Good thread giving Simon Jenkins a well deserved Fisking.
In today's Times, Simon Jenkins launches an attack on the plans for a new town at Tempsford. Even by his own lofty standards, it is excruciatingly error-filled... https://x.com/Tennesseine/status/1972099590083182877
Wrong link there.
I recall Simon Jenkins, many years ago, boasting of having prevented closing lines for maintenance, while one the board of London Transport - meaning that maintenance only happened in the brief period between the last train and the first trains. By the time that you have verified everything is shut down, that is a couple of hours.
The man is a moron.
And yet... He gets all the baubles and Great and Good roles. Not quite New 10K, because he hasn't done anything to fail at. But his opinions are everywhere.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
The former, easily.
It's an interesting question. When you buy a new house you (everyone) surely looks on the internet, if only to be able to price up the property to within a few thousand.
So if you're with Bob the Estate Agent with his book of buyers then those buyers will for sure be/have been on RightMove.
Speaking of which, @isam I saw my friend Bob the Estate Agent (not real name) the other day and he said that things were dire for sellers as buyers, fearing the budget and whatnot, are asking for crazy prices and concessions. So be aware that it is a difficult selling environment. Plenty on the market, very cautious buyers.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
Some people have all the luck. I believe there is a charming Chicken Cottage in Kettering if you are unavoidably lingering.
I’m not joking when I tell you one of the locals was eyeing up the Louis Vuitton loafers I am wearing.
Fortunately I’m on a choo choo back to Sheffield.
I have been there, it is not a place I would be hanging around in your Claridge's kit. Or indeed in any kit. Count yourself lucky you are heading back in one piece.
Getting done in Kettering would have saved the need to go all the way to London
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they are dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
On our last ouse buying comedy, the solicitors decided that actually doing the final transfer and handing over the keys of the day was a big effort. 4 hours late and no word. The removers were getting restless.....
So I went round to the solicitors office and sat down in reception (my wife stayed with the removal people). Quietly made myself known.
And didn't move. After half an hour someone came out to say it was all being handled, and I didn't need to stay. I replied I was quite comfortable and would stay - to ensure that I could be on hand to help sort out any problems that cropped up. They kept coming out to say it was nearly done and could I go, at half hour intervals. I kept on replying that it was no bother and I was here to help...
Studious politeness is often unnerving. Eventually, they managed to do the transfer.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
The former, easily.
It's an interesting question. When you buy a new house you (everyone) surely looks on the internet, if only to be able to price up the property to within a few thousand.
So if you're with Bob the Estate Agent with his book of buyers then those buyers will for sure be/have been on RightMove.
Speaking of which, @isam I saw my friend Bob the Estate Agent (not real name) the other day and he said that things were dire for sellers as buyers, fearing the budget and whatnot, are asking for crazy prices and concessions. So be aware that it is a difficult selling environment. Plenty on the market, very cautious buyers.
Sometimes, buyers will have very specific requirements, which your own property might match. That's why estate agents who have plenty of buyers on their books, as well as sellers, are worth usuing.
1% is such a small commission, that if you know someone competent, who will charge that figure, it's worth using them, rather than shopping around.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
It's the economy (stupid), because it usually is. And there have been a couple of years now where wages have grown faster than prices. But as long as most people have more month than money, they are going to be understandably unhappy.
But to a very large degree, that's out of the government's hands to fix, in the short term anyway. We can shuffle how things are paid for, but they will largely cost what they cost.
One interesting suggestion that I've come across recently is that PCP car financing explains why people are angrier than ever about the cost of living even though wages have grown faster than prices, and even though the large number of new cars about would suggest a healthy level of prosperity.
It has enabled people to buy cars that they previously wouldn't have been able to afford - but really they still can't afford them, and so they're struggling to make ends meet because of the millstone of car finance.
I haven't interrogated the idea to see if the numbers stack up, but it suggests a way forward for the government to help square the circle. Increase regulation of car financing to save people from immiserating themselves spending beyond their means, and although this will mean more people have to make do with a lower status motor, they will end up happier when they can more easily reach the end of the month with the money previously being spent on finance for the car they couldn't afford.
Isn't that also the case for credit card debt, mortgages, overdrafts etc? Is car financing particularly expensive by comparison? (I bought my car 10 years ago for cash, so it's not a ubject i have ever paid any attention to.)
I bought my car (BMW) second hand for cash 23 years ago. and it's still running like a dream. ULEZ compliant too.
An intuition (or guess): PB contributors are heavily biased towards that minority of people who think that £3000 now is a smaller sum than £4000 spread over the next four years.
I had a discussion of exactly this kind with my step-daughter yesterday about her driving lesson price increase. The price of a lesson is going up from £30 to £33, but she can get 10 lessons for the old price if she pays up front. She: "But that's £300!" Me: "But you have the money, don't you?" She: "Yes, but £300 is so much to pay in one go" Me: "But if you pay for each lesson individually, that'll be £330 altogether" She: "But it won't feel like so much if I pay a bit at a time; I'm not paying £300 in one go!"
Seen most elegantly and explicitly with phones and phone contracts, whereby buying the phone and taking out a SIM-only deal is invariably cheaper than the monthly price over 24 months.
As Daniel Kahneman got his Nobel Prize and Rory Sutherland his social media following for pointing out, psychology matters more than is allowed by economists assuming spherical cows.
In general anyone who pays list price for a new car has been seen coming.
My new car I got from the dealer 2 years ago for £13,700. The list price was £17k.
We bought a new car last year for my wife and the list price was £28k, after about 30 mins of negotiating they added in a £4.5k dealer contribution to the finance agreement and a bunch of freebie insurances one of which we've actually used. Instead of a £5k deposit we only had to pay £500 on the day. I'll never understand why people don't negotiate.
Absolutely.
My dealer just matched CarWow (which surprised me). That was -24%. But when I asked for some "clinch the deal" deal free options on top, they became very solid after a couple of service bits.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
Thoughts for the guy's family and the train driver.
And all the people who are going to have to deal with the mess
I also believe, how you react to a railway suicide says an awful lot about you (and usually not in a good way).
Yeah, I remember speaking to somebody whose job it is to clean/inspect the trains after incidents like this, they still find body parts months afterwards.
I read after Graham Thorpe’s suicide that about 30% of the drivers don’t get back into driving seat ever again.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
They will be anyway. Certainly as far as the BBC is concerned. When will Tim Davie break cover as a Reform member?
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Yusuf rather pathetically claimed nobody in Reform's leadership really knows Nathan Gill. Twattish response. Very Zia Yusuf
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Good thread giving Simon Jenkins a well deserved Fisking.
In today's Times, Simon Jenkins launches an attack on the plans for a new town at Tempsford. Even by his own lofty standards, it is excruciatingly error-filled... https://x.com/Tennesseine/status/1972099590083182877
Wrong link there.
I recall Simon Jenkins, many years ago, boasting of having prevented closing lines for maintenance, while one the board of London Transport - meaning that maintenance only happened in the brief period between the last train and the first trains. By the time that you have verified everything is shut down, that is a couple of hours.
The man is a moron.
And yet... He gets all the baubles and Great and Good roles. Not quite New 10K, because he hasn't done anything to fail at. But his opinions are everywhere.
Andrew Gilligan is another.
Why?
At least Andrew Gilligan backed things like cycling infrastructure and using the Thames for transport. The Thames was being held up by the belief of the PLA that it was needed to keep it empty for the non-existent trade that vanished in the 1960s.
IIRC it was Gilligan who noted that the hold up to quicker river boats on the lower Thames was wash effects on a small number of house boats. And that it was quite cheap and simple to install some protective pilings for them.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
Thoughts for the guy's family and the train driver.
I was told that if it happens to a train driver twice they are offered early reitirement on full pension
Mental health is at crisis levels
A young woman threw herself off Llandudno pier last week, but was quickly recovered from the water by a passing pleasure boat before the RNLI could get there though they were called
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
Thoughts for the guy's family and the train driver.
And all the people who are going to have to deal with the mess
I also believe, how you react to a railway suicide says an awful lot about you (and usually not in a good way).
Yeah, I remember speaking to somebody whose job it is to clean/inspect the trains after incidents like this, they still find body parts months afterwards.
I read after Graham Thorpe’s suicide that about 30% of the drivers don’t get back into driving seat ever again.
I came across an HGV driver once, who'd had a suicide jump from a bridge right in front of his lorry. Driver couldn't get back in a lorry, or indeed a car, for months afterwards. His firm were sympathetic at first but of course he soon lost his job.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they are dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
On our last ouse buying comedy, the solicitors decided that actually doing the final transfer and handing over the keys of the day was a big effort. 4 hours late and no word. The removers were getting restless.....
So I went round to the solicitors office and sat down in reception (my wife stayed with the removal people). Quietly made myself known.
And didn't move. After half an hour someone came out to say it was all being handled, and I didn't need to stay. I replied I was quite comfortable and would stay - to ensure that I could be on hand to help sort out any problems that cropped up. They kept coming out to say it was nearly done and could I go, at half hour intervals. I kept on replying that it was no bother and I was here to help...
Studious politeness is often unnerving. Eventually, they managed to do the transfer.
I recognise that completely - our daughter would agree wholeheartedly
I am about to spend a day in London and I'm not takiung any cash with me.
Just the two grand phone, the ten grand watch, the fancy shoes and the sharp suit…
I am slumming it today, just the £1,500 watch, Watch Ultra 3 Hermès.
JohnO and myself are off to our regular working man’s venue for lunch, Claridge’s.
I never understood the joy in expensive watches. For any human purposes, my £5 Chinese watch is just as accurate as one 300 times the price. And if I lose it - which I do, frequently - it causes me only very minor vexation. I can wear it in a mosh pit, or in bed, or on the beach, or on a bike ride, without any anxiety whatsoever.
Having a phone, why is there a need for a watch at all? I haven't worn one for years.
Your wrist is more accessible than your pocket or bag.
And getting your phone out immediately attracts a flock of bicycle thieves I believe.
Strange lot in Scotchland, then.
In London, the bicycle thieves steal bikes, mostly. May a plague of suppurating boils afflict their nether regions.
I heard a story recently about a bike thief trying to steal a very expensive triathlon bike from outside a cafe. He didn't get far, as he found it nearly impossible to ride and ended up abandoning it at the end of the road when the owner and his friends noticed. He didn't even steal the bike computer.
At the boat club, one of the rowers has had her bike stolen. The tracker (well integrated into it) shows the exact location. The police refused to do anything. There is some discussion about seeing the first two eight crews round to borrow it back - it's not far.
The police really need to be told (continually) that with many items being 100% trackable their unwillingness to do what many people believe is their job (tracking thiefs and returning stolen goods) is destroying the public's opinion of then.
Secondary effects. Policing doesn't seem to consider those.
I grew up in Oxford. In that period - up to the early 90s - there was the following phenomenon. A certain individual was known by all to be in charge of the drug trade in West Oxford. People I knew bought cannabis from his associates. He was quite visible. He would even have chats with the police. It was also noticeable that his attempted rivals in the business were rapidly arrested. This included students at the University - every year there would be someone who thought that getting into retail would save themselves money...
Speculation was generally blatant corruption. My thought was that the police were happy with an organised, non violent trade. See Olivia Channon.
Some years later, I was talking to ex-police officer at a social event. We got onto the topic of discretion in policing. When I mentioned my theory as to the chap (above) he said nothing. But looked quite smug.
I then pointed out that, whatever the truth, the police had convinced a generation of Oxford students that the police were corrupt. And who does PPE at Oxford?
I'm watching to see how this goes. Violation of their human rights to secretly associate ... ?
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
The former, easily.
I thought so, that’s what I intend to do. My partners friends are the out of towners that would do it for 3k (plus VAT I assume), but out local agents dominate the area and seem to achieve better prices than others.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
Thoughts for the guy's family and the train driver.
I was told that if it happens to a train driver twice they are offered early reitirement on full pension
Mental health is at crisis levels
A young woman threw herself off Llandudno pier last week, but was quickly recovered from the water by a passing pleasure boat before the RNLI could get there though they were called
Lost a friend to suicide. Threw herself off a sea cliff and left behind two young boys who were friends with my son. Tough on those left behind - and my respect for those that help deal with it like the RNLI.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
They already had the stage, see Mason's fawning eulogy of the Reform Conference. The important bit is when voters start to question the nasty bits. The Conservatives still don't understand this. Labour and the Lib Dems have to continue to call Reform out.
The Daily Mail front page is particularly egregious. In fact it is an alternative truth.
Starmer explained that Reform POLICY regarding repatriating those with settled status was racist. Starmer was at pains to insist he was not claiming Reform voters were racists (he's wrong, many are) yet the Mail claims he did claim Reform VOTERS are racist.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
The former, easily.
It's an interesting question. When you buy a new house you (everyone) surely looks on the internet, if only to be able to price up the property to within a few thousand.
So if you're with Bob the Estate Agent with his book of buyers then those buyers will for sure be/have been on RightMove.
Speaking of which, @isam I saw my friend Bob the Estate Agent (not real name) the other day and he said that things were dire for sellers as buyers, fearing the budget and whatnot, are asking for crazy prices and concessions. So be aware that it is a difficult selling environment. Plenty on the market, very cautious buyers.
Tricky for sure, as instinctively you’d think the cheaper flat rate is better - everyone just looks on RightMove. But a few local people have said our neighbourhood bloke has his faults but gets better prices.
Next door sold in a week last month so hopefully the cautious buyers haven’t got here yet
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
They will be anyway. Certainly as far as the BBC is concerned. When will Tim Davie break cover as a Reform member?
To be fair, it is very much like that on Sky
Journalists are obsessed with Reform becaue they see the possibility of big 'gotchas'
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
The former, easily.
It's an interesting question. When you buy a new house you (everyone) surely looks on the internet, if only to be able to price up the property to within a few thousand.
So if you're with Bob the Estate Agent with his book of buyers then those buyers will for sure be/have been on RightMove.
Speaking of which, @isam I saw my friend Bob the Estate Agent (not real name) the other day and he said that things were dire for sellers as buyers, fearing the budget and whatnot, are asking for crazy prices and concessions. So be aware that it is a difficult selling environment. Plenty on the market, very cautious buyers.
Tricky for sure, as instinctively you’d think the cheaper flat rate is better - everyone just looks on RightMove. But a few local people have said our neighbourhood bloke has his faults but gets better prices.
Next door sold in a week last month so hopefully the cautious buyers haven’t got here yet
You can't always believe their talk of a 'client book of ready buyers'. Stick a homemade sign out first to see if you can flush these buyers out for nothing.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
I'm paying £1,300 plus vat!
That sounds more reasonable (in terms of a reflection of the work) but I bet, although I don’t know as no firm I have worked at has done conveyancing, that the people working on the files have an insane case load. Burnout is strong in that sector.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Always good to read your balanced reporting on what's going on at Starmer HQ and to read the hilarious foot-in-mouth mistakes he keeps on making! I sometimes wonder how he managed to get a job at all let alone as Prime Minister!
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
Thoughts for the guy's family and the train driver.
And all the people who are going to have to deal with the mess
I also believe, how you react to a railway suicide says an awful lot about you (and usually not in a good way).
Yeah, I remember speaking to somebody whose job it is to clean/inspect the trains after incidents like this, they still find body parts months afterwards.
I read after Graham Thorpe’s suicide that about 30% of the drivers don’t get back into driving seat ever again.
Sorry as I feel for Graham Thorpe, and I really did empathise with his problems, I don’t consider forcing someone, who hasn’t been asked, to kill you to be suicide really. Obviously people that do so aren’t in their right minds but, still. It’s an extra life ruined, not to mention the drivers family
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
The former, easily.
It's an interesting question. When you buy a new house you (everyone) surely looks on the internet, if only to be able to price up the property to within a few thousand.
So if you're with Bob the Estate Agent with his book of buyers then those buyers will for sure be/have been on RightMove.
Speaking of which, @isam I saw my friend Bob the Estate Agent (not real name) the other day and he said that things were dire for sellers as buyers, fearing the budget and whatnot, are asking for crazy prices and concessions. So be aware that it is a difficult selling environment. Plenty on the market, very cautious buyers.
Tricky for sure, as instinctively you’d think the cheaper flat rate is better - everyone just looks on RightMove. But a few local people have said our neighbourhood bloke has his faults but gets better prices.
Next door sold in a week last month so hopefully the cautious buyers haven’t got here yet
It’s a shame that the massive potential internet disruption available in estate agency was denied to the UK, by the extant agents themselves pretty much acting as a cartel in setting up Rightmove in the very early days.
I am about to spend a day in London and I'm not takiung any cash with me.
Just the two grand phone, the ten grand watch, the fancy shoes and the sharp suit…
I am slumming it today, just the £1,500 watch, Watch Ultra 3 Hermès.
JohnO and myself are off to our regular working man’s venue for lunch, Claridge’s.
I never understood the joy in expensive watches. For any human purposes, my £5 Chinese watch is just as accurate as one 300 times the price. And if I lose it - which I do, frequently - it causes me only very minor vexation. I can wear it in a mosh pit, or in bed, or on the beach, or on a bike ride, without any anxiety whatsoever.
Having a phone, why is there a need for a watch at all? I haven't worn one for years.
Your wrist is more accessible than your pocket or bag.
And getting your phone out immediately attracts a flock of bicycle thieves I believe.
Strange lot in Scotchland, then.
In London, the bicycle thieves steal bikes, mostly. May a plague of suppurating boils afflict their nether regions.
I heard a story recently about a bike thief trying to steal a very expensive triathlon bike from outside a cafe. He didn't get far, as he found it nearly impossible to ride and ended up abandoning it at the end of the road when the owner and his friends noticed. He didn't even steal the bike computer.
At the boat club, one of the rowers has had her bike stolen. The tracker (well integrated into it) shows the exact location. The police refused to do anything. There is some discussion about seeing the first two eight crews round to borrow it back - it's not far.
The police really need to be told (continually) that with many items being 100% trackable their unwillingness to do what many people believe is their job (tracking thiefs and returning stolen goods) is destroying the public's opinion of then.
Secondary effects. Policing doesn't seem to consider those.
I grew up in Oxford. In that period - up to the early 90s - there was the following phenomenon. A certain individual was known by all to be in charge of the drug trade in West Oxford. People I knew bought cannabis from his associates. He was quite visible. He would even have chats with the police. It was also noticeable that his attempted rivals in the business were rapidly arrested. This included students at the University - every year there would be someone who thought that getting into retail would save themselves money...
Speculation was generally blatant corruption. My thought was that the police were happy with an organised, non violent trade. See Olivia Channon.
Some years later, I was talking to ex-police officer at a social event. We got onto the topic of discretion in policing. When I mentioned my theory as to the chap (above) he said nothing. But looked quite smug.
I then pointed out that, whatever the truth, the police had convinced a generation of Oxford students that the police were corrupt. And who does PPE at Oxford?
I'm watching to see how this goes. Violation of their human rights to secretly associate ... ?
Some people buy football strips so they can pretend they are Harry Kane
Some people buy Rolex Submariners so they can pretend they are James Bond
Bond famously wears an Omega
He never said that these people were smart.
Smart people own Hublots and Breitlings.
Hublot? I could have bought one in land of legends mall yesterday - that’s a brand targeting Russian mobsters
Clarkson, Hammond & May discuss the incredible markup on designer watches, including TSE's favoured Hublot and Breitling (50 seconds):- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3-RE9ECAM7g
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Absolutely my daughter's experience and it is far worse than years ago though maybe the dilution of 'caveat emptor' has made the process much more complicated with serious implications for misleading answers to pre contract enquiries
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
I'm paying £1,300 plus vat!
That sounds more reasonable (in terms of a reflection of the work) but I bet, although I don’t know as no firm I have worked at has done conveyancing, that the people working on the files have an insane case load. Burnout is strong in that sector.
Got to say when TSE said the Tories were at risk of polling fifth, he ignored the very strong possibility that it will be Labour getting there first...
While I believe ID cards offer a whole set of benefits (as shown by the Lib Dems agreeing) I wouldn't be surprised in seeing some Labour voters switching Green...
"Lib Dems agreeing"?? Within 24 hours of the announcement, the Lib Dem HQ had a campaigining guide posted on how and why to oppose the plans.
Same here. I was in Villefranche yesterday, most pleasant. After my wife stopped at yet another craft stall on this interminable holiday I made myself the error of saying aloud and. Or thinking ‘for fucks sake’ I had to pretend I was referring to my knee. She was unconvinced
“Interminable” doesn’t sound too great. Hope it’s not all bad
Thanks. No, it’s just too long. It’s dragging now at 2 weeks
I firmly believe that 10 days is the best holiday duration (assuming one location). Seven days is too short (its inevitably really six days as you arrive late on one day and leave early at the end).
You’re absolutely right. Had we left in a week we’d miss it. Two weeks just drags by the end
I don’t remember the last time I had a holiday
Anyway, best start packing for my flight to Naples
The only time I’ve ever thought over tourism was a thing was in Sorrento last week
Venice and Cinque Terre are the two principal other victims in Italy, although the crush in Venice last week didn't seem so bad, perhaps because they have shunted a lot of the cruise ships away to Trieste or down near Rimini
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Absolutely my daughter's experience and it is far worse than years ago though maybe the dilution of 'caveat emptor' has made the process much more complicated with serious implications for misleading answers to pre contract enquiries
Our house purchase nearly twenty years ago was glacially slow. Was advised it would be 10 weeks and the solicitor did their damndest to make it that. We were moving from rented to bought, the house owner was moving to rented. There was no chain. I cannot understand why it took 4 weeks, let alone 10.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
My daughter's solicitors for her divorce and separately selling her house were £250 + VAT per hour
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
They already had the stage, see Mason's fawning eulogy of the Reform Conference. The important bit is when voters start to question the nasty bits. The Conservatives still don't understand this. Labour and the Lib Dems have to continue to call Reform out.
The Daily Mail front page is particularly egregious. In fact it is an alternative truth.
Starmer explained that Reform POLICY regarding repatriating those with settled status was racist. Starmer was at pains to insist he was not claiming Reform voters were racists (he's wrong, many are) yet the Mail claims he did claim Reform VOTERS are racist.
It's the economy (stupid), because it usually is. And there have been a couple of years now where wages have grown faster than prices. But as long as most people have more month than money, they are going to be understandably unhappy.
But to a very large degree, that's out of the government's hands to fix, in the short term anyway. We can shuffle how things are paid for, but they will largely cost what they cost.
One interesting suggestion that I've come across recently is that PCP car financing explains why people are angrier than ever about the cost of living even though wages have grown faster than prices, and even though the large number of new cars about would suggest a healthy level of prosperity.
It has enabled people to buy cars that they previously wouldn't have been able to afford - but really they still can't afford them, and so they're struggling to make ends meet because of the millstone of car finance.
I haven't interrogated the idea to see if the numbers stack up, but it suggests a way forward for the government to help square the circle. Increase regulation of car financing to save people from immiserating themselves spending beyond their means, and although this will mean more people have to make do with a lower status motor, they will end up happier when they can more easily reach the end of the month with the money previously being spent on finance for the car they couldn't afford.
Isn't that also the case for credit card debt, mortgages, overdrafts etc? Is car financing particularly expensive by comparison? (I bought my car 10 years ago for cash, so it's not a ubject i have ever paid any attention to.)
I bought my car (BMW) second hand for cash 23 years ago. and it's still running like a dream. ULEZ compliant too.
An intuition (or guess): PB contributors are heavily biased towards that minority of people who think that £3000 now is a smaller sum than £4000 spread over the next four years.
I had a discussion of exactly this kind with my step-daughter yesterday about her driving lesson price increase. The price of a lesson is going up from £30 to £33, but she can get 10 lessons for the old price if she pays up front. She: "But that's £300!" Me: "But you have the money, don't you?" She: "Yes, but £300 is so much to pay in one go" Me: "But if you pay for each lesson individually, that'll be £330 altogether" She: "But it won't feel like so much if I pay a bit at a time; I'm not paying £300 in one go!"
Seen most elegantly and explicitly with phones and phone contracts, whereby buying the phone and taking out a SIM-only deal is invariably cheaper than the monthly price over 24 months.
As Daniel Kahneman got his Nobel Prize and Rory Sutherland his social media following for pointing out, psychology matters more than is allowed by economists assuming spherical cows.
Which is why there is a role for government regulation to protect citizens from companies using psychology against them.
But of course you could spend eternity debating where to draw the line between reasonable regulation and over-zealous interference.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
The problem is though, you're only ever going to go as quickly as the slowest solicitors in the chain - even if your solicitors are up to speed your first time buyers are going to be going as cheap as possible.
Some people buy football strips so they can pretend they are Harry Kane
Some people buy Rolex Submariners so they can pretend they are James Bond
Bond famously wears an Omega
He never said that these people were smart.
Smart people own Hublots and Breitlings.
Hublot? I could have bought one in land of legends mall yesterday - that’s a brand targeting Russian mobsters
A colleague of mine a decade ago (sales and marketing director, earning c.$750k a year) had a Hublot, and if anyone at work mentioned it being a nice watch he’d insist with a straight face that it was a fake.
Those who worked under him were all wearing Rolex.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
The former, easily.
It's an interesting question. When you buy a new house you (everyone) surely looks on the internet, if only to be able to price up the property to within a few thousand.
So if you're with Bob the Estate Agent with his book of buyers then those buyers will for sure be/have been on RightMove.
Speaking of which, @isam I saw my friend Bob the Estate Agent (not real name) the other day and he said that things were dire for sellers as buyers, fearing the budget and whatnot, are asking for crazy prices and concessions. So be aware that it is a difficult selling environment. Plenty on the market, very cautious buyers.
Tricky for sure, as instinctively you’d think the cheaper flat rate is better - everyone just looks on RightMove. But a few local people have said our neighbourhood bloke has his faults but gets better prices.
Next door sold in a week last month so hopefully the cautious buyers haven’t got here yet
I would just caution about selling in a week
The process is long and fraught with problems which do seem to be far more complex than years ago, and it is quite common for it to go on for months while all the time with the prospect of lost chains, poor surveys, changes of circumstances, extensive money laundering requirements, and inefficient conveyancers - lawyers
I do not want to depress you but always keep on top of the process through your agents, hence why local long-established ones are the better choice
It's the economy (stupid), because it usually is. And there have been a couple of years now where wages have grown faster than prices. But as long as most people have more month than money, they are going to be understandably unhappy.
But to a very large degree, that's out of the government's hands to fix, in the short term anyway. We can shuffle how things are paid for, but they will largely cost what they cost.
One interesting suggestion that I've come across recently is that PCP car financing explains why people are angrier than ever about the cost of living even though wages have grown faster than prices, and even though the large number of new cars about would suggest a healthy level of prosperity.
It has enabled people to buy cars that they previously wouldn't have been able to afford - but really they still can't afford them, and so they're struggling to make ends meet because of the millstone of car finance.
I haven't interrogated the idea to see if the numbers stack up, but it suggests a way forward for the government to help square the circle. Increase regulation of car financing to save people from immiserating themselves spending beyond their means, and although this will mean more people have to make do with a lower status motor, they will end up happier when they can more easily reach the end of the month with the money previously being spent on finance for the car they couldn't afford.
Isn't that also the case for credit card debt, mortgages, overdrafts etc? Is car financing particularly expensive by comparison? (I bought my car 10 years ago for cash, so it's not a ubject i have ever paid any attention to.)
I bought my car (BMW) second hand for cash 23 years ago. and it's still running like a dream. ULEZ compliant too.
An intuition (or guess): PB contributors are heavily biased towards that minority of people who think that £3000 now is a smaller sum than £4000 spread over the next four years.
I had a discussion of exactly this kind with my step-daughter yesterday about her driving lesson price increase. The price of a lesson is going up from £30 to £33, but she can get 10 lessons for the old price if she pays up front. She: "But that's £300!" Me: "But you have the money, don't you?" She: "Yes, but £300 is so much to pay in one go" Me: "But if you pay for each lesson individually, that'll be £330 altogether" She: "But it won't feel like so much if I pay a bit at a time; I'm not paying £300 in one go!"
Seen most elegantly and explicitly with phones and phone contracts, whereby buying the phone and taking out a SIM-only deal is invariably cheaper than the monthly price over 24 months.
As Daniel Kahneman got his Nobel Prize and Rory Sutherland his social media following for pointing out, psychology matters more than is allowed by economists assuming spherical cows.
Which is why there is a role for government regulation to protect citizens from companies using psychology against them.
But of course you could spend eternity debating where to draw the line between reasonable regulation and over-zealous interference.
In general anyone who pays list price for a new car has been seen coming.
My new car I got from the dealer 2 years ago for £13,700. The list price was £17k.
Even a Hyundai i10 has a list price of more than 17k now.
Mine is a Suzuki Swift, which I can see listed on the website of the dealer I bought it from for £18,399 . . . which is about right given 2 years of inflation.
So by a comparable discount, I'd expect you could actually get it if you negotiate for about £15k.
The Swift is a great car. Just a bit too small for us but if we (God forbid) ever need two then the second would be a Swift.
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
I'm paying £1,300 plus vat!
That sounds more reasonable (in terms of a reflection of the work) but I bet, although I don’t know as no firm I have worked at has done conveyancing, that the people working on the files have an insane case load. Burnout is strong in that sector.
You are correct about conveyancers - wyers insane case loads and burn out
In my daughters sale process I obtained quotes from local practices which ranged from outrageously high (really didn't want the business) to sorry we are not accepting any more business, to our senior conveyanver has walked out due to pressure, to firms actively advertisng on their web site for qualified conveyancers
Got to say when TSE said the Tories were at risk of polling fifth, he ignored the very strong possibility that it will be Labour getting there first...
While I believe ID cards offer a whole set of benefits (as shown by the Lib Dems agreeing) I wouldn't be surprised in seeing some Labour voters switching Green...
"Lib Dems agreeing"?? Within 24 hours of the announcement, the Lib Dem HQ had a campaigining guide posted on how and why to oppose the plans.
Same here. I was in Villefranche yesterday, most pleasant. After my wife stopped at yet another craft stall on this interminable holiday I made myself the error of saying aloud and. Or thinking ‘for fucks sake’ I had to pretend I was referring to my knee. She was unconvinced
“Interminable” doesn’t sound too great. Hope it’s not all bad
Thanks. No, it’s just too long. It’s dragging now at 2 weeks
I firmly believe that 10 days is the best holiday duration (assuming one location). Seven days is too short (its inevitably really six days as you arrive late on one day and leave early at the end).
You’re absolutely right. Had we left in a week we’d miss it. Two weeks just drags by the end
I don’t remember the last time I had a holiday
Anyway, best start packing for my flight to Naples
Pack light. We arrived at Naples a few weeks ago and it took an hour for the hold luggage from our flight to appear.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Always good to read your balanced reporting on what's going on at Starmer HQ and to read the hilarious foot-in-mouth mistakes he keeps on making! I sometimes wonder how he managed to get a job at all let alone as Prime Minister!
He is OK as a lawyer but not PM though to be fair the public's verdict as the worst (even worse than Truss) must be a real concern for labour supporters
Should I use a local estate agent that charges 1% plus VAT, but has a client book of ready buyers without marketing, or pay flat rate £6k cheaper to an out of towner who’ll put it on RightMove?
My daughter and her ex have just sold their home and the whole process was shocking with inept and slow lawyers providing error prone advice to estate agents who were utterly clueless and thought all they had to do was to list on rightmove and the rest would happen
Ultimately they chose the local long established agent who proved to be the best choice especially as they ere dealing with various agents in buying their new properties
It does seem that anyone who has been entirely trained as an online agent is not worth the money and 1% plus VAT to a good established local agent is the best choice in a far from impressive field of properry agents, conveyancers and lawyers
The whole process needs streamlining but last time that was attempted it was Yvette Cooper's pet project (HIPs) and was an utter failure as she hadn't a clue about the subject, but then to this day she is very much the same.
Pay peanuts get monkeys who are working on 100 cases at a time.
Parents' property is in sales process at the moment, I'm praying it goes through as the market is crap and we were lucky to find a buyer closeish to the marketed price.
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
Because now it’s a volume business. A lot of it isn’t even done by solicitors, it will be done by paralegals or equivalents, each handling hundreds of files at once.
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
My daughter's solicitors for her divorce and separately selling her house were £250 + VAT per hour
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Always good to read your balanced reporting on what's going on at Starmer HQ and to read the hilarious foot-in-mouth mistakes he keeps on making! I sometimes wonder how he managed to get a job at all let alone as Prime Minister!
He is OK as a lawyer but not PM though to be fair the public's verdict as the worst (even worse than Truss) must be a real concern for labour supporters
TSE contextualised this assertion after you made it yesterday.
You are being a little bit naughty these days BigG.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Always good to read your balanced reporting on what's going on at Starmer HQ and to read the hilarious foot-in-mouth mistakes he keeps on making! I sometimes wonder how he managed to get a job at all let alone as Prime Minister!
He is OK as a lawyer but not PM though to be fair the public's verdict as the worst (even worse than Truss) must be a real concern for labour supporters
When he has to sack McSweeney the day or so after conference his numbers will sink further
The public already know that Labour is finished but it appears that the Westminster bubble is not upto date with the news. They talk in earnest terms about the budget but the reality is it will make almost no difference. Andy Burnham was spot on this morning. Labour has about 7000 elected councillors, mayors, MPs MSPs etc. This year their win rate dropped from 43% to 6%. In 2026 maybe 1500 of them will be up for election. The win rate needs to improve or Starmer is dead. Throwing more money at the electorate will only crash the economy faster so only option is good competent government. Labour is finished.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Yusuf rather pathetically claimed nobody in Reform's leadership really knows Nathan Gill. Twattish response. Very Zia Yusuf
That IS Twattish.
Gill has been an associate of Farage for about 2 decades. He was a UKIP candidate as far back as 2004. He was top UKIP candidate in Wales in the 2014 European Parliament Election, and Farage made him UKIP leader in Wales. He was on TV debates.
He's was again leader of RefUK Wales since 2021, but left the party when he did not get a seat in the Senedd.
he has quite an interesting business background too, around housing for immigrants, and also apparently around things burning down (I have not seen much of this properly - imo - sourced and stood up). Let's see if our fearless media get onto it in detail.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Always good to read your balanced reporting on what's going on at Starmer HQ and to read the hilarious foot-in-mouth mistakes he keeps on making! I sometimes wonder how he managed to get a job at all let alone as Prime Minister!
He is OK as a lawyer but not PM though to be fair the public's verdict as the worst (even worse than Truss) must be a real concern for labour supporters
TSE contextualised this assertion after you made it yesterday.
You are being a little bit naughty these days BigG.
I hope you are not challenging an Ipsos poll, because it is a poll you do not like
The public already know that Labour is finished but it appears that the Westminster bubble is not upto date with the news. They talk in earnest terms about the budget but the reality is it will make almost no difference. Andy Burnham was spot on this morning. Labour has about 7000 elected councillors, mayors, MPs MSPs etc. This year their win rate dropped from 43% to 6%. In 2026 maybe 1500 of them will be up for election. The win rate needs to improve or Starmer is dead. Throwing more money at the electorate will only crash the economy faster so only option is good competent government. Labour is finished.
Ive had to turn the Dalek off. Libraries for primary schools and something something wicked Toreeeeeez.
Well you Tories were wicked since at least 2016, and you got even worse between 2019 and 2022.
Has the longest suicide note in history finished yet?
Labour have made the Tories look like rank amateurs in the wickedness department. They will not be missed
They really haven't.
This can be seen by the polls which even after a year of undiluted disappointment show a hated Labour Party (who although at an unprecedented low) still a handful of points ahead of your lot.
Now if you throw Ref and Con together (can we tell the difference anyway?) you are a whopping 25 points ahead.
The public already know that Labour is finished but it appears that the Westminster bubble is not upto date with the news. They talk in earnest terms about the budget but the reality is it will make almost no difference. Andy Burnham was spot on this morning. Labour has about 7000 elected councillors, mayors, MPs MSPs etc. This year their win rate dropped from 43% to 6%. In 2026 maybe 1500 of them will be up for election. The win rate needs to improve or Starmer is dead. Throwing more money at the electorate will only crash the economy faster so only option is good competent government. Labour is finished.
Labour is not finished. This government is.
It takes real "skill" for a government to be finished after just 14 months. How did they manage it.
The public already know that Labour is finished but it appears that the Westminster bubble is not upto date with the news. They talk in earnest terms about the budget but the reality is it will make almost no difference. Andy Burnham was spot on this morning. Labour has about 7000 elected councillors, mayors, MPs MSPs etc. This year their win rate dropped from 43% to 6%. In 2026 maybe 1500 of them will be up for election. The win rate needs to improve or Starmer is dead. Throwing more money at the electorate will only crash the economy faster so only option is good competent government. Labour is finished.
Labour actually turning out their vote in May will be a big problem. Worst case scenario for them - fourth in Wales, fifth in Scotland, not first in London, lose over 1200 councillors, lose every council defended outside London, win no mayoralties. They'll do a 'bit' better than that. Not a great deal better though
That reminds me, rather strangely, I need to measure an old map I inherited from my uncle (John Speed, I think, of Yorkshire) for a frame. Been meaning to do it for ages but the map's buried in one of the few places I can store it flat and I keep forgetting.
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Always good to read your balanced reporting on what's going on at Starmer HQ and to read the hilarious foot-in-mouth mistakes he keeps on making! I sometimes wonder how he managed to get a job at all let alone as Prime Minister!
He is OK as a lawyer but not PM though to be fair the public's verdict as the worst (even worse than Truss) must be a real concern for labour supporters
TSE contextualised this assertion after you made it yesterday.
You are being a little bit naughty these days BigG.
I hope you are not challenging an Ipsos poll, because it is a poll you do not like
In that poll
Starmer - 66%
Truss - 51%
I wasn't.
But if you want me banned by suggesting I am dismissing a BPC pollster, flag away, but on that score TSE might have to ban himself for "contextualising" the poll too.
Ive had to turn the Dalek off. Libraries for primary schools and something something wicked Toreeeeeez.
Well you Tories were wicked since at least 2016, and you got even worse between 2019 and 2022.
Has the longest suicide note in history finished yet?
Labour have made the Tories look like rank amateurs in the wickedness department. They will not be missed
They really haven't.
This can be seen by the polls which even after a year of undiluted disappointment show a hated Labour Party (who although at an unprecedented low) still a handful of points ahead of your lot.
Now if you throw Ref and Con together (can we tell the difference anyway?) you are a whopping 25 points ahead.
Labours lead over the Tories won't last that much longer.
In 3 days the number of people signing the ID cards petition has reached 25% of the number of votes that Labour polled at the last election. The question is whether people keep signing.
Can you vote once each of the infinite* gmail '+' addresses - my,name+1@gmail.com, myname+2@gmail.com etc etc? Only a minority of sites are coded to reject that, in my experience (handy for email newsletter signups that get you x% off a purchase).
*well, presumably not, as the field no doubt has some limit either coded or submitting the request would break the server/internet, but exceeding, say, the population of the UK would be fairly easy (no more than five letters/numbers needed)
Ive had to turn the Dalek off. Libraries for primary schools and something something wicked Toreeeeeez.
Well you Tories were wicked since at least 2016, and you got even worse between 2019 and 2022.
Has the longest suicide note in history finished yet?
Labour have made the Tories look like rank amateurs in the wickedness department. They will not be missed
They really haven't.
This can be seen by the polls which even after a year of undiluted disappointment show a hated Labour Party (who although at an unprecedented low) still a handful of points ahead of your lot.
Now if you throw Ref and Con together (can we tell the difference anyway?) you are a whopping 25 points ahead.
Labours lead over the Tories won't last that much longer.
You might be right or you might be wishcasting. You do a lot of wishcasting. On the other hand if the Tories attack Reform they might find themselves in the mid -twenties. Go for it!
My train has been held and then cancelled at Kettering.
I haven’t been this scared since I visited the Green Zone in Baghdad in 2004.
The PB Tory lunch has been postponed until Friday all because some loser decided to get hit by a train near Luton.
"All trains will terminate at Reform Central".
You may be pleased to know Sky had Zia Yusuf on responding to Starmer's enemy accusation and highlighted Nathan Gill to which Yousef just batted it away as nothing to do with Reform
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Yusuf rather pathetically claimed nobody in Reform's leadership really knows Nathan Gill. Twattish response. Very Zia Yusuf
That IS Twattish.
Gill has been an associate of Farage for about 2 decades. He was a UKIP candidate as far back as 2004. He was top UKIP candidate in Wales in the 2014 European Parliament Election, and Farage made him UKIP leader in Wales. He was on TV debates.
He's was again leader of RefUK Wales since 2021, but left the party when he did not get a seat in the Senedd.
he has quite an interesting business background too, around housing for immigrants, and also apparently around things burning down (I have not seen much of this properly - imo - sourced and stood up). Let's see if our fearless media get onto it in detail.
Gill will have to join the Labour Party before the media investigates him.
I am about to spend a day in London and I'm not takiung any cash with me.
Just the two grand phone, the ten grand watch, the fancy shoes and the sharp suit…
I am slumming it today, just the £1,500 watch, Watch Ultra 3 Hermès.
JohnO and myself are off to our regular working man’s venue for lunch, Claridge’s.
I never understood the joy in expensive watches. For any human purposes, my £5 Chinese watch is just as accurate as one 300 times the price. And if I lose it - which I do, frequently - it causes me only very minor vexation. I can wear it in a mosh pit, or in bed, or on the beach, or on a bike ride, without any anxiety whatsoever.
Having a phone, why is there a need for a watch at all? I haven't worn one for years.
Because: a) I often don't carry a phone. b) Sometimes the phone is out of battery. c) When I do carry a phone, it's marginally easier to look at the wrist rather than extract the phone from the pocket and press the button. d) When I am in bed and wonder what the time is, I can simply press the button on my phone which lights up the watch without disturbing the other occupant of the bed; I don't have to rootle around on my bedisde table for it.
On one of the frequent occasions when I have misplaced my watch, or forgotten to put it on, I'll use my phone for the purpose. But it's sub-optimal.
We had a dog that liked a hearty rabbit lunch. You could see the legs protruding from its mouth. Rescue dog that survived in the wilds before it was rehomed.
A brutal review of Harris’ campaign by Nesrine Malik in a review of Harris’ book around the campaign showing what an unsuitable candidate she was to take on Trump and the flaws in the Democratic Party.
Ive had to turn the Dalek off. Libraries for primary schools and something something wicked Toreeeeeez.
Well you Tories were wicked since at least 2016, and you got even worse between 2019 and 2022.
Has the longest suicide note in history finished yet?
Labour have made the Tories look like rank amateurs in the wickedness department. They will not be missed
They really haven't.
This can be seen by the polls which even after a year of undiluted disappointment show a hated Labour Party (who although at an unprecedented low) still a handful of points ahead of your lot.
Now if you throw Ref and Con together (can we tell the difference anyway?) you are a whopping 25 points ahead.
Labours lead over the Tories won't last that much longer.
You might be right or you might be wishcasting. You do a lot of wishcasting. On the other hand if the Tories attack Reform they might find themselves in the mid -twenties. Go for it!
Oh the Tories should certainly be attacking Reform. Getting rid of Labour ASAP, stopping Farage being PM and reclaiming Conservatism and reducing any influence Davey or the LDs might have should be the three overarching principles for the Tories in terms of the next GE They'll probably veer off on a Jenrick treasure hunt instead though
The public already know that Labour is finished but it appears that the Westminster bubble is not upto date with the news. They talk in earnest terms about the budget but the reality is it will make almost no difference. Andy Burnham was spot on this morning. Labour has about 7000 elected councillors, mayors, MPs MSPs etc. This year their win rate dropped from 43% to 6%. In 2026 maybe 1500 of them will be up for election. The win rate needs to improve or Starmer is dead. Throwing more money at the electorate will only crash the economy faster so only option is good competent government. Labour is finished.
Labour is not finished. This government is.
It takes real "skill" for a government to be finished after just 14 months. How did they manage it.
{Scene, a rugby field}
A penalty is about to be kicked. The goal is wide open. The player ambles up to the ball. He is interrupted by a stream of officials and linesmen who come up with reason not to take the kick. After a while he gently nudges it backwards.
He does this 20 times in the first half.
At half time, he claims that he took the kicks and did an amazing job.
Strangely, supporters of his team are not enthused.
Comments
Andrew Gilligan is another.
Why?
So if you're with Bob the Estate Agent with his book of buyers then those buyers will for sure be/have been on RightMove.
Speaking of which, @isam I saw my friend Bob the Estate Agent (not real name) the other day and he said that things were dire for sellers as buyers, fearing the budget and whatnot, are asking for crazy prices and concessions. So be aware that it is a difficult selling environment. Plenty on the market, very cautious buyers.
So I went round to the solicitors office and sat down in reception (my wife stayed with the removal people). Quietly made myself known.
And didn't move. After half an hour someone came out to say it was all being handled, and I didn't need to stay. I replied I was quite comfortable and would stay - to ensure that I could be on hand to help sort out any problems that cropped up. They kept coming out to say it was nearly done and could I go, at half hour intervals. I kept on replying that it was no bother and I was here to help...
Studious politeness is often unnerving. Eventually, they managed to do the transfer.
I also believe, how you react to a railway suicide says an awful lot about you (and usually not in a good way).
1% is such a small commission, that if you know someone competent, who will charge that figure, it's worth using them, rather than shopping around.
As I said previously, Starmer by publically attacking Reform, has given the stage to Farage, Tice or Yusef to come on the media to reject all and every criticism, which they are far better at than Starmer, and keep them on the daily media merry go round throughout his conference
Thoughts and prayers for the train driver, having ‘one under’ can be a life-changing event for them.
My dealer just matched CarWow (which surprised me). That was -24%. But when I asked for some "clinch the deal" deal free options on top, they became very solid after a couple of service bits.
I read after Graham Thorpe’s suicide that about 30% of the drivers don’t get back into driving seat ever again.
Twattish response. Very Zia Yusuf
One thing I've noticed (not having sold a property for decades) is the inefficiency of solicitors. Sale will take four months I think when it could have been done in one month easy if they responded to things in a timely fashion. You'd think they'd want their money faster.
I used to be a mortgage broker many years ago and conveyancing solicitors back then were not this bad I'm sure.
IIRC it was Gilligan who noted that the hold up to quicker river boats on the lower Thames was wash effects on a small number of house boats. And that it was quite cheap and simple to install some protective pilings for them.
Jenkins is just a Turbo NIMBY.
Mental health is at crisis levels
A young woman threw herself off Llandudno pier last week, but was quickly recovered from the water by a passing pleasure boat before the RNLI could get there though they were called
If you want a proper service you have to pay the £150+ an hour solicitors charge rather than the £400 fixed fee for volume conveyancing.
Thanks, and to @Big_G_NorthWales as well
The Daily Mail front page is particularly egregious. In fact it is an alternative truth.
Starmer explained that Reform POLICY regarding repatriating those with settled status was racist. Starmer was at pains to insist he was not claiming Reform voters were racists (he's wrong, many are) yet the Mail claims he did claim Reform VOTERS are racist.
Next door sold in a week last month so hopefully the cautious buyers haven’t got here yet
Journalists are obsessed with Reform becaue they see the possibility of big 'gotchas'
Two dainty, winsome Regency whisky glasses. EIGHT POUNDS EACH
It's just insane. That's IKEA prices for IKEA tat, yet these are from 1820, and flawless
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/388396063520
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3-RE9ECAM7g
https://x.com/timmyvoe/status/1972607401020059716?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
But of course you could spend eternity debating where to draw the line between reasonable regulation and over-zealous interference.
Those who worked under him were all wearing Rolex.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtkciKpvnM
The process is long and fraught with problems which do seem to be far more complex than years ago, and it is quite common for it to go on for months while all the time with the prospect of lost chains, poor surveys, changes of circumstances, extensive money laundering requirements, and inefficient conveyancers - lawyers
I do not want to depress you but always keep on top of the process through your agents, hence why local long-established ones are the better choice
That, and acceptable toppings for pizza!
In my daughters sale process I obtained quotes from local practices which ranged from outrageously high (really didn't want the business) to sorry we are not accepting any more business, to our senior conveyanver has walked out due to pressure, to firms actively advertisng on their web site for qualified conveyancers
The industry is in a mess
You are being a little bit naughty these days BigG.
Has the longest suicide note in history finished yet?
They will not be missed
Bond wears a Rolex
Gill has been an associate of Farage for about 2 decades. He was a UKIP candidate as far back as 2004. He was top UKIP candidate in Wales in the 2014 European Parliament Election, and Farage made him UKIP leader in Wales. He was on TV debates.
He's was again leader of RefUK Wales since 2021, but left the party when he did not get a seat in the Senedd.
he has quite an interesting business background too, around housing for immigrants, and also apparently around things burning down (I have not seen much of this properly - imo - sourced and stood up). Let's see if our fearless media get onto it in detail.
In that poll
Starmer - 66%
Truss - 51%
This can be seen by the polls which even after a year of undiluted disappointment show a hated Labour Party (who although at an unprecedented low) still a handful of points ahead of your lot.
Now if you throw Ref and Con together (can we tell the difference anyway?) you are a whopping 25 points ahead.
Worst case scenario for them - fourth in Wales, fifth in Scotland, not first in London, lose over 1200 councillors, lose every council defended outside London, win no mayoralties.
They'll do a 'bit' better than that. Not a great deal better though
But if you want me banned by suggesting I am dismissing a BPC pollster, flag away, but on that score TSE might have to ban himself for "contextualising" the poll too.
*well, presumably not, as the field no doubt has some limit either coded or submitting the request would break the server/internet, but exceeding, say, the population of the UK would be fairly easy (no more than five letters/numbers needed)
a) I often don't carry a phone.
b) Sometimes the phone is out of battery.
c) When I do carry a phone, it's marginally easier to look at the wrist rather than extract the phone from the pocket and press the button.
d) When I am in bed and wonder what the time is, I can simply press the button on my phone which lights up the watch without disturbing the other occupant of the bed; I don't have to rootle around on my bedisde table for it.
On one of the frequent occasions when I have misplaced my watch, or forgotten to put it on, I'll use my phone for the purpose. But it's sub-optimal.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/29/kamala-harris-memoir-election-campaign-democrats-deluded
Getting rid of Labour ASAP, stopping Farage being PM and reclaiming Conservatism and reducing any influence Davey or the LDs might have should be the three overarching principles for the Tories in terms of the next GE
They'll probably veer off on a Jenrick treasure hunt instead though
A penalty is about to be kicked. The goal is wide open. The player ambles up to the ball. He is interrupted by a stream of officials and linesmen who come up with reason not to take the kick. After a while he gently nudges it backwards.
He does this 20 times in the first half.
At half time, he claims that he took the kicks and did an amazing job.
Strangely, supporters of his team are not enthused.