Domestic EPC ratings are somewhat subjective based on what the Assessor inputs into the software, so two identical buildings could have different ratings. With the changes coming, a lot of Landlords will be requesting new EPCs.

The UK electric supply is becoming decarbonised and when the EPC mythology is updated to include current CO2 values for electric heating, the rating may well improve.

Having visited the Lakes for the first time this year I watched the first episode with interest. I was shocked by the distinct lack of wildlife and whilst I wouldn’t advocate a complete rewilding of the area, subsidising hill farmers to steward the land with reduced impact seems sensible.

It is somewhat breathable and ridding unzipped you get a good flow of air through the pit zips. Definitely needs to be sub 10 degrees to be barrable. below 6 degrees its works great with just a good base layer.

Another perk loophole, now closed to new MPs, is the appointment of family members as staff. There are a number of MPs paying spouse £50k a year as secretarial staff.

Most land regions will see more hot days, especially in the tropics. At 1.5 degrees Celsius warming, about 14 percent of Earth’s population will be exposed to severe heatwaves at least once every five years, while at 2 degrees warming that number jumps to 37 percent. Extreme heatwaves will become widespread at 1.5 degrees Celsius warming.

From
NASA

Just written to my MP about this. The amendment would put a legal obligation on water companies “to make improvements to their sewerage systems and demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage.”

I’m not convinced that small scale PV generation is particularly efficient. Each property needs it’s own inverter, controller and wiring. Most roofs will also be sub optimal in orientation and pitch.

The large house builders need to improve the quality of what are building in terms of fabric and air tightness. A move to new builds being designed around incorporating Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) is what we really need.

Amazon are using Mercedes-Benz eSprinter vans. 80+ mile range.

To often the government solutions and policy are simplistic and half baked.

Lots of money has been pushed into cavity wall insulation for unsuitable properties.

Smart energy meters, several different types, so you may need to have a new meter when you change supplier or they just become dumb meters. They aren’t smart enough to provide the interface you really need to automatically control appliances inline with variable elec. prices.

Transport is the biggest source of carbon emissions in this country, but a straight transition to EV vehicles misses the opportunity to change the way we travel, improving rail and city centre public transport.

Worse, we chose to shut down our large storage facility to save money, then allowed the supply to be provided by companies run out of bedrooms with the financial clout of a 12 year who couldn’t hedge their way out of a paper bag, let alone buy £bn of gas in long term contracts…..

Whilst also moving towards a requirement for gas-fired power plants to balance variable renewable energy.

Ha, the eco setting will be hotter than most people would tolerate when washing by hand.

Speaking to somebody in the second hand trade, their margins on cars from auction have been squeezed. End of lease cars are going straight to businesses like Cazoo, so there aren’t as many cars going to auction. He was also nervous about holding too many cars at inflated prices, fearing a drop in prices.

Not so sure he’d fair as well against Fury. I think Fury would lean all over him when close and jab when at distance, this is the tactics that AJ should have used tonight. Why did AJ try to out-box a faster more technical fighter? He got it wrong.

Having watched some highlights, this sums up how AJ should have fought. It’s not pretty, but being the bigger guy he should of been wrapping Usyk up and leaning on him. In the early rounds AJ just seemed unable to commit or throw a heavy punch and kept getting picked off. If he really wanted the win he needed to walk Usyk down not try and out box him.

Boris does not set interest rates, the Bank of England does.
If interest rates have to go up to curb inflation then they will.
Any political interference will have grave consequences for the UK gilt market.

Obviously Boris doesn’t set interest rates, but government policy and sentiment will still influence Bank of England. Interest rates are used to control economic growth, but much of the inflation we are experiencing now isn’t economic growth. It’s partly a return to previous output with additional Brexit pressures. Added to the mix is a change in our energy use, covid debt, NHS backlog and changing a demographic.

I think we have got a 6 month period of substantial inflation. Supply chain delays/costs, worker shortages and additional bureaucracy (Brexit). Boris will look to ride this out without increasing interest rates as the tax rises will already be squeezing peoples spending. The risk is that prices continue to rise we have a panic interest rate rise next year.

There will be some low paid works who will do well or at least keep pace with inflation such as HGV drivers, but plenty will be struggling.

Just transitioning from ICE to EV doesn’t really work from a practical or environmental standpoint.

It’s not practical for a large proportion of the population to charge a vehicle at home. Whilst most SUV drivers have access to a nice driveway, lots of people struggle to park near their homes.

Environmentally, the energy and resources required to build an EV are significant. Walking, cycling(e-bikes), public transport, hire or car sharing when required are all better.

As commented on, young people aren’t interested in cars. The experience of driving is not as engaging as 20 or 30 years ago nor, is being able to drive as empowering. There is likely to be a shift in behaviour as future generations become less reliant on car travel. All driven by online shopping, digital entertainment and home working.

China has been quick to recognise the Taliban leadership. Expect to see some Chinese investment in infrastructure to support miming operations in the coming years.

The whole situation was inevitable. My understanding is that there were huge swathes of rural Afghanistan that were never under any real government/US control.

The way most people and businesses pay for their smart phones, by contract, incentivises the regular replacement and upgrade of perfectly functional equipment. Not only is this bad for the environment it’s also more costly.

I’m starting to think climate change is less of an issue than the drop in biodiversity and mass extinction is more of a concern for the future. The size of the human population isn’t as big a part of the problem as consumerism. A few million people living the lifestyle of a Russian oligarch far outweigh a few billion living in a substance economy.

The government has carbon targets, but no credible plan on how to achieve them. Swapping out gas boilers for heat pumps just isn’t practical for the vast proportion of the UK housing stock. Building energy efficient housing in the first place is a far better solution. The same goes for electric cars. Decent public transport, car sharing schemes and remote working all could reduce the number of cars on the road.

But what is the mechanism for regulatory alignment? Court of Justice of the EU, payments to the EU and restrictions on trade deals? Or does Boris just spit on his hand and promise to be a good boy and read EU regulations at bed time?

With the NI border, something has got to give eventually. The only solution I can see that works is to have facilities for custom checks, away from the border, and automatic vehicle registration at the border. With every commercial vehicle that goes through the border validated against the checked vehicle details. These customs facilities will cost a lot of money, add time and costs to companies exporting South of the boarder will be a target for terrorists.

Who thinks Cav has a good opportunity to win a stage? Both stages 4 and 6 look good for a bunch sprint. Caleb Ewan looks to be the fastest sprinter, but he or his team doesn’t always get the final positioning right. I could see Cav beating Colbrelli and Merlier in a straight sprint and the green jersey contenders such as Sagan will have been battling hard on the tough opening stages. I don’t see him getting through the second week, Cav struggled to make the time cut when he was at his peak and stages 8 and 9 look brutal.

It looks like the perfect Tour for Roglic. Not sure Jumbo will have the riders to control the race from the first TT on stage 5 onwards. Pogacar looks the most credible challenger to Roglic. I think Thomas and Porte both look capable of reaching the podium, but would need Roglic and Pogacar to both suffer misfortune to take the win. Unfortunately, the INEOS riders are the most likely to end up in a ditch. Carapaz doesn’t have a good enough TT to win, but has the best chance of keeping upright. Outside bet would be Gaudu or Kelderman.

Not normally interested in politics will admit but I think Boris has had to tread a difficult balance of lockdown/economy/keeping everyone happy. I respect all views above regardless of whether I agree with them or not, but…
Rather than just slagging off everything, why not list how you would have actually managed the pandemic differently? How would you have saved 1000’s of lives, kept the economy going, kept every part of the country happy, vaccinated everyone more quickly and got the pubs open more quickly 🤔

It’s pretty clear that earlier action in 2020, light touch restrictions and travel restrictions a few weeks earlier, would have made a huge difference in outcome. It’s easy to say this with hindsight, but Cumming’s criticism is that a) Boris didn’t take the Virus seriously, b) that the system was poorly structured and prepared to react and c) that experience from other countries was ignored.

The trade strategy is simple, go for free trade with no tariffs or quotas with all countries. Cheap food and meat from US, Mexico and Brazil for the masses. Those that can afford it will continue with high welfare, organic home grown food.

@schrickvr6 Most of our local vets are now owned by CVS Group. A lot of vets who have owned practices have cashed in over recent years. A lot of junior vets and certainly vet nurses aren’t particularly well paid, so straight forward consultations don’t have high overheads.

Taking a step back if I’m asked to take a ride on a Starship.

We’re going to be helped out by a myth?

I mean that the inflation caused by Brexit will help inflating away national debt.

Basically the plan is to inflate our way out of debt. The Brexit dividend will help with this. Freezing the tax personal allowance could really bite some people.

I don’t understand why the stamp duty reduction is still in place. The housing market shows no sign of collapse. The headline is that stamp duty is zero up to 500k, but this still results in huge tax break for those buying 800k holiday or work from home properties.

Isn’t the problem with the “take back control” argument that power or control at any level of government is an illusion. The Parish council can talk, request and talk some more. Local government controls a large amount spending, but within tight guidelines and controls form government. The same could be said of devolved government. Within government, individual ministers have are lobbied by industry and are constrained by domestic and international law, spending and trading agreements.

Looks like a good course for Van der Poel. If he gets any sort of gap on Van Aert the race is over. Not sure if Pidcock is good enough in the sand to beat Vanthourenhout or Toon Aerts for third.

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An ASHP with R410a is potentially less environmentally friendly than a gas boiler for global warming potential (GWP). R32 systems are now readily available, so anybody looking to get a system installed should check that that this is what they are getting.

Sure, but from the POV of a mass roll-out, what a constitutes an average home in the UK matters greatly. One appeal of a gas-combi is that you can more or less rule of thumb size it and then just drop it in. ASHPs in contrast demand better planning and specifying. Not an easy thing for your average Bob.

Can’t agree more, your average house builder in this country is going to struggle. There have been several horror stories from social housing with heat pump installations.

However much of a shit show the incumbents preside over, I don’t see them being losing the next election. Whatever the economic situation is at the time can be blamed on COVID. Any Brexit deal issues can be blamed on the EU.

Lib Dems would need to take 50 plus seats Tory seats to give Labour any chance of forming a government. It also looks likely that Plaid Cymru and SNP continue to win traditional Labour seats.

Personally I’d like to see more Green party MPs and would consider voting Green.

I say bring back the Empire! But who do we invade first?

Norway.

1) The Royal Marines regularly practise invading Norway.
2) It’s local
3) They have got a fishing deal with the EU
4) They have got lots of money we could use to pay off our debt

Anyone else need to google the meaning of “egregious”?

https://fb.watch/2hMbjfDg9j/

The reality is that most businesses of any size will continue to design, manufacture, build, grow, mine and operate under regulations that will closely mirror EU regulations. There will be pressure from most industries for British Standards to adopt future EU regulations. This being the case we should be able to carry on in much the same way as before, just with lots of extra paperwork and costs for those trading with EU countries. Plus making us a less desirable place to invest in or operate from.

What the EU will be concerned about is that as a country we will look to weight the dice. Similar to how we have fast tracked the Covid vaccination approval. Allowing new GM crops or some new pesticide and being able to relatively easily access the EU market. Potentially we could follow China’s example and subsidise steel production. I’m sure that Boris has plenty of friends with get rich quick schemes.

So, the EU want to tie us down to a “level playing field”. Alternatively, we could accept lots of tariffs that prevent manipulation of key markets such as agriculture an steel. Crippling these industries and preventing anybody making a quick buck.