I do interim work and the market is super busy

I’ve upped my rate 20% since March and am turning down contracts

It would be great to get back to working at client premises though – I really don’t enjoy working from home 5 days a week

I was being facetious molgrips….

@Tom B Why be embarrassed about it?

My son works in-store for Sainsbury’s – has done for several years as his FT permanent job – and what really p!ssed him off were the Facebook and LinkedIn posts from people who had lost their jobs elsewhere and were inferring that they were only taking a job at a supermarket to help out the country at a time of crisis. When actually they were just desperate for some income

Absolutely nothing wrong with working in a supermarket and certainly nothing to be embarrassed about. You need a job so you’re applying for one. Others might prefer to sit on their backsides and expect to get a hand out but you are taking positive action

Very best of luck with the application

We clearly need to start an STW political party. There are so many experts on here on every subject imaginable with respect to the current crisis that it would cruise to a landslide victory, eliminate COVID and get the economy booming within 6 months

Or is it not that easy?

@spud How did your friends know what the oldies were going to be buying if they saw them queuing outside??

My son says it’s been pretty quiet in the Sainsbury’s he works in – That’s in north Liverpool, so clearly panic hasn’t broken out everywhere (yet)

When did this part of HR start rebranding itself as “talent acquisition”??

The irony is that many of them are now also redundant and having to present themselves as talent

Or was it punishment for much of Aberdeenshire not voting SNP? 😂

I love my Broken Riders gear

It’ll be fuel duty that will be the biggest issue in terms of lost revenue and for which an alternative will be required

Or a metal shed if you want one that you can easily repaint?

@dyna-ti This is referred to as “passing off” and has become highly sophisticated amongst the own labels / discounters for food and household products in particular

However by doing so the owner of the original owner has to prove that they lost out commercially / financially as a result

Not sure how Banksy would prove this if he isn’t actually selling anything and has no rights to the designs that he’s happy to support legally

In the meantime the average conventional fuelled vehicle gets ever bigger / heavier, and the trend for large engined fuel inefficient 4x4s and SUVs (I hate that phrase – there is nothing “sports” about most of them) to take the kids to school in or go to the shops at the weekend in continues

Regardless of fuel type we should be driving less – particularly shorter journeys – but if we do have to drive, using smaller vehicles and keeping them longer

Nothing wrong with my VW Up! But then it doesn’t show how f*ck off rich I am does it??

@stgeorge haha – yes. It’s an import from the US. A cross between tennis / badminton / table tennis

My OH is now in 3 clubs and plays at least 4 times a week

And STW can rest easy – although originating in the US the sport isn’t Trump endorsed…..

Great thread

I tried retirement for 3 months last summer (at 53) but found that I quickly missed the personal and professional challenge of work, not to mention the social aspect of being in an office

We have no debts – mortgage free since I was 40 – have a very comfortable 4 bed house, and excellent retirement financial provision, so no pressure to return to work. We are both pretty frugal spenders – no massively expensive hobbies and no desire to flaunt consumerism, unlike many of our friends. One son who whilst not fully off the payroll is largely self supporting. My parents are both still alive, but in their mid 80s and starting to creak

After a period of reflection I decided to eschew more permanent roles and have headed off down the interim assignments route

It gives me the challenges I want but also gives me the freedom to take longer breaks (not that I have yet) and the flexibility to only do those roles that interest me. Thus far I’ve been very busy but have really enjoyed the change

Early retirement is still on the cards but at present I’m enjoying what I’m doing. If I suffer I’ll health or simply decide enough is enough I can stop work. I appreciate I’m lucky to have the flexibility

My partner is effectively retired but seems busier than ever – various choirs, yoga, Zumba, pickleball, none of which interest me so my working allows both of us some personal space

I do have a few projects I’d like to do when I do retire e.g. completing the remainder of the 92 league grounds (15 to go) but no really grand plans. Probably because I’ve kicked retirement down the road a little. Or maybe that’s just a chicken and egg situation!

TJ – Dinorwig is still a hydro electric generator as it generates power using water flow. The technology used is a subset of hydro technology

I’d thoroughly recommend the tour to anyone though. Even my son (22) enjoyed it

What is the basis of judging whether the BBC is VFM?

The licence fee funds (in part) the BBC but ITV (for example) has to fund itself

So does that make ITV better VFM given the nil cost to the viewer?

I think it is down to a more qualitative judgement which is, of course, subjective

Last summer I went for a fascinating tour round Dinorwig hydro power station (next to Snowdon)

One of the strange facts was that at the time it used more energy (to pump water back up the mountain) than it generated but was still economically viable because electricity generated (day) was sold for a much higher rate per KWh than the energy used (night)

TJ – I’m intrigued. How is the market “rigged” to make generation in Scotland uneconomic?

I tend to watch the BBC Breakfast news for 20 mins every morning while chomping my cereal but I don’t choose to watch BBC because of the presenters, more to do with the fact that I can’t stand shouty Piers at that time in the morning

There could be someone randomly plucked from the street in Salford every morning to present on BBC (now there’s an idea….) and I’d still watch rather than put up with Piers

Interesting to note how much of our electricity we import from Europe – much of it coal or nuclear derived

So when we see reports that we had x number of days without burning coal to generate electricity in the UK it doesn’t give the complete picture

That said the UK has seen an explosion in the use of wind and solar power, putting us ahead of many European countries in this respect

£390k for football pundit Alan Shearer is unbelievable – I bet he doesn’t do all his own pre match preparation either

Many of the BBC big names also earn money outside the BBC too of course

It would be interesting to see a list of what the BBC pay to those that aren’t directly employed by them too. Many of their big names operate through their own production or management companies, frequently for their own tax efficiency. Again, perfectly legal

I’ve just had the same conundrum with replacing the ceiling light in my garage

I think I’ve worked out what needs to go where (It is an end of loop) but can’t risk electrocuting myself if it’s wrong

I’m sending my OH up the ladder instead

DavidB – not exactly suitable for a financially illiterate single person in their 70s!!

We don’t have all the facts here but this doesn’t on the face of it sound like the right advice for your neighbour given the level of charges

She may be better off sticking it all in an NS&I account (instant access and 100% secure) and getting the monthly interest (Just under 1.2% pa) paid into her current account monthly

Age is a critical factor here as is the ability to access her funds should she need them urgently. The first rule of investing is not to invest what you can’t afford to lose. If the fund dropped by significantly in value due to stock market falls (entirely possible given COVID and Brexit uncertainties) she may take years to recoup the losses

Has she anyone in her family that she could talk to – and in the meantime hold off on making the investment?

Anyone who has worked in a retail environment where age restricted products are sold will know what a tricky area ID verification is

Responsible retailers (and I include licenced premises) drum into staff the importance of valid age ID and many carry out random undercover checks. Staff can be disciplined for failure to age verify

In this case we haven’t seen the ID in question but the default position has to be that if there is any doubt, purchase of restricted items has to be refused

Another vote for LV – Mini JCW and VW Up for £400 pa

Two brilliant accident free drivers though!!

Some years ago I was involved in an accident in a Tesco car park where a car reversed out of a space and hit my car

There was significant damage to my car and my insurer wanted to do a knock for knock

I had legal cover and insisted that I wasn’t at fault and wanted the third party claim defended

It got very messy – the third party was using a no win no fee lawyer – but after 2 court sittings (the second because the third party’s insurer hadn’t complied with the original ruling) I won my case and my insurer made a full recovery of their losses

Sadly it did still mean an increase in premiums but by shopping around it was relatively modest

We stayed in the Leonardo Boutique Huntingtower on Tuesday night after finishing the NC500

Only £60 B&B through hotels.com

Good anti COVID measures in place; huge room and massive comfortable bed

Whilst the centre of Perth is pleasant enough, it is at least miles better than Inverness (centre is a ghost town of empty shops)

Very rare for any of the freight companies to take on trainees – they like to recruit in the finished article

An alternative route is to look for a different job on the railway – e.g. conductor or even station staff – and then apply internally when trainee driver roles become available. Can be an advantage if you can be recommended by your line manager

You will also need liability insurance – check to see what level of cover they require you to have

And run a credit check on the company you’ll be invoicing as well as checking when they intend paying you

I rarely enter into the more heated “discussions” for several reasons:

– there too many people who think that they are expert on every subject matter, and confuse their opinion with facts. Frequently they have no direct experience of the issue being debated and spout off based on other people’s opinions, not even other people’s factual experience
– there seems to be an increasing intolerance of other people’s opinions. If someone has a different point of view to your own it doesn’t make them necessarily right or you necessarily wrong. The art of debate seems beyond many

Pointless using decent paint if:

– surfaces to be painted aren’t properly prepared
– decent brushes / rollers not used
– actual painting is done poorly / lack of attention to detail

I’m amazed by the number of people that use expensive paint but the end product is crap and could’ve been achieved by standing in the doorway and throwing the paint at the wall

Disappointing headline in the latest BBC report on the accident – “Train had reached 72.8 mph”

Gives – to my mind – the initial impression that the train was going too fast as opposed to confirming that it was within line speed

But maybe a headline that “train travelling at less than line speed” is less eye catching

If the line controller had had cause to have serious concerns over the potential for an accident the driver would’ve been instructed to proceed at a maximum speed of less than line speed

We’re all shareholders – indirectly – in Network Rail as it is publically owned

Beat me to it DB!

Ordinarily this will be the first stop for the pension trustee – quite possible that your dad didn’t change his EoW to solely benefit his new partner. This may have been by mistake (Lots of people complete a form when they first take out a pension and then forget to amend it) or design. His new partner may simply have assumed that your dad’s entire estate would automatically have come to her

I used to race a Rotax some years ago

Brilliant fun but by no means a cheap hobby even if just doing single circuits club championships

You can buy a second hand set up reasonably cheaply but then you realise that unless you are Lewis Hamilton (used to race at my local circuit Rye House) other drivers with better gear / willing to spend a lot of cash tend to dominate

And some are serious to the point of aggression – some of the juniors’ dads are unbelievable

If you are interested in giving it a go I would recommend getting your racing licence (it’s easy) and doing a few races in a hired kart. Quite expensive per race but will allow you to decide whether you really want to buy your own kit

You will need a new line as Virgin is a dedicated network

Almost everyone else uses the BT Openreach network

I’m moving away from Virgin (to Now) at the moment as Virgin didn’t seem very interested in keeping me as a customer

Taking 3 weeks because I need a new line and the engineers were fully booked

I was with BT before I switched to Virgin and their service provision (BT) – over 5 years – was near perfect with only one brief outage

I’m not a geeky gamer and there are only two of us so 65 MB will be perfectly fine (100 MB) currently with Virgin

I went through Quidco to get my £50 cash back too and have gone for a 12 month contract

I imagine that an increasing number of people are like me and no longer carry any cash – just my cards

I’ve just finished as an interim at SIG

Very interesting business and raised £165m of equity through existing shareholders and a big new PE shareholder

New CEO and CFO too, and a back to basics strategy

I think they could do well….but I’m no financial advisor lol