going for bigger stakes, such as taking on a huge and powerful country like Iran, smacks of the desperation of a gambler who has lost everything and doesn’t know when to give up.

If you’re talking about Israel then the reasoning is political rather than desperation, striking Iran likely bolsters support for Netanyahu within Israel (and likely approval from quite a few countries behind the scenes, as long as it doesn’t impact the price of oil too much). For relatively little risk & cost he can do a lot of damage to Iran, if they were neighbouring countries I don’t think Israel would be quite so bullish.

Yeah, you’re probably right but the other issue I have is I live in a fairly small coach house style property so essentially my living space is 4 rooms (I should have moved years ago but preferred the alternative of becoming mortgage-free…) so even if I was a lot more organised a bit of extra storage space would be welcome (although as you allude to I’d probably end up just using it to store junk rather than dealing with it).

I’ve not had one installed but thinking about this sort of system (so it softens and filters) but there’s some iffy reviews so I’ve not made up my mind yet… https://www.uk-water-filters.co.uk/collections/types-whole-of-house-types/products/whole_of_house_with_scale_reduction (I’d probably go for the larger version for the increased flow rate, although running costs seem pretty high)

I need to get rid of so much stuff to, paid someone to remove a load of stuff from my garage a couple of years ago (responsible place not a cheap fly-tipper before STW judges me :p ) but now it seems as full as ever :( I want to get a decent sized shed sorted in my garden (where I can then dump a load of stuff currently in my garage, like the 5 bikes I’ve not ridden in years but have next to no second-hand value) but the garden itself needs sorting first and the only access to it is via the garage so I need to move the stuff in garage so landscapers etc. can even get to to the garden. So my current plan is to get my loft boarded and move some garage stuff temporarily up there and then get the other work done but I now have so much crap inside my house to it would be enough to fill the boarded loft (and not overload it) on it’s own. Aaargh. None of the stuff I’d happily get rid of is of any interest to charities either so it’s likely a load of trips to the tip, which ends up all seeming like too much effort so I end up not doing anything.

I need the equivalent of one of those TV shows about decluttering but without actually needing to be on TV…

The only significant advantage Israel has over Iran is in airpower, in most other aspects Iran has a significant advantage over Israel.

This ignores 2 major points, firstly the technological advantage Israel’s military has and secondly they can also count on support from the US (not troops on the ground but AWACS, air-to-air refueling, intelligence and advanced weapon systems). That said I don’t think Israel wants a protracted war with Iran, they certainly don’t want a land war (which would be night on impossible without the US getting directly involved, which they won’t). But Israeli can do a lot of damage to Iran’s military and economy, it’s much more difficult for Iran to do the same to Israel.

I expect Israel’s imminent retaliatory strike on Iran will focus on military and maybe political targets so that they can say they showed restraint, if Iran strikes back then the gloves will come off and Israel will hit oil processing and other economic targets and possibly even nuclear refinery/generation targets (though they might save that for any future escalation).

What are your thoughts regarding what happens when a battery runs out of warranty.

Obvs it will keep on working but what if there’s an issue big enough to require a new battery.

This cost could obviously be huge and that might lead to the whole car being scrapped.

Can’t say I’ve given it much thought – for me it would be similar to worrying about if an ICE engine blew up, can happen but unlikely. A battery will continue to slowly degrade and may get to the point it’s had so many charging cycles it’s degraded to the point it’s no longer fit for purpose but that figure is generally very high for current EV batteries and should only improve with new tech. I only charge my EV every week or two as I don’t do many miles, if I was doing a lot of miles and charging to 100% every night I’d probably lease in order to take battery degradation concerns out of the equation.

If that’s the case it might lead people to think that EVs are effectively disposable items with very little value after the 8/10 year warranty runs out.

It’s a bit early to say what the “battery degradation will likely mean range is reduced to such an extent the car is essentially scrap” figure is but it will be well in excess of 10 years (there’s already Tesla Model S’s older than that with perfectly usable batteries). I’d guess 15-20 years will be more like the age current EV batteries will get to the point they’re near useless in terms of being able to hold charge and as others have said who know what tech will exist then to regen them or if governments will offer subsided replacement schemes etc.

If I bought a car it would be 2-3 years old and have an 8 year warranty.

If I’m faced with potentially a bill for maybe £30-40k after 8 years of ownership then I’m less than keen to enter that ownership experience!

That’s pretty much my situation (bought a 2 year old Polestar 2 that comes with an 8 year battery warranty). I’m not planning to change it at or before 8 years, how long I keep it will depend on my future requirements, how many general issues I end up having with it and the state of my finances. All of these are the same reasons I’ve changed previous ICE cars (the last two of which I owned were both replaced after 10 years).

A replacement battery is also unlikely to be £30-40k unless it’s a £100k+ purchase cost car whereby the manufacturer is going to charge a premium just because they can. A Tesla Model 3 replacement is supposedly around £15k inc. labour.

As I said, for me battery degradation/failure isn’t really a concern (any more than say my house roof failing through age and not being covered by insurance) but if it is for you then you really need to look at leasing or self-insuring (e.g. putting money aside into an investment account that factors in the car being near worthless in x number of years and need replacing).

22kW isn’t a fast charger

It is in terms of how chargers are classified (fast is 7-22kW)

Agree, never really seen the point of ‘normal’ slippers apart from when occasionally walking across cold internal floors but your feet being warm enough otherwise. For feet generally just cold then heat holders (with sole grips) are a  better solution

Will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next year or two. One of the issues the Tories have had over recent years is the amount of influence the right of the party has had, so that more centrist/electable leaders have ended up compromised after having to pander to the right. Now that they’re going to be electing someone from the right of the party, will we see the centre of the party being able to have as much influence (in which case they’ll be electing a new leader before the next GE) or will the right dominate and take the Tories further right (possibly absorbing the Reform Party in the process)? I’m hoping for the latter but that the British public is still sane enough that the Tories get eviscerated again at the next GE…

Anything else I should be thinking about?

I’d say the main question is whether or not the sale will fall through if you don’t meet their demands and how much of an issue that would be for you if it did. I think it’s a reasonable demand from the buyers, if you need the sale to go through I’d maybe offer to meet them half way and knock another £7.5k off (but they still may feel they’re in a stronger position and refuse). Or if you don’t need this sale to go through then tell them to jog on.

Not actually noticed cyclists IRL streaming on Twitch before, I’m surprised it works given how many issues people seem to have with network drops etc. just IRL streaming walking around in area with good mobile coverage (and some of them using IRL streaming backpacks that cost a few £k and can link to multiple networks)

I’m a Wera fan to, happy with my Kraftform Kompakt 28 & 70 sets (I think both bought when discounted on Amazon)

I keep a Blunt Classic in the office (for trips to the local coffee shop…) but yeah not sure I’d recommend spending the money on one (it does stand up to strong winds well though)

This why people like Cross climates. IIRC, they were developed as a summer tyre with M&S rating, and they feel like a summer tyre, except in the winter when they grip like a winter tyre. They really do seem to have the perfect compromise.

I disagree. I was a fan of the original Cross Climates for this reason but with the CC2 they have changed the bias towards very cold weather performance and as a result CC2 performance in the wet is pretty poor now. Still an OK choice if you’re likely to be driving on snow or ice but no longer worth it for me (living in the SW).

If you’re mad enough to use the almost certainly inferior inbuilt satnav over Android Auto or whatever the Apple equivalent is, that’s not going to trouble 25GB annually let alone monthly.

Depends what the car is, mine has native Android Auto – it’s “built-in sat nav” is Google Maps, for me this uses the car’s eSIM not my phone (although it could pair and use my phone so I do kind of agree it’s a bit of a waste of money buying a dedicated one for the car). Assuming all the car’s Internet-connected functions work when paired to a phone (I’m not sure if Polestar Connect does for example, at least just through pressing the button for it – it’s their service for calling remote assistance).

What car? I’d check around on forums for that car for recommendations and to make sure there aren’t any gotcha’s (fortunately Polestar extended the free SIM period to 6 years so I haven’t had to do it – I did read somewhere, for a PS2 at least, it’s implemented in a way it can hop across provider networks, not sure if true but would also mean switching to a normal SIM might cause issues).

I think if you know you’ll be chaining connections across multiple access points (and not using Ethernet for the backhaul) then mesh that has tri-band is worth it (as long as the 2nd 5GHz band can be set as a dedicated backhaul) otherwise the bandwidth degrades considerably by the last access point in a chain. This is more of an issue for deployments of 3+ access points with them chaining off each other (rather than all connecting back to the master access point) and you having devices connected that need a lot of bandwidth on the edge access points.

What resolution depends what you’re trying to do with them. I have a 2k wired system with a DVR, picture is great for anything static but anything moving blurs and things like a car number plate is unreadable. For just monitoring activity and alerting then HD is fine, don’t expect it to be able to provide an image (assuming they aren’t masked/hoodied anyway) useful to the police though (but don’t expect that of a 4k system either if they’re always moving).

If you have thick internal walls and can’t run Ethernet cable through them (or through floor/ceiling) I’d be prepared for 3 access points not being enough (but sensible to start with 3 and see how they go). As I said in another thread, with thick internal walls you’ll usually find the access points connect better through floor/ceiling than through the walls so you might need to factor that into their placement.

Is this via a debit card? Any new sites I’ve used in the past couple of years (or over a certain amount) I always just get a message to authenticate it via the Barclays app and never had an issue. Usually then don’t have to again for that site unless I make a significantly larger than usual purchase.

Seems like a lot of the blame for failing to prosecute should be with the CPS rather than police, a shambles regardless and anyone in any decision-making capacity related to this should have questions to answer.

Isle of Arrows is my favourite iOS game, OK it does fall under strategy and it takes more than 5 minutes for a level (but you don’t have to complete a level in one sitting). No other tower defense genre game I’ve tried comes close + the daily challenges keep you coming back to it. It does cost a fiver but there’s no in-game ads or other stuff to buy

Other than that I just play a few word related games inc. Scrabble.

EV pricing is certainly hurting demand, especially with the depreciation meaning new buyers are mostly leasing and secondhand prices are still too high for many people to consider one. Not sure if it will naturally sort itself out or need government intervention again (or they just take the easy option and postpone banning ICE cars), my money’s on the latter.

As for heat pumps – as long as you have a home charger I don’t think it makes much difference really as you’ll pre-heat the cabin and battery. So unless you’re driving a long way (100+ miles), leaving the car parked up somewhere for a while (and not plugged in) then driving back I can’t see how it would make a difference.

I have the Ryobi 600psi 18v version of this, works well to (although I mostly use it for a final car rinse using filtered water from spotlesswater.co.uk…)

I can’t see this causing long-term issues for Hezbollah

It’s likely a prelude to an Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, they’ve effectively cut off communication between Hezbollah fighters and with their c&c in the short-term so now would be the time to exploit that.

BAC in Hungary will have some explaining to do

I’m assuming the Mossad agents who were there are already back in Israel and anyone left is a clueless patsy.

There does seem a lot of Covid around, I had it for the first time a couple of weeks ago (and still not 100% now, although negative). I think I’ll go for the private booster vaccine option via Boots to hopefully cover me over the winter, it’s £100 though :(

I think it depends what your use case is really, for me Ryobi made sense as the range is great and they often have decent offers on (and are generally a bit cheaper than the top brands). I’m aware that De Walt, Milwaukee, Makita etc. are usually better tools (especially the core stuff like drills and impact wrenches) but I’ve drilled about 3 holes in the last 10 years so the Ryobi one+ 18v brushless one is more than enough for my needs.

I’d also never buy a power tool (or battery) from anything but the vendor’s web-site, large chain or official dealer with a good rep – there’s way too many convincing looking fakes out there these days.

I have no clue how to fix it, so many things seem broken and it’s such a vast organisation that it will take years and £billions to affect any noticeable (to Joe Public) change. I hope they do though and I’d gladly pay more income tax for it.

I’ve always had Dell Latitudes or Precisions as work laptops (and been happy with them), although if buying for myself I’d probably look at the higher end of the Insprion range to. Don’t get a Precision unless you want a workout whilst carrying it any where (although they are really well put together). What’s your budget, that will be a big part of any decision-making…

I’d check what’s on offer at sportpursuit.com, personally I like Columbia jackets as they tend to be decent priced and perform pretty well. Jacket sizing seems to come up pretty big though (I’m a XXL in their t-shirts but between M and L in a couple of jackets I have)

Depends quite a bit on budget. For flight sims you’ve probably better off with an ultra-wide curved (although you’ll also need a decent graphics card due to the resolution).

For general office/WFH stuff I prefer 27″ 1440 monitors (and a decent IPS panel version). 27″ 1080 is just too low res for me and 4k you need 32″ IMO (but that’s also a fairly big price jump, don’t be tempted to go low budget at that size, you should be spending £300+ and more like £400 per monitor). I know there’s software to divide up the screen of ultra-wides but for me I just prefer the convenience of separate physical monitors.

Please confirm I am ordering the correct 2 items to achieve this before I blow £200 on the wrong thing

Unless you’re on Gigabit fibre there’s no real need to pay the premium for WiFi 6/7 kit (but fair enough if you want to long-term future proof). How far is the garage from the house (where the router will be) and how many walls? If there’s a few walls or it’s a long distance the one in the garage might not connect to the one in the house (so you might need another in the house in between and by a window/door leading to the garage. But no harm to try with just those 2 units first as long as you have the budget for buying a 3rd one later if the signal is too weak for them to connect reliably. As for the outdoor unit version given it’s not a big premium over a standard unit it’s probably worth it although probably not strictly necessary for your average garage levels of dust.

I have CCTV that covers my door, if I don’t recognise the person and aren’t expecting a delivery I don’t get off my sofa :p

So mesh with units hardwired between them if either side of a thick wall is best way, If you can’t hardwire them then you may need line of sight (inc. through doors) or through floors.

In my parent’s old house with 3 floors and thick internal walls I’ve had to deploy 8 mesh units (Deco M9’s so not cheap!) and even then there’s still some areas with only a weak signal between two units. I found the signal goes through floors much easier than the walls so on the middle floor I have 4 units that only go through one wall max and go the whole length of the house, then from these I drop down to a mesh unit in the room below (4 total: living room, dining room, hallway and kitchen) thankfully the loft bedroom gets a good signal from a middle floor unit. The ground floor ones mostly connect with a unit in the room on the floor above them, although occasionally they connect with each other. Probably could have done with with only 2 units on the middle floor if I could have hardwired them and also the best place for some units isn’t always available as there’s no mains plug near enough.

The TP-Link app is really good though and makes it easy to set them up and it reconfigures itself from time to time if it works out a better way for the units to talk to each other.

One other thing I found out when the Internet dropped one time, when in bridge mode (which you use when deploying a mesh network) the ISP router (Plusnet’s one at least) also stops serving DHCP IP addresses (obvious in hindsight). So when I went to check what was wrong with the Internet connection on a PC hardwired to the router and it wouldn’t connect I thought it was actually the router that had an issue so I went down a rabbit hole for an hour or so, it was only when I did a factory reset (which switched it back to router mode and hence enabled DHCP again) I realised what the issue was (simple fix is to statically assign an IP to the PC). Doh.

What games are you wanting to run on it and at what resolution & quality settings? If you coming from a mid-range desktop then a £1000 gaming laptop will likely be disappointing for modern FPS games but other game genres would be fine.

I’m surprised the newer model LRDM’s are only around 220 miles real-world range, I get 190 from my 20 plate LE LRDM and that’s driving without efficiency in mind with crappier battery tech + 21″ wheels. Main issues IMO with the PS2 are:

1). Bit cramped/claustrophobic inside – only really an issue is you will regularly have adult passengers in the back. Visibility isn’t great either but BLISS in one of the packs helps a lot.

2). Infotainment is a bit dated now, even new models use the same tech as the original version and it was dated back then. Generally it doesn’t cause many issues though and for me is responsive enough.

3). It’s over-priced (but that’s less of an issue if leasing)

Not sure if the Polestar 4 is available for leasing yet (and when delivery would happen) but I’d go for one of those over a 2 as they don’t seem much more money (purchase price anyway), although the width might be an issue in the UK

A lot of the big IT firms with graduate schemes should be pretty flexible on opportunities (e.g. we have data science, developer, security etc. type roles – you probably have to pick a preference to start with but I assume you can change your mind down the line).

If going into the IT world one tip I’d say is try to get security cleared asap (SC to start then DV if possible), it’s so much easier to find jobs and move around fields if you have clearance – another benefit of joining a big IT company is they’re often more willing to put people through the clearance process as they have a variety of roles requiring it (rather than a company wanting to take someone on for a specific role, most times they’d expect at least SC already).

It seems to upset a lot of Tolkien fans as it doesn’t adhere strictly to the lore but as a show I like it. Apparently the thing upsetting the fans in S2 is the orcs have families

Unless you have a lot of access points deployed I can’t see how it would be that accurate. I suspect most mapping of how people flow through their stores is via cameras + software which has been around for many years.