vladi

One of my mates mischievously suggested letting her see Dinner for One - Wikipedia

There's no comparison. Linehan's tweet is, at worst, a "non-violent hate crime". What you have speculated about is clearly a physical assault or GBH.

The recent incident at Heathrow, when 5 armed police arrested Graham Linehan for his tweet on X, makes many of us wonder about the priorities of the police In 2024, just under 130,000 cars were reported stolen and many of these were shipped over seas or stripped for parts. At Felixstowe, Britain's busiest post, there is only a singe police officer who monitors out-going containers. Going out of the post also was some of the 116,000 mobile phones stolen last year. Then there's shop lifting.........

Why don't her cabinet colleagues not come out and defend her? Is she being cast out to the wolves?

UK government bond yields surged to multi-decade highs today, and sterling slid sharply, as political uncertainty and fiscal concerns unsettled markets. Markets fear chancellor Rachel Reeves was being "managed out," recalling that yields spiked when her position was last seen as under threat in July. The 30-year gilt yield jumped to 5.71%, its highest level in 27 years. Brokers said that investors were uneasy about the rising costs of servicing.

Many thanks for the tips. There is no necessity for the venues or events to be free. Our son earns a really good salary so he is is well able to fund a good selection of events, performances and venues.

Our son, who has worked in Europe for several years wants to bring his German girlfriend (aged 25) to stay with us over Christmas. We have met her once and she is lovely but we are of more modest means than her family. She speaks excellent English and has a Phd. We are eager to ensure that her stay is enjoyable and informative as regards English culture. Apart from going to pantomime, seeing Dulwich Hamlet, Horniman Museum and Dulwich Picture Gallery can any one contribute suggestions for a "London experience" that might be interesting?

@malumbu as your questions would take us off topic on so many tangents, I will defer my response to a more appropriate thread.

Covid certainly was a big factor in creating the debt burden however the Govt continues to expand the hole by giving crazy subsidies to suppliers of so-called "low carbon" electricity eg wind turbine farms, solar panels and worst of all - Drax power station. According to the Renewable Energy Foundation, the UK currently spends around £25.8 billion per year on renewable electricity subsidies, covering both direct and indirect schemes. Drax gets just shy of £1 billion a year to use import & burn wood pellets which are produced in a highly energy consumptive process. Wood pellets used by Drax are produced through a multi-stage process that converts wood material into dense, energy-rich fuel. The raw material typically comes from, offcuts, and sawmill by-products rather than high-value timber. Logs are first collected from forests across the U.S. South and West Coast, ‘ At pellet plants, the wood is debarked and chipped into small pieces before being dried to reduce moisture content. The drying process often uses waste wood as a heat source to improve efficiency and lower emissions. Once dried, the wood chips are milled into a fine powder, then compressed at high pressure through a die to form small cylindrical pellets, each around 6–8 mm in diameter. The natural lignin in the wood binds the pellets together, eliminating the need for chemical additives. After production, pellets are cooled, screened to remove dust and fines, and stored in large silos. They are then loaded into trucks or railcars and transported across the United States from west to east to dedicated export terminals.. At these terminals, pellets are conveyed into covered storage domes or silos to protect them from moisture, since wet pellets can disintegrate and pose safety risks. From there, bulk carriers transport the pellets across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom. Drax even had to develop specialized port and rail infrastructure to handle pellet imports , including large storage domes at Immingham and direct rail links to its power station. It's no wonder wed have the highest energy costs in all of Europe!

And that depression will get deeper if the cost of debt servicing increases. Lack of clear fiscal strategy means uncertainty in the financial market. This results in markets demanding greater interest rates for new gilt sales. This in turn leads to increasing costs of debt servicing. Unless drastic austerity measures are taken , it becomes a doom loop. Recovery cant be done with more taxes. Major spending cuts have to be made now. That means cuts of around £100 bn per year. Painful? Yes, most certainly, but absolutely necessary.

First, the US Dollar is a reserve currency. Secondly, the 1930's depression was a 100 years ago and was caused by several factors including excess borrowing to fund stock market speculation. When Harold Wilson had to go begging to the IMF to bail out the economy, the IMF lent the money but imposed various austerity measures. If the UK has to go cap in hand to the IMF again, then rest assured the IMF will stipulate changes which equate to austerity. this is the IMF's standard terms. Just look at Argentina. Take the pain to get the gain!

Floating a few ideas to gauge consensus indicates that there is no strategic plan. It's just political dithering. It represents a fundamental inability to recognise the fundamental structural issues concerning the nations economy. In keeping with France, Germany and many other European countries, the UK's economic health is in decline. In the last two decades, much of government spending has been funded by debt. The cost of servicing that debt is currently running at around £95 billion and that is increasing steadily. It means we are living beyond our means. We are in a debt spiral. the government is funding a welfare state that has gone out of control. We cannot continue to have a situation where millions here prefer to live off Universal Credit plus other benefits. Some of them also earn additional untaxed income from the grey economy. We have to reduce govt spending. It is the elephant in the room. There has to be cutbacks - no tinkering but real cutbacks and austerity. Committing to austerity and major cutbacks will reestablish credibility in the financial markets. This alone will reduce the cost of servicing the national debt. It's a virtual circle but it does need political courage not indecisiveness. Stop rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.!

Another solution to exclude them is to use barbed wire. A single strand of wire strategically placed can be very effective. I have a spare roll listed here

No accusation was made.

I pass there regularly and they never seemed to to have anything more than the very occasional customer. always reminded me of candy shops on Oxford Street! 😉

Is this one? It was in our garden 10 days ago.

Occasionally when this happens, the estate agent is complicit. Had this happen to our neighbour and we later found that the house was bought by the sister of the estate agent at the reduced price. The agent is in an advantageous position as he/she is aware of the seller's circumstances and occasionally one will go rogue to do a favour for a relative/friend.

Have you considered PIV - positive input ventilation. We retro fitted a Soler & Palau super quiet in-line fan system. This takes cool air from the outside ans is ducted into the loft. It is really quiet and very efficient. It is controlled by a reverse thermostat ie one which shuts the system off when the temperature drops to a set level. We are very pleased with it especially as it costs a fraction of a/c and provides greater flexibility in terms of location of vents and ducting.

It's tough being a courier and the pay which is largely based on the number they deliver is miserable. Hence the staff turnover is high. EFRI was previously branded as HERMES but they had to create a new brand name because of poor performance. We get regular courier deliveries and EVRI are by far the worst. They just drop the parcel at the front door - often without ringing the bell. But worst is when they deliver to the equivalent door number on LL instead of ours on EDG. Best are ParcelForce, DHL and DPD by a wide margin.

Had a Red Admiral in front driveway today. Hadn't seen one for some time

No party is willing to tackle the "elephant in the room" which is the national debt. It is costing the country circa £100 Billion ANNUALLY to service that debt. That is more than the defence and education budgets. That debt burden has to be reduced which in reality means cost cuts. That means cutting back state pensions, index-linked pensions for civil servants and others such as police, NHS etc. It means cutting back on universal credit and cutting the number of people who are claiming benefits.

Shoplifting is such epidemic now that it justifies the introduction of facial recognition facilities at the entrance to retail premises. With immediate access to a database of all known shoplifters, such a facility could sound an immediate alert to management - provided of course that removal of face masks was a condition of entry.

It would aid police - particularly if it establishes that the shoplifter is a habitual offender. That aside , the £200 threshold just means the offender can carry on regardless until trespassed. Trespassing the perp is the only meaningful method the control the crime and it is incumbent on us all the assist the shop owner and the police to identify the person.

Are you now the forum police?

Did you think about taking a photo on your phone and giving it to Co-op management ? Better still post here on the forum. If we see it an do nothing then the problem will only get worse and prices will hve to rise to cover the cost of this crime.