“‘Sir’ Nick Clegg? A true sign of how Britain’s elite rewards failure “

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/28/knighthood-nick-clegg-george-osborne-britain-elite

There are supposedly petitions against his knighthood on the internet.

“The organisers of the honours list said more time was needed to gather and judge nominations of people praised for their responses to this year’s biggest tragedies.“

New Year Honours list: Heroes of Grenfell Tower, Manchester Arena and London Bridge not included – But Conservative MPs who backed Brexit are awarded knighthoods in ‘doled out favours’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/new-years-honours-list-grenfell-tower-fire-heroes-manchester-terror-attack-london-a8133811.html

Can anyone honestly say the country has been better run since the 2015 election than is was when Clegg and co were in the cabinet?

It would have been better run had Clegg not struck such a grovelling deal with the conservatives. The liberals did not even get the proportional voting option they favored on to the ballot, yet alone get it into legislation, which was the main thing they sold out the country for.

As I said, not a fan of the DUP generally, but much respect for strength they have shown in getting what their party and their voters want, rather than sucking up, grovelling in gratefulness and sinking their own ship in the process.

“a decent politician and did a reasonable job of reining in the Tories.
What’s not to like?”

– making a rubbish bargain with the conservatives (compare the DUPs better one)
– lying about his own politic position to get votes (student loans)
– destroying his party
– causing nearly all the liberal mps to loose their jobs
– reducing opposition to the conservatives long term (many voters will vote tory rather than labor given there is no point at all in voting for the utterly diminished liberal party for the next decade)
– making the conservatives appear ‘softer’ than reality thereby helping them get a 2nd term.

Quite a lot not to like really.

Its really sad to see the liberal party so flushed down the pan, by a man happy to get rewarded for doing so, and the serious political voting options for the population decreased in the process.

I used to quite like Clegg too by the way, but he started modelling himself on Blair – sell out anything happily to gain personal power.

Depends if you like him as a person or just see him as a duty finished with.

I would have a word with him

– he could be very hurt at being abruptly cut off if he thinks you gave him gifts out of friendship or love for him as an individual.

– if he long ago realised you just did it out of obligation, he might be expecting to be dropped like a stone at the first opportunity and have no concerns at all.

“So, this is now set to change in Scotland. The mandatory business rates relief is going to be removed from them. It’s fair to say that the private schools sector in Scotland is not best pleased with this.

I, on the other hand, am very pleased about this.”

Thanks for this info, I was unaware of some of it. Great news.

I’m short, according to %90 of the female population, apparently that makes me a no

The 2 most attractive men I have seen were both shorter than me, I am 5’4″. Both of the were with blonde women who towered over me. Both couples looked very happy. Unfortunately for me, most short men seem to want tall women.

I am not pretty and in addition have an illness which causes skin problems, so I get very few dates anyway, whatever the height.

Men teach you very young that you have little to interest them unless you are good looking, a really pretty woman walks in the room and everything changes in a guys behavior even though they think its not noticeable, it is. I recently worked with some models and it was fascinating as they took their looks and attractiveness utterly for granted in a very casual non egotistical way, they were really nice friendly women. Chatting with them was amazing as their experience of daily life and interaction with both men and women was so alien from mine that it was like looking into a different universe.

Although harassment can’t be fun, it must be wonderful to have so many extra choices in life, even in things like being more likely to get jobs when you have been for interviews. I know senior managers who have appointed both men and women just because of how they look and because they fancied them.

On the up side, being an ugly woman does mean I have always been able to enter traditionally male environments (IT depts, animal markets, farm sales etc)without any harassment at all, just as one of the lads, as no one cares I am there. When I have gone to some familiar places but with another woman, we have often had to leave because we then get the wrong sort of attention because she has been cat called or could not cope with the comments from men which I never suffer from.

Being an ugly woman has a lot of plus points, but it makes finding a partner or changing jobs tougher than it might otherwise be. It can get very lonely.

I realize from reading back this may look man hating, but its not, I have had great friendships with guys, wanting attractive women is just biology and not the mens fault.

Anti coalition PETITION (600,000 plus signatures in less than 2 days so far) at

https://www.change.org/p/winston-theresamay-to-resign-no-to-the-the-democratic-unionist-party-marr-bbcsp-postmanpratt1?source_location=minibar

“Theresa May said there will NOT be a coalition of CHAOS.

She has TODAY agreed a ‘confidence’ deal with the The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)

Here is a list of DUP stances[followed in petition by list of DUP previous policies]. Theresa May should RESIGN. This is a disgusting, desperate attempt to stay in power.”

On a personal level, I dont think her resigning immediately will actually help anyone, but I think it worth generally putting pressure on about coalitions, esp after the previous Lib Dem farce.

“As reported elsewhere, those I overheard were discussing not voting Tory despite having done so historically which is interesting. “

One of my neighbors was at the polling station, no idea of her politics but she said today was the first time in years and years she was “bothering to vote” as she felt the vote this time “was important”.

Simple fact – older people vote tory. And when we say older than means over 40.

My next door neighbor (from a very well off background) is 92 and is voting Labour.

My housemate – retired, is voting Labour, his best mate a retired high earner is voting labour.

I am voting Labour

My friend, a 60 year old childrens illustrator is voting Labour

2 other friends are 70+ and 60+ are voting labour

My 2 Aunts, both 70+ are voting Labour

Another friend, 64 is voting Labour

My dad, retired votes labour.

We don’t all live in the same region, these people live in different bits of the UK.

Like I said, don’t pigeon hole people. There may be general trends, but don’t assume (1) that figures are not manipulated and (2) that everyone fits a trend.

Anyway, this thread was supposed to be about how many people seem to be turning out to vote at polling stations, not what they vote. I think its looking to be a very good turnout. A good thing for democracy.

Scud, quite a few mature people, some in their 30’s/40’s, several young people with kids in pushchairs. I would think most people who work for someone else would have voted before i got there or will turn up after work hours.

I think the snide dig at older people is a bit sad and nasty. this fantasy thing about all older people being rich and secure is rubbish.

The retired couple 2 doors up from me cant even afford to buy 2 cakes if they go to a cafe, they share one between them if they go at all. One of my relatives total incomes is about £400 a month, for food, bills and entertainment. She fought in the 2nd world war, her brother lost a leg to a German machine gun. Not all young people are dirt poor either, most that have cars and who are younger than me have newer cars then I have ever owned.

Best not to just pigeon hole people.

Divide a population so it fights among itself and its easier to manipulate and rule it.

Thanks for all the helpful info.

Can anyone recommend any brands they have found good for combination ovens?

We did not steal the Falklands from anyone, it was part of a formal land trade.

What I find pretty scary about this post is how few people have said anything about the welfare of the people living on the Falklands, or indeed their democratic will, their options to choose their nationality and their own government and indeed our moral duty of care towards them. Its not, and certainly should not be, about costs and returns. When given a vote, almost no one there wanted to integrate with Argentina.

OP and indeed some of the others here – if you were to become seriously ill or injured, requiring months of medical treatment, should you just be written off to die, as you would never be able to pay back enough for the UK health service to make a profit from you? Would that be the right thing to do?

If anything the Falklands people should have the option to become fully independent if they wish – but they cant risk that as Argentina will just annex them again, against their will.

Argentina have already violently forced the Falklanders in to being occupied, so of course they fear becoming part of Argentina as its has behaved so badly in the past to the Falklanders. Loads of people died for the personal benefit of Argentinas own politicians, just for political gains. The terrifying military invasion of the Faulklands by Argentina was not to help the popularization in any way, it was to up the ratings of the Argentinian politicians who were having political difficulties at the time. Instead the war boosted Thacher, an unfortunate side effect for the UK.

If you work on this sort of basis – just money and proximity and ignoring the people, the UK really should offer to become a region of Germany or France due to proximity and past history of aggression towards us over the centuries.

“Reading a lot of threads which explain how hard it is for younger people to get on the housing ladder”

Its a media/government fantasy that only young people can’t get on the ladder. I know of at least 3 people who are 40+ who cannot afford to buy any property in my city/area around it and none of them can afford the rents of anything other than a single room bedsit. They have no chance of ever having homes despite being reliable long term workers. The house and rent prices are just too high here for anyone on an average single wage.

Having a home in this area is dependent on having a romantic partner or long term reliable house mate who will risk buying with you or who will split rent as without 2 salaries, no home other than a bedsit is ever going to happen for the average worker.

For working single people of any age the situation is dire.

Unless people have kids in irresponsible circumstances (ie bedsit) the state no longer wants to know they exist… so eviction is a big fear as without kids no one gives a **** about you, no matter your other contributions to society or to tax.

Did not know IKEA did just doors. Gotta go there this week, will take a look.

Will check out B&Q. Hate it more than IKEA as its huge, you walk miles but they never have what you want in stock, just half of it!

Actually, maybe its the same management! 🙂

Kitchen fitted a minimum of 20 years ago. Its not knocked about, it all works ok, just covered in exterior staining in places.

Mentally worn out today with the hassle of dealing with this place to be honest. Have got nothing but grief and no practical help at all from the other trustee. Already cleaned off 20 years + of chain smoking from the place. Not so much the disgusting work that gets me down, its dealing with the people involved who do nothing at all to help but can always helpfully explain how I could have done everything so much better…. scream! No offer to help though.

Gotta go out now and look for cheap replacement curtain rails. The old ones are white plastic and I cant get the staining off of those either.

At least I don’t have to wear a face mask in there now as all the walls and ceilings have been cleaned/sealed and the carpets have been machined washed 3 times as too expensive to replace those.

Expect I will cheer up again later, but sometimes it just gets to me. I do feel pleased at the progress I have made with it.

Do they just sell the doors? There is no way whole units can be funded and to be honest, I dont want to get involved anyway in replacing the whole thing as i would have to fit it myself due to costs. The insides are ok. Just unscrewing a door and sticking another one on is about the limit with this, which may be to expensive to do anyway.

England.

Thanks folks for contributions, some really helpful stuff, very grateful.

From the UK. If abortion had been more freely available at the time of my conception, I would most likely have been aborted.

It seems to me it would have been generally better all round if I had been for the people involved at the time and for all the consequent lives affected by my conception.

My parents were warm to me as a child and I grew up with them. I have no guilt at existing, as none of the consequences or actions at the time were my choices. I feel sad for the people in the situation at the time. If my parents had been able to abort me I would not have missed being alive, as I would never have experienced the world.

I fully support responsible, emotionally counseled abortion.

I would guess the repair jobs, if someone came in to do it would be at least £1000 for the fencing, potentially more. In the circumstances I dont want to do this work by myself due to both level of work involved, cost and liability if there is some issue with it later. I would prefer either group co-operation with the residents (not going to happen, none are DIY folks) or for someone to be employed by the residents.

Some of the wooden posts are set into concrete which is below tarmac. Some of them are above a small retaining wall (2 feet high), set into a bank. I am not sure if the wall would need work. The fence is heavy duty bording. I have not looked closely at this stuff as I can see from a distance its not good.

To give added financial context, 2 of the people who have garages there have both said it needs work and is run down. Neither wants to contribute money, even though there is no sign of them moving house for at least some years.

The property would have been registered with the land registry 15-20 years ago. As the builder went bust, I do not know what quality of info may have been registered anywhere – the printout I have from the land registry is minimal and just shows a boundary for the house on a map and nothing much else – do they offer a deeper search?

I suspect though this could end up as a legal issue as its pretty clear no one wants to pay, or are unable to afford to perhaps which I have more sympathy with. Its not a run down area, its quite nice, but its going to become very run down unless people do something soon.

Not inclined to exploit people, just want someone I can stand to have around 🙂 and who can cope with me. Some people just dont ‘get’ why you might be happy storing a (clean) bike in the living room.

Interestingly when discussing lodgers with friends, the general tone had been ‘charge the highest you can’. Its a bit depressing really.

People have become so ruthless.

Lodger – different property. 🙂
I don’t live in the property I am trustee of.

I am a trustee of the property.

No mortgage. No papers held by the bank or building society. The mentally ill owner threw out all out all relevant paperwork she had possession of, other than a diagram of who owns the garden fences, which does not aid the shared area issues. It does include info on which houses own which garages, but I have been told some of that info was amended during the build, so is not correct.

There are no deeds or maintenance agreements, there is no regular payment to any upkeep fund. Its unclear if the other owners have any paperwork about maintenance, but then, if they don’t wish to pay I am sure they can ‘loose them’ anyway. The builder who built it went bust part way through the build so no records there either.

I think its best to assume there is no formal agreement.
So how can upkeep be enforced legally?

On average, are lodgers short or long term stayers?

Does house insurance go up?

Are there rules about fire alarms / lock types / etc as there are in renting out whole houses?

Housing is the most divisive issue in the UK at the moment with the ‘haves’ quite openly extorting as much as they can from those that don’t… to the detriment of everyone as we run out of money to spend after housing ourselves…

Yes, the housing situation is shameful.

🙂

If you are a bloke, then you still have excellent chances of finding love at those ages – its a matter of getting out and meeting new people. My fathers wife is 30 years younger than him. No he is not rich.

If you are a woman over 40, most men treat you like you are a waste of space romantically.

If you are a male, be kind and decent to middle aged women – its not ok to hurt people or treat them with contempt just because you have no personal sexual use for them.

Pet Plan have been fantastic. I never used to insure but realise that is no longer an option, as vet fees are so expensive I could never cover them. My pets are members o£f my family.

Our cat was run over and nearly lost his leg. The PDSA night cover service (who cover our vets (out of hours) referred us straight to Bristol University vet school (Langford) as they said the injury was so bad, no local vet could cope with it.

Our cat nearly lost his leg, would have done without Langford. Costs associated with that were covered by Pet Plan and must have been around £4,000-5,000 pounds as he had to have dental work as well and all sorts of scans and Xrays and ultrasounds. To give a clue how ill he was, he could not leave the house on his own for a year. He is out doing his stuff every day now with the slightest of limps.

Our other cat started to walk oddly and his tail went floppy. We pursued it with the local vets who were frankly useless and we insisted on a referral to Bristol Uni again. Our cat was having an emergency spine op within a week – he would have been paralysed if it had not been that fast. The estimate for that was another £3,000 or so. He recovered well, but then became really sick with another disease which made his brain swell up, to back to Bristol Uni as again the locals did not have the knowledge. He was in the intensive care unit for over a week and nearly died. He was given human cancer related drugs. thats added up to another £3,000 +. Some of the medication was over £100 per packet.

Pet Plan have been great. They have paid out flawlessly and have never quibbled over anything. I cannot praise them enough, or the specialists at Langford.

If I never claim again on this insurance (I so hope I do not need to) I know that money I pay in, when not helping me, is helping other to treat and love the pets who are part of thier family. Its not just saving the pets, its stopping owners from crying, children from not understanding why a pet has to die if the parents cant afford to ‘fix’ it.

I neighbour just had to take out a bank loan to help her dog – its going to take her 2 years to pay it back and it was only £1,000 which is chicken feed in pet health terms now.

I have been so lucky to keep my cats, they are my family.
Before anyone says something mean about that last sentence, my human family are mostly dead. I am lucky to feel loved by my pets as pretty much everyone else has died.

I think she dodged a bullet here, lucky girl and she will realise that in time.

“Well, it’s been a day over two weeks since it ended, and she still hates me, like properly hates me. She’s cut all ties on social media and WhatsApp, etc. I find this kind of insulting after 3 years together. Why should I care? Maybe I shouldn’t but its not how I like doing things. Every message I have recieved off her has been short and abrupt.

She doesn’t want me messaging or talking to any of her friends or family ever again, some of which I got on very well with and would like to see again.”

Where is the empathy for her situation, her pain and possibly a sense of embarrassment and humiliation that her anticipated life partner left unexpectedly.

Pretty much everything you have written has been all about yourself, nothing empathetic to her situation – now you expect to hang out with her family. You are even phrasing it as only her her fault if her family feels unhappy with your own free choices and behaviors.

Wow, you are a catch!

Nothing wrong with splitting up, when you are in love there is no doubt and no mistaking it, but you have hurt someone else and are now sulking about their distressed response.

It does not look to me like she is the controlling one who wants everything her own way – rather the reverse!

Not classy at all. You need to review your attitude to others.

Checkers were good when installing and supplying about 6 years ago.
Interview and get quotes from several companies.

Things we found useful

– research what sort of boiler and and set up you want. Its important to take time to do this.

– shortlist at least 3 companies who will give you free quotes including boiler brands and specs.

– ask questions relating to what you want and see if the person selling to you talks rubbish. I know little about boilers but even I realized some of the firms we short listed for a quote were frankly lying. It soon becomes clear which companies say consistent things (ie similar to each other) and which are making up sales stuff as they go.

– British gas are hard sell and recommend boilers from companies with a poor reputation when you research them (or did at the time) – the even sent 2 sales people at the same time to harass us.

– Never sign anything while they stand over you – make them wait a couple of days so you can properly compare specs, timescales, guarantees and pricing.

– Take a little drive around all the premises in the names of the companies you have short listed – surprising what you can learn from just looking at the premises from the street.

Checkers were the only company who were prepared to install what we wanted. We know at least 2 others lied to us, saying all sorts of stuff to get us to buy what they made the most profit on and which was the fastest to fit for them.

Never had a problem with the system or the boiler but at the time received a lot of compliments about the high quality of installation and set up when we took up a maintenance contract with British Gas – they do not have to have fitted it in order to maintain it.

Not used Checkers since, as not needed to, hope they are the same good standard still.

http://www.photo4me.com

I believe its a UK company.

Not a stock library, they print on products etc.

I know a pro photog who uses them and found them good.

Be aware some NHS physios will lie to get rid of you. I am sure some of them are great and I value and support the NHS and realise the pressure they are under perhaps promotes bad behavior out of desperation.

However I was told a very sharp pain, not even a second long, followed by my knee sliding about everywhere, unstable was “the classic start of joint arthritis” and not an injury and that I could not be referred to a joint specialist for investigation as “you are not in enough pain”.

My GP sent me for an Xray and there was no arthritis but as it was an X ray, she could not see any soft matter damage, there was no where else to refer me as the NHS physio had stopped me being referred thoush she did say I should not do running or anything like it.

The private physio I was forced to go to as problems continued over months needed a soft tissue scan which I could not afford to get done privately, so 5 years later I still cannot cycle, run, tennis or walk very far from roads as its failed more than once since.

the nearest I have got to a diagnosis was from an acquaintance who was a vet, who suggested a sprain or tear in the stabilising ligaments inside of the knee joint. None of the NHS mentioned this possibility, but the symptoms when looked up seem the most similar I could find to what I had.

In my latest trip to the docs about another issue, I was told to do high impact exercise, totally disregarding the never fully diagnosed or sorted knee issue and when I said it was still an ongoing issue they were quite sneering.

Moral is though, don’t just take what they say as correct – they just want you off their list and out of their space and some will say anything to achieve that and not have you come back. I still have no signs of arthritis, though I worry the instability will become the actual cause of it long term.

I do not think you want a stock library, I think you want either your own site – something like Zenfolio if its for your immediate friends and contacts to order or if you want the general public try Fine Art America which trades in the UK too. People can select images from there and put them on all sorts of products.

https://fineartamerica.com

You can submit your images to them
http://fineartamerica.com/sell-art-online.html

Not done it myself but know of someone who has been a happy seller.

There is another company, I will try to find their name as I cannot remember it off hand. For photography/image related help try
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk
a free and very popular uk forum.
You have to join (free) to see the business section.

If Probate has been granted, you can obtain a copy of the will, presumably via the Government or Probate Court. The government web site Wills and Probate section will have details on this. The Will will have details of who stuff is left to and the names of the Executors.

However, probate can be quite slow, so its possible the house is not abandoned, just people are stuck either waiting for the probate grant so they can distribute / someone may have contested the will / they may be waiting for the government department that assesses over payments of social security etc who are based somewhere in the Forest of Dean. That lot are notoriously slow and they do not even start to contact you until after probate has gone through. We are talking 6 months to a year of waiting for this department…. Noting can be distributed until they finish with you according to their letters, which have quite a threatening tone even though none of it is the Executors own faults.

They could have taken over without any public bullying.
Without legitimizing personal bullying as an acceptable and desirable tactic.

SAVE CORBYN
petition at

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/a-vote-of-confidence-in-jeremy-corbyn-after-brexit

Over 184,000 signed so far and rising rapidly.

Corbyn was set up by Blarite PR company

“a single heckler shouts at Jeremy Corbyn at Gay Pride, and not only is that front page news in the Guardian, it is on BBC, ITN and Sky News.

“What makes a single individual heckling a politician newsworthy? … this heckler, uniquely, is front page news and his words are repeated at great length in the Guardian and throughout the broadcast media.”

“The “heckler” is Tom Mauchline, a PR professional for PR firm Portland Communications, a dedicated Blairite (he describes himself as Gouldian) formerly working on the Liz Kendall leadership campaign. Portland Communications’ “strategic counsel” is Alastair Campbell.

So far from representing a popular mood, Mauchlyne was this morning on twitter urging people to sign a 38 Degrees petition supporting the no confidence motion against Corbyn. Ten hours later that petition has gained 65 signatures, compared to 120,000 for a petition supporting Corbyn. “

Quoted from
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/06/news-agenda-set/%5B/url%5D

“Unfortunately what we are seeing as a vision for Britain are lies and xenophobic campaigning. Why is it people like me, who are instinctively Eurosceptic, are feeling they need to leave Leave?
“Because day after day, what are we hearing? The refugees are coming, the rapists are coming, the Turks are coming.”

I think this is a very poor statement. I can understand the dislike of the statements and the representatives of the Leave campaigns but the referendum is NOT about voting for those people or indeed their policies this vote is not a General Election. They are not being voted into government to rule the UK – that will be matter for the next Election.

I feel concern that a politician cannot adequately separate a EU membership campaign from who will win the next UK Election. She is right to state her position but wrong to say it cannot be separated from a Leave vote. People vote leave for all sorts of reasons, most of them not to do with slagging off others or hating people.

Been thinking about this since I posted (sorry about the poor spelling of title by the way).

I wonder if the establishment are closing around Blair to protect him, include him. Rather like an old boys club or how the Masons used to be. We redeem you and you look after us… the elites self interest.

I just cant see any logical reason for touching him with a barge pole. To associate with him seems madness otherwise.

I think I might try to get another medical appointment tomorrow instead of waiting until next Monday, given what people have said above (thanks folks), though getting any appointment is good going around here, service is well over loaded.

The Monday appointment is only a phone call anyway, so they can’t take a look or anything.