigger
– ongoing supply chain and logistics headwinds (container shortage, high ocean freight costs, driver shortages across the U.K. EU and America).

At the bottom end of the economy it’s good to see a lot of low paid workers getting decent pay rises / improved pay and I’m happy to pay for that through the price of goods.

Overall the economy looks to be in pretty good shape for long term growth – lots of tech Unicorns in development and inward investment seems to be growing quickly.

How about sharing some tips to reduce energy bills over the coming months?

These are a couple of tweeks I’ve done over the year or so which have definitely helped to limit our bills:

Hot water (save gas)
– reduce the flow rate on hot water taps
– fit flow reducers on shower heads
– stop using the bath
– reduce the duration the boiler heats water for the tank until it runs out every day then slightly increase until it doesn’t (we’re down to 15 mins a day now)
– change the schedule for hot water heating to reduce on days when demand is less
– turn off completely when away from home

Heating (save gas)
– use zone valves if possible
– reduce the temperatures in the day or limit to one area if working from home
– reduce at night and use thicker bedding
– fit window sensors so that when your partner opens the window then turns the heating up because the house is cold the system turns itself off again until the window is shut
– optimise the heating schedule on a day by day basis (so weekdays are different to weekends)
– turn the radiator TPV valves down (or off in rooms that aren’t used)
– keep the doors shut inside the house when it’s really cold
– turn off / put in “frost” mode when away for a day or longer

Power (save electricity and gas)
– turn things off when not used throughout the day
– turn on “eco” mode on devices where possible
– turn off the fast freeze setting on the freezer
– use less water when boiling veg
– use the smaller combi oven instead of the big oven as it heats faster / uses less power
– use eco mode on the dishwasher / don’t wash crockery with the hot tap running

Other:
– invite yourself round to family and friends houses, complain the temperature is too low and take a good couple of long hot baths whilst staying there 😂

I reckon the above saves us around 25% on our bill overall.

Has anyone else got any small tweeks to help keep bills down?

If the OP buys a Neff cooker my honest advice based on a whole kitchen of Neff appliances is … save yourself a lot of time and money and chuck the whole lot out into the nearest skip before you even install them.

I’d go for a welded steel cage inside the garage and then put blockwork around the cage and a concrete lid on it.

The chain stay design looks perfectly placed to trap mud and grit between the angled bit of the chain stay and they back it the motor casing.

I hope Yeti keep plenty of warranty replacements in stock for that bit.

bike prices have gone up a bit

I think most eBike owners could learn a lot about how to keep their bikes running from Deliveroo riders who:

– wrap the battery in cling film and gorilla tape
– cover the vents on the motors in gorilla tape and what appears to be large quantities of rubber or poly bags

😂😂

Letting foreign drivers back in won’t solve the problem – the shortage of drivers is Europe is estimated at 400,000+ (and also an issue in the USA) and has been growing since 2018:

2018 – https://www.bifa.org/news/articles/2018/dec/truck-driver-shortage-crisis-now-spreading-across-the-whole-of-europe

2021 – https://www.globalcoldchainnews.com/driver-shortage-is-pan-european/

There are several supply and demand factors at play:

Supply:
– an ageing workforce
– poor pay that has pushed many drivers into finding other roles with the same pay that don’t involve antisocial hours
– loss of truck stops / basic amenities for drivers
– the slow down in new drivers being trained / licensed even before covid hit
– unwillingness of firms to pay for driver training
– civil servants (UK) sitting on their hands and doing very little to get test centres and the provisional license process up and running
– backlog in trained drivers waiting for tests / full license
– IR35 impacting drivers that own their cabs and are now unable to recover the capital or operating costs

Demand:
– massive modal shifts due to the pandemic resulting in an even greater demand for drivers

I’ve found wiggle plus pretty reliable apart from deliveries on Sunday.

Every time I’ve used it the Hermes person updates their system to show delivery attempted / no-one was in – without even attempting a delivery. The orders are always delivered on a Monday though so no big deal.

“I will destroy you”, Pen Farthing warned defence aide over Afghanistan pet airlift

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4a851406-082a-11ec-ab20-2ce30c912e38?shareToken=c4168410a8d2a564683405c6783e3409

For anyone who has a subscription – a pretty devastating tear down of the corruption in the WHO that undoubtedly contributed to millions of otherwise avoidable covid deaths.

The highlights include appointing Robert Mugabe as a WHO ambassador and giving a leading role to the wife of Xi Jinping.

China, the WHO and the power grab that fuelled a pandemic:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-the-who-and-the-power-grab-that-fuelled-a-pandemic-3mt05m06n

Why does he need a visa to visit Maribor / Slovenia? The FCO website says one isn’t required:

“ you can travel to countries in the Schengen area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa. This applies if you travel as a tourist, to visit family or friends, to attend business meetings, cultural or sports events, or for short-term studies or training.”

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/slovenia/entry-requirements

If he’s already spent 90+ days that’s probably the reason.

EE are building the new emergency services network – they’ve added loads of new masts to provide the coverage the emergency services need and on most of those they’ve added consumer 4G services as well.

Out of 3 and EE there’s not much contest – EE wins hands down.

This will change a bit in the next 2 years though – 3 are already rolling out 5G services using some low frequency spectrum they purchased earlier this year. That will extend their rural coverage and increase speeds.

If you don’t have any luck fixing the drawers to the wall I’d chamfer the back legs so it sits slightly lower at the back then fix the back of the rear legs to a wooden rail screwed across the width of several floorboards to spread the load if a child tried to climb up it.

resin is ok until it fills up with dirt and starts growing weeds.

How about a reinforced driveway mesh with grass grown through it?

To the OP, a software robot has determined you are a racist and the social media overlords will now share that data and ruin your life.

Of course this is a wild exaggeration but given the lack of transparency on data use and sharing it’s something we should all be very worried about in the near future.

When one of my parents had the same problem with Plusnet I installed at TP Link AC1600 router and it pretty much solved the problem.

Plusnet’s list of “compatible” routers is based on the chipset in the router – I can’t remember which one it is but one of the chipsets works much better on lines that have a lot of “noise”’on them.

I’ve got the Hunt 44s with carbon spokes but wouldn’t buy them again. The ride even with 30c tyres at 45-50psi is extremely unforgiving – the wheels seem amplify every small change in road surface.

We’ve had two solid wood composite doors from solidor (fitted by Timber Composite Doors) and they’ve lasted very well so far.

It depends on options but I think ours were around £2400 (fitted) inc. triple glazed panel windows at the top – that was 8 or 9 years ago.

The Times is reporting today the the self “ethical” CEO took interest free loans from the firm, used the proceeds to buy property at no cost to himself and then leased the properties back to Brewdog at market rates.

The article also references other clever accounting treatments for things like private jets.

It’s a good job for the CEO most of Brewdog’s investors don’t have any voting rights and a salutary lesson in why buying shares without voting rights is a bad idea.

I see this a lot (2 or 3 times every weekend) – mostly kids bikes and almost always let the parents know.

One lady was mortified. I explained it would make the bike more unstable and the braking a bit unpredictable.

Apparently the daughter had repeatedly crashed / gone over the handlebars, in one case hurtling herself badly.

The mum explained she’d been telling her kid off for not being more careful!

Just when Kier started to push back on the tired old trope of champagne socialists, along comes a new multimillionaire socialist who personally presided over the record breaking increase in champagne consumption in the Palace of Westminster.

I think there will be a bit of a backlash when the local voters realise:

– the “local” candidate reportedly lives 30 miles away in West London and has been somewhat creative with her home address
– their new “Business woman” MP reportedly doesn’t seem to have any business at all save for some paid campaign work from her only client – the Lib Dems
– the “anti HS2” Lib Dems is led by Sir Ed Davey who voted for HS2 at every opportunity.

The EU has lost its legal case against AstraZeneca:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/astrazenca-eu-vaccine-supply-b1868514.html

My tips:

– buy a decent cut from a good butcher
– get the meat to room temperature
– oil lightly (rapeseed) and season well
– get the griddle smoking hot. The non stick ones don’t need any oil
– cook for a few minutes per side but don’t move the steak other than turning it once
– use a meat thermometer to get the temperature required for rare / medium etc
– whip it off the pan and onto a plate and leave for a few minutes as soon as the internal temperature is reached

Serve with booze and sauce. I find the “sauce shop” ketchups, mustards etc go very nicely with a good steak.

“How often do you have this issue for it to be ‘normally’?“

As often as our young delinquents (or their visiting friends) decide to flush toilet rolls, kitchen roll, dinosaurs, soft toys, lego or whatever else down the bog before having a massive carp and bog roll extravaganza session straight after that.

🏔🧻🧻🧻🦖+💩 = 🤬🤬😭😭😭

I normally shove a jetwasher down and it does the job – it’s worth covering the open bowl with a black plastic bag all nicely taped down to avoid any “blow back” 😂

The chair doesn’t look like it’s had 14 years of regular use does it? And there’s no way I could do 14 days on one of those chairs let alone 14 years.