I think as long as they don’t have a shoe in for Harris they have some good potentials to choose from .

A new candidate could be seen as a “change” candidate and cast Trump as the “”doddery old man”.  Let’s hope so.

Trump will win regardless so maybe let Biden bash on, do the time, and hope to find a decent democratic candidate for 2028?

Or . . . . Trump would definitely win against Biden, but a different Democratic candidate might beat him, so thank goodness he’s finally done the decent thing.

Thanks @masterdabber

Sorry, slight hi-jack: has anyone been to Swinley in the last couple of days and know if it’s dry or not yet?

A metal dining knife from my briefcase.

I didn’t know it was there but they spotted it on the X-ray and after a very careful search of the bag found it had slipped into the lining.  It was covered in dried avocado because I’d taken it to work a few days before to cut up an avo for lunch and forgot about it.  They were remarkably understanding.

I used them to buy an E-bike for Mrs R and picked it up at their Gatwick shop. They were great.

. . . or for me: Safari on iPhone and Chrome on Windows.

I can see yellow like symbols and numbers on old posts but it looks like over last few days no more post are being liked by me or anyone else because they are all grey with no numbers.

I’d expect the same to apply here as soon as our legislature catches up

So stand down, we still are yet to find a Brexit benefit.

the political centre of the UK is much further right than in most of europe

I’ve worked in a lot of European countries, particularly Germany, and I assure you that is simply not true.

The guardian is not left wing!

I rest my case your honour.

Well that was a lucky goal for us.

the political consensus in this country has moved so far right

So, it’s not you that’s left wing, it’s just that everyone else is far right wing.   Or more realistically you are just much further left of centre than your subjective perspective tells you.

But let’s try an objective measure, what media outlet do people use round here? My impression is that by far the most quoted outlet is The Guardian, with the BBC sometimes referenced despite a thread not too long ago about how awfully right wing biased it (or Laura Kuenssberg) was. Right wing news outlets are referred to in derogatory terms such as “Daily Heil”. From this we can conclude that most people posting around here are centre left or further left.

I don’t expect any argument to deflect you from your opinion, so I’ll say no more.

Its not centre left.  Its centre right establishment.  Its just a load of folk who are centre right claim to be centre left.

LMAO

Of course it’s left wing here – everyone is happy to use performative terms like Gammon, talk about how hideously right wing even One Nation Tories are, and see any hint of sympathy with Reform as signs of  unadorned stupidity or evil.

Not that I necessarily disagree with many of the opinions expressed here, but I am surprised by the level of self awareness your comment shows.

I could be persuaded for riding, but there’s no way I’m running in trousers.

This is a biking forum – problem solved.

:yes:

I’m assuming if he was to sell he wouldn’t pay tax on 444k?

A great example of how a simple solution “CGT on main residences” becomes complex and can have unintended consequences.

In principle your dad will have made about £400k capital gains on his house (allowing for purchase cost and cost of improvements) so should pay 20% tax on it. (Or even 40% tax.)

But should there be an annual untaxed CGT exemption on primary residences? If so should it be the same in places where prices rise faster vs places with a stagnant market?   How do you allow for costs of improvements, especially if they were a long time ago, or a lot of the labour was you as a DIY house extender rather than paying a builder to do the same thing?

And of course if the tax is seen as at all punitive, a Tory promise to abolish it would pretty much guarantee them a return to power at the next election.

Problems like this may not be insoluble, but they make an apparently simple solution very complex in practice.

The problem with “getting rid” of holiday homes is that they are in tourist locations which is not where 95% of the working population want to live as the jobs they want are not there

Yes – sadly the simple answers are usually the wrong answers: when solving a deep seated problem like housing it is important to consider the unintended consequences.

Only folks I know who let a property have their mortgage pretty much covered by the tenant

I’m in the same situation as an earlier poster: tennant pays only 2/3rds what they would have to pay on a mortgage to buy the flat, in London.  Perhaps some of the people you know had a substantial deposit on their properties, or the market is different elsewhere.

Here is the answer to your protein question: high protein consumption is just a current food fad.

“Most westerners eat far too much”  – “not true”

Well, Professor Stephen Gardner at Stanford think we try to eat too much protein – and as he’s spent the last 20years researching the health effects of different parts of the diet, I’d be inclined to listen to his view.

You can listen to him on:

https://zoe.com/learn/podcast-should-i-eat-more-protein.amp

Also DONT try and fix the situation by making low deposit mortgages etc available – this type of “help” only succeeds in pushing up the price of houses.

This.

I reckon give it a couple of years and the Starmer Govt will introduce some form of PR across the UK

I reckon that’s just wishful thinking, unfortunately. There are several compelling pressures against it, including:

– no party in power wants to give up the prospect of a further 5 years in power at the next election

– PR would destroy the two main parties, as they would both fragment into more narrow left and right versions of themselves – it’s a brave leader who would choose to do that to the party

–  it is such a massive constitutional change that it would have to be a clear manifesto commitment or involve a referendum – and we have seen just how predictable they are.

Starmer might turn out to be smarter and more progressive than the centrists on STW.

We’ve long known he’s smarter than the lefties on STW.

we can rely on first-past-the-post.

Not a centrist view, even if you can quote someone centre on STW with that personal opinion. It was the Lib Dems that tried unsuccessfully to get PR from the Tories.  And in the long run FPTP will always drive interest group coalescing into two broad church parties, whatever short term changes may be happening now.

if it’s free nobody values it

This.

“From what I understand there were a lot of people who are still waiting for their postal ballots” Possibly true, but not remotely an explanation for the SNP’s poor showing in this election.

“Reform is currently encouraging a section of the population which either otherwise wouldn’t normally vote or would cast a protest vote.”

Really? I don’t think so.

In seat after seat most of the Tory % reduction was mirrored in a Reform increase. Looks very much like Reform’s vote is primarily right wing Tories unhappy with the party after Johnson and Truss got kicked out.

“ people do NOT vote the same way in PR systems”

Only half the story. While technically true the reality of PR systems is that parties fragment and you end up with far left and right wing parties getting significant numbers of seats. Just look at Len Pen’s RN in France, and the recent success of AfD in Germany.

Under PR in the UK there is no doubt that Reform would have ended up with way more seats, probably more than LDs.

That’s not to say that PR isn’t a better system, just don’t be naive about the fact that it will give much stronger representation to voter groups you don’t like.

Is this the answer to a maiden’s prayers?

The End of the Presta Valve? New Schwalbe CLIK Valve Has Potential to Become Industry Standard

AND you still have to declare the bump away,

The point being you don’t have to do what the insurance say about declaring and they will never know . . ?

The consensus on this thread seems to be if you try to do it privately it’s cheaper than through insurance, but still much more expensive than the other person expects so they often end up involving their insurance anyway.

Fair enough.  But what isn’t clear is if they are happy to pay the full cost of fixing it privately is there really any problem in doing that – or are you avoiding an insurance increase yourself at next renewal?

Or maybe they’re just people who can’t afford to make ends meet on ridiculously low incomes or insufficient benefits

A couple of weeks ago I saw two guys running out our local Tesco express with arms full of booze and snacks. One had so much that he dropped half the snacks, tried to pick them up, dropped them again then ran off with what he had left.  These weren’t poor people desperately trying to get by without starving – they were thieving scumbags who knew that the police would probably be way too busy to deal with them , even if the shop bothered to report them.

I think to a 14 year old, anyone much over 20 is sad and old.

Do I need to cancel our existing tickets which we bought a couple of days ago?

No you don’t. You can search for your journey, then if your bid is successful you get a separate Seatfrog ticket that covers the upgrade and has to be shown with the original ticket.  Just download the Seatfrog app and search for your train.

if he’s a minor and not liable then you are on his behalf

Really?  I believe that parents are explicitly not liable for children’s debts, unless they have co-signed whatever legal agreement incurred the debt. If EBay allowed a minor to sign up, and not on your account, that’s their problem.

They have a duty to get you to your destination

A few years ago 6 of us were travelling London to  Scotland on the sleeper and we woke up the next morning to find the service had terminated in Preston. Cal Sleeper arranged 3 large taxis to take us all, plus bikes,  from Preston to Ardrossan – must have cost them packet.

Advertising does work, but may be trying to do something different from simply making you want to buy something now.

Typically it boosts awareness of a product/brand, so when you are “doing your research” it’s something you have heard of and feel is the kind of thing you might buy, rather than something cheaper and nameless from China that might actually be just as good.

The reality is that for significant purchases none of us are 100% analytical about deciding what to buy – some level of emotion plays a significant part, whatever we may like to think.

The last thing a company wants is a serious accident with one of their vehicles, especially if there is some suggestion it was deliberate.  They will probably give the drive a stern talking to, but it worth getting a camera just in case the driver is stupid enough to escalate it.

I see the cult of Saint Julian is alive and well here. Not a surprise really.

consumption is fairly low, maximum of 3 cups per day.

Am I the only one here surprised that 3 cups a day is considered low consumption? How many cups a day do you average drinkers consume?

Or is the answer to remove yourself from groups before processing the phone number change?

Yes

Ah, the silver lining to every cloud.

 I think we are in for a few interesting years in Scottish politics

SNP need a spell out of power

I think we can all agree with TJ on that!

England was lucky to cling into a draw. That was very poor.