Just out of interest, what do other PBers pay for a haircut?
That's a very brave question to ask on Mike Smithson's site !!
£10 plus £1 in the charity box when it's done by the nice Thai lady who works in the one I go to in England. She also does eyebrows, nose and ear hair. (All iclusiven) If the proprietor does it it's £9 plus the £ and, if wanted, one also gets a full account of West Ham's last home match. Having said that it's often worth sitting there for an hour or so just for the local gossip. Plus free spirits Christmas week!
Slightly under a £ when done by the Thai lady I go to in Thailand, but she doesn't do eyebrows etc.
Poor OGH must be pulling his hair out over the thread direction .... and it's not my fault !!
I agree about the interviewee and scruffy shoes. I would be very reluctant to employ him. I also tend to delete/discount CVs and covering letters where the candidates are incapable of using UK English spellcheck.
I pay £6.50 for a haircut and put 50p in the charity box. Betty in the village has a hair studio in her back garden and when I go, I get 6 week's worth of local gossip at the same time, trying desperately to miss my late grandfather's 94 year old 2nd cousin who takes roughly an hour or two to share the latest gossip (century by century).
Good win for the LibDems last night. Does raise the question of just how reliable the polls are for that invincible Labour vote share! We shall see 4 weeks on Sunday.
It's wonderful isn't it: because bankers screwed up, ordinary people are going to have to reveal how much they spend getting their hair cut in order to get a mortgage.
This doesn't sound that different from when I got my first mortgage 30 years ago - there were checks on your salary, and also a chat about expenses (and the mortgage was capped at 2.5 times salary) - sounds like a return to good practice to me.....
Well not really
You don't think it appropriate for your lender to enquire into the affordability of your loan?
Of course. But asking me how much my wife pays to get her hair done is a fool's errand. I would just give a (probably very bad) guess. Do you know how much your wife spends on her hair?
I think you are missing the point – if a couple are applying for a joint mortgage, these are the very questions they should be asking each other if they are to have a realistic idea of what they can afford in mortgage repayments and what sacrifices (if any) must be made. – I’d like to think most people realise this before applying for a mortgage, others will need ‘prompting’ for want of a better word.
I have tried asking her! In any event, this is discretionary spending - it can always be cut back (ha ha)
Mike's theory looks woirth a 5-1 shot. I've never experienced an election in 40 years where opinion was so settled - even in 1995-1997 there was quite a bit of movement. The fear/dislike factor is very strong - lots of people just determined to vote to keep/get the other side out, and impervious to daily events or opinions on leaders, the economy, energy bills, the NHS or anything else. antifrank's analysis today
I do agree that the Tories should be able to recover some of their doubtfuls and UKIP defectors, though they'll still need more to get most votes (in today's YG the UKIP defector figure is down to 16% for 2010 Tories, 8% for 2010 Lab, and don't knows are almost equally rare for both).
It's worth thinking about what radically new factors could still shake up the glacial situation. The Euros could help or harm UKIP. The Indyref could make a big difference in Scotland one way or another. Election campaigns rarely shift a great deal, the conference season still less. Election promises by the parties? The debates?
As for haircuts - £12 here, par for Islington. I could save a few quid doing it in Broxtowe but never have time there. If my bank manager is interested, he can't have enough to do.
I don't honestly think it's a big issue. Advertising is based on getting good looking people to push a product. Do you remember the Ocean Finance adverts? Real-looking people who didn't look like actors? It was soon dropped. That's the reason, the Labour party will try to minimise the Ed appearances. It's always a facade. You're selling a dream, real people get in the way.
Duke & Duchess of Cambridge in the air en-route from Australia too.......
If they are on their way back does it mean we can be spared the obsequious daily updates about Kate being a good djay (she isn't), Wills being a demon bowler (he isn't) or us being thrilled by the latest frock Kate is wearing (actually we are bored to tears).
You could try not reading those particular articles?
It's wonderful isn't it: because bankers screwed up, ordinary people are going to have to reveal how much they spend getting their hair cut in order to get a mortgage.
This doesn't sound that different from when I got my first mortgage 30 years ago - there were checks on your salary, and also a chat about expenses (and the mortgage was capped at 2.5 times salary) - sounds like a return to good practice to me.....
Well not really
You don't think it appropriate for your lender to enquire into the affordability of your loan?
Of course. But asking me how much my wife pays to get her hair done is a fool's errand. I would just give a (probably very bad) guess. Do you know how much your wife spends on her hair?
I think you are missing the point – if a couple are applying for a joint mortgage, these are the very questions they should be asking each other if they are to have a realistic idea of what they can afford in mortgage repayments and what sacrifices (if any) must be made. – I’d like to think most people realise this before applying for a mortgage, others will need ‘prompting’ for want of a better word.
Simon, the problem is that the banks have to fill in the paperwork in a prescribed format and store the results, otherwise they are liable for a mis-selling claim. No safe harbours for clients for whom the cost of haircuts is unlikely to be an issue
Mr. Fett, not round here. Tons of nettles, but almost as many dock leaves. We also have tons of bluebells, which are apparently endangered.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have effective crossover...
and the tories have all that 'potential' swingback from UKIP...
Looking at the the tables it seems to be an exact tie. Labour's lead amongst men counteracted by a Tory lead amongst women. What would tim have made of that?!
If AndyJS is around - looking at your London Councils Local Election Spreadsheet - the Socialist Party (SPGB version) is standing in a couple of Lambeth wards as well.
If AndyJS is around - looking at your London Councils Local Election Spreadsheet - the Socialist Party (SPGB version) is standing in a couple of Lambeth wards as well.
Thanks. I deliberately put the spreadsheet up before checking all the candidates because I thought others could help out with it.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have effective crossover...
and the tories have all that 'potential' swingback from UKIP...
Just MOE in a single poll --- and still no crossover.
The entire movement in polls is nearly always MOE on a poll to poll basis... all the way from consistent double digit leads for labour to now a big fat zero.
It's still early days yet, but still shows that the next general election is all to pay for..
Mr. Fett, not round here. Tons of nettles, but almost as many dock leaves. We also have tons of bluebells, which are apparently endangered.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
As discussed last night it is really quite common for PEBs no feature no politicians at all...
Oh dear one of my pet hates.-the price of haircuts and the competition to ensure you pay the least possible amongst your male peers and family. My Dad is obsessed with how much may haircuts cost and when I tell him 'oh I don't know exactly I think £12 including a tip' he looks horrified and says proudly he gets his done for £4. WOW -saved £8 there every 6 weeks !!
I do wonder how many people are like me. I cant be arsed to vote in local or Euro elections, but I will definitely vote in the GE, My vote is in a safe seat, but the threat of Miliband will force me out of my armchair.. Miliband is dangerous, that hasn't been factored in yet. When people realise what he would actually do, the picture may well change. Only time will tell.
What Miliband will do is barely any different to what Cameron or Clegg would do. Your tin foil hat paranoia is hilarious.
I doubt that. I do not get the impression that Cameron hates me and wants to tax me simply in order to reduce my circumstances as a goal in itself.
That is very much the impression I get from the other two - that if I've somehow got anything left after all the taxes, there's been a mistake, and new taxes must be thought up.
I think Miliband honestly believes that taking money off families like mine, piling it all up in cash, and torching the lot in the interests of spite (or "fariness" as he calls it) is a better outcome than letting me keep and spend it.
It's similar to the John Prescott view of good schools, which is that their existence poses a fairness problem best solved by closing them so that all schools are equally bad.
To Miliband and Clegg, the only legitimate fortune is one that is amassed in the public sector. UKIP hates me too, but then UKIP hates almost literally everyone.
It's wonderful isn't it: because bankers screwed up, ordinary people are going to have to reveal how much they spend getting their hair cut in order to get a mortgage.
Bankers screwed up when they *stopped* asking mortgage applicants how much they spent on things like haircuts. That was one of the key steps along the way to sub-prime self-certification.
On topic, I used to pay £8 when I used my local barbers. I've since invested in trimmers so it's essentially free bar the initial purchase cost. (what do you mean 'that's not on-topic!'?).
If my bank manager is interested, he can't have enough to do.
Nick I very much doubt that your bank manager is interested.
It's not that relevant to his lending decisions.
But the regulators have told him to ask the question. So he has to waste your time, and his, asking pointless and intrusive questions.
See the problem with government/regulatory micromanagement of business?
Seconded - Know Your Customer bollocks has just got plain out of hand. My brother and I were comparing banking stories at the weekend, it's now easier to open an account in "bureaucratic" Germany than the UK. As ever the checks just penalise the law-abiding and the real crooks ignore them and carry on regardless.
Mr. Fett, not round here. Tons of nettles, but almost as many dock leaves. We also have tons of bluebells, which are apparently endangered.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
As discussed last night it is really quite common for PEBs no feature no politicians at all...
No, you've stated that several times. Other people have stated the opposite. No one (that I'm aware of) has provided any evidence.
Mr. Fett, not round here. Tons of nettles, but almost as many dock leaves. We also have tons of bluebells, which are apparently endangered.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
As discussed last night it is really quite common for PEBs no feature no politicians at all...
No, you've stated that several times. Other people have stated the opposite. No one (that I'm aware of) has provided any evidence.
Mr. Fett, not round here. Tons of nettles, but almost as many dock leaves. We also have tons of bluebells, which are apparently endangered.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
As discussed last night it is really quite common for PEBs no feature no politicians at all...
No, you've stated that several times. Other people have stated the opposite. No one (that I'm aware of) has provided any evidence.
It's certainly very common when you have leaders like Ed and Gordon...
Just out of interest, what do other PBers pay for a haircut? And (as most but not all of us are male) what about the wives/girlfriends of PBers?
£12 if I can be bother to walk 20 mins to the cheap barber. £16 if I'm feeling lazy. My wife spends about £40.
Can I ask your wife to educate my wife...
Why don't you ask your kids to do it? One each side & they'll be finished in no time...
Charles,
I'm still in shock re your comments on instant coffee.
What next - the butler serves Pot Noodles to your guests ?
Some years back we allowed the family youngsters to produce the menus for the weekend and the money saved was donated to Comic Relief. They had to be reasonable, edible meals with wine as appropriate for all family and staff.
Baked beans (I liked). Jacket potatoes (liked). Meat paste (vile). Indeterminable stew (ok). Instant whip (Yuk) all featured along with a precocious Spanish wine so young that the bouquet was redolent of the growers feet !!
Mr. Fett, not round here. Tons of nettles, but almost as many dock leaves. We also have tons of bluebells, which are apparently endangered.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
As discussed last night it is really quite common for PEBs no feature no politicians at all...
No, you've stated that several times. Other people have stated the opposite. No one (that I'm aware of) has provided any evidence.
Mr. Fett, not round here. Tons of nettles, but almost as many dock leaves. We also have tons of bluebells, which are apparently endangered.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
As discussed last night it is really quite common for PEBs no feature no politicians at all...
No, you've stated that several times. Other people have stated the opposite. No one (that I'm aware of) has provided any evidence.
It's certainly very common when you have leaders like Ed and Gordon...
On topic I think OGH is wrong about this and that the bias in favour of Labour will be less at the next election not greater but kudos to him for putting his money where his mouth is.
Off topic £8.50 +£1 tip for a haircut in Dundee. Mind you my son always insists I get the one who manages to cause cuts so he can get the other.
The idea of "stress testing" if you can afford an increase from the artificially low rates we have had for the last 5 years makes some kind of sense but surely it is a matter for the borrower to judge, not the lender. So some guidance for the uninformed borrower to consider is helpful but that is it.
There can be all kinds of circumstances where higher loans might be appropriate, someone starting out and with legitimate expectations of rapid promotion being the obvious one.
I really think we have gone far too far in asking a financial provider to be responsible for the actions and decisions of the borrower. This is an arms length transaction where the Bank or other lender is obliged and entitled to look out for their own interest. This kind of approach creates a bureaucracy of costs that we all end up paying for. We should be cutting back on this sort of nonsense, not encouraging it.
Just out of interest, what do other PBers pay for a haircut? And (as most but not all of us are male) what about the wives/girlfriends of PBers?
£12 if I can be bother to walk 20 mins to the cheap barber. £16 if I'm feeling lazy. My wife spends about £40.
Can I ask your wife to educate my wife...
Why don't you ask your kids to do it? One each side & they'll be finished in no time...
Charles,
I'm still in shock re your comments on instant coffee.
What next - the butler serves Pot Noodles to your guests ?
Some years back we allowed the family youngsters to produce the menus for the weekend and the money saved was donated to Comic Relief. They had to be reasonable, edible meals with wine as appropriate for all family and staff.
Baked beans (I liked). Jacket potatoes (liked). Meat paste (vile). Indeterminable stew (ok). Instant whip (Yuk) all featured along with a precocious Spanish wine so young that the bouquet was redolent of the growers feet !!
I hope young Kinkell's cooking skills improved before he went off to university and had to fend for himself!
On topic (really), I'm not sure Mike's thesis holds on that example.
Labour started the by-election in second place. If there was going to be any tactical voting, it would have gone *from* the Lib Dems *to* Labour. The Vote UK Forum site lists previous election results for the ward as:
2011 - Con 593/554, Lab 379, LD 305/165 2007 - Con 513/414, LD 364/258, Grn 127 2003 - Con 492, LD 189/185
so what might at first appear to be tactical voting looks in reality like something different. Clearly, the E Cambs result was excellent for the Lib Dems and poor for the Tories but the prompt was highly unlikely to be tactical voting, both because the votes moved the wrong way and because there don't look to be enough tactical votes in play for the Lib Dems to chalk up 523 votes. A more likely explanation is probably simply a genuine large but local swing.
Whatever, we'll get a far better idea of the various parties' chances come the May local elections, when they'll all have to fight wide-scale campaigns and when local factors should more-or-less even themselves out.
Bookmaking should be a game - bookie against punter, odds put up and if the punter outsmarts the bookie then they win.
Obviously the bookie can and should load the book in his favour with ~ 8 - 20% overround (50%+ for Grand National ...), this represents the profit margin - and an average punter won't win in the long run if the odds compiler is worth his salt. Not sure odds compilers are used any more - think (For horses in particular) it is just linked up to Betfair...
Roulette is a casino game, and should need a casino license.
Just out of interest, what do other PBers pay for a haircut? And (as most but not all of us are male) what about the wives/girlfriends of PBers?
£12 if I can be bother to walk 20 mins to the cheap barber. £16 if I'm feeling lazy. My wife spends about £40.
Can I ask your wife to educate my wife...
Why don't you ask your kids to do it? One each side & they'll be finished in no time...
Charles,
I'm still in shock re your comments on instant coffee.
What next - the butler serves Pot Noodles to your guests ?
Some years back we allowed the family youngsters to produce the menus for the weekend and the money saved was donated to Comic Relief. They had to be reasonable, edible meals with wine as appropriate for all family and staff.
Baked beans (I liked). Jacket potatoes (liked). Meat paste (vile). Indeterminable stew (ok). Instant whip (Yuk) all featured along with a precocious Spanish wine so young that the bouquet was redolent of the growers feet !!
I hope young Kinkell's cooking skills improved before he went off to university and had to fend for himself!
Safe to say order was swiftly resumed and none of our temporary chefs is considering employment in the catering industry .... for which all UK citizens must surely owe a debt of gratitude to the elders of family W and their cast iron constitutions !!
It's wonderful isn't it: because bankers screwed up, ordinary people are going to have to reveal how much they spend getting their hair cut in order to get a mortgage.
Bankers screwed up when they *stopped* asking mortgage applicants how much they spent on things like haircuts. That was one of the key steps along the way to sub-prime self-certification.
On topic, I used to pay £8 when I used my local barbers. I've since invested in trimmers so it's essentially free bar the initial purchase cost. (what do you mean 'that's not on-topic!'?).
The problem with self certification (or lying as it is technically described) is that the loan is at risk and the lender may not get his money back. In the past lenders used to avoid the consequences of such poor lending decisions by packaging up these loans and selling them on. From their point of view for as long as third parties were willing to buy these packages this was profitable business. That market is now much more limited so the loan tends to sit on the lender's books and they therefore take the risk. So they are more careful.
So far as the borrower is concerned if he has lied that is no one's fault but his and the consequences are for him alone if things go wrong. Of course in the vast majority of cases they don't and the liar gets onto the property ladder on a better rung than he might otherwise have done.
Why has any of this got anything to do with the government?
Ladies and gentlemen, we have effective crossover...
and the tories have all that 'potential' swingback from UKIP...
Looking at the the tables it seems to be an exact tie. Labour's lead amongst men counteracted by a Tory lead amongst women. What would tim have made of that?!
Yes. 397 each.
Other points of note:
Labour still has a big lead among wage-earners, Tories among the retired (though Con lead just among private sector workers).
Weird regional sub-groups (Con lead 4% in SE but 15% in Midlands; Con 24% in Scotland to SNP 26% etc)
LD 2010 support splitting almost equally three ways, between Lab, LD and 'everyone else'.
16% of Con 2010 support going UKIP against 5% of 2010 Lab support and 10% of 2010 LD support.
It's wonderful isn't it: because bankers screwed up, ordinary people are going to have to reveal how much they spend getting their hair cut in order to get a mortgage.
Bankers screwed up when they *stopped* asking mortgage applicants how much they spent on things like haircuts. That was one of the key steps along the way to sub-prime self-certification.
On topic, I used to pay £8 when I used my local barbers. I've since invested in trimmers so it's essentially free bar the initial purchase cost. (what do you mean 'that's not on-topic!'?).
The problem with self certification (or lying as it is technically described) is that the loan is at risk and the lender may not get his money back. In the past lenders used to avoid the consequences of such poor lending decisions by packaging up these loans and selling them on. From their point of view for as long as third parties were willing to buy these packages this was profitable business. That market is now much more limited so the loan tends to sit on the lender's books and they therefore take the risk. So they are more careful.
So far as the borrower is concerned if he has lied that is no one's fault but his and the consequences are for him alone if things go wrong. Of course in the vast majority of cases they don't and the liar gets onto the property ladder on a better rung than he might otherwise have done.
Why has any of this got anything to do with the government?
Because the banks can still make money on the interim, by having high interest rates for these people, even if they do all eventually default. And if they collectively screw up it causes economy-wide problems. That's what it has to be regulated by government.
It's wonderful isn't it: because bankers screwed up, ordinary people are going to have to reveal how much they spend getting their hair cut in order to get a mortgage.
Bankers screwed up when they *stopped* asking mortgage applicants how much they spent on things like haircuts. That was one of the key steps along the way to sub-prime self-certification.
On topic, I used to pay £8 when I used my local barbers. I've since invested in trimmers so it's essentially free bar the initial purchase cost. (what do you mean 'that's not on-topic!'?).
The problem with self certification (or lying as it is technically described) is that the loan is at risk and the lender may not get his money back. In the past lenders used to avoid the consequences of such poor lending decisions by packaging up these loans and selling them on. From their point of view for as long as third parties were willing to buy these packages this was profitable business. That market is now much more limited so the loan tends to sit on the lender's books and they therefore take the risk. So they are more careful.
So far as the borrower is concerned if he has lied that is no one's fault but his and the consequences are for him alone if things go wrong. Of course in the vast majority of cases they don't and the liar gets onto the property ladder on a better rung than he might otherwise have done.
Why has any of this got anything to do with the government?
Because the banks can still make money on the interim, by having high interest rates for these people, even if they do all eventually default. And if they collectively screw up it causes economy-wide problems. That's what it has to be regulated by government.
Sorry, just don't agree. The regulator has an interest in systemic risk. Banks taking lots of self certified mortgages should be required to hold more capital than those who are not.
The banking industry needs to be seriously reformed so banks are no longer too big to fail and the risk is dumped on their shareholders rather than the tax payer. There is lots to be done in this area but if 2008 taught us anything it is this kind of micro managed, tick boxed regulation by a consumer focussed regulator is as useful as the contributions the bats are making to that church.
You've heard about the Shower of Shit over Cheshire...
Shades of a Python sketch : Your Majesty is like a stream of bat's piss...I, um, I, ah, I merely meant, Your Majesty, that, ah, you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.
One piece of self-certification which should be done away with immediately is that by drivers aged 70+ that they are fit to drive. I was appalled when I got to first 70 and then 75 and found that all I had to do was say I was fit to drive. When I was 70 I got a driving instructor friend to spend half an hour with me to tell me I was OK.
Must confess I didn't when I turned 75 and now I'm beginning to wonder ………
I don't know if Lambeth is typical of UKIP's approach in London, but out of 21 wards they have 1 person nominated in 17 of them (missing only Oval, Vassall, Tulse Hill and Streatham South) - but in no wards do they have more than 1 person nominated. Also - kudos to the Greens for putting up a full slate throughout the Borough.
Mike's theory looks woirth a 5-1 shot. I've never experienced an election in 40 years where opinion was so settled - even in 1995-1997 there was quite a bit of movement. The fear/dislike factor is very strong - lots of people just determined to vote to keep/get the other side out, and impervious to daily events or opinions on leaders, the economy, energy bills, the NHS or anything else. antifrank's analysis today
I do agree that the Tories should be able to recover some of their doubtfuls and UKIP defectors, though they'll still need more to get most votes (in today's YG the UKIP defector figure is down to 16% for 2010 Tories, 8% for 2010 Lab, and don't knows are almost equally rare for both).
It's worth thinking about what radically new factors could still shake up the glacial situation. The Euros could help or harm UKIP. The Indyref could make a big difference in Scotland one way or another. Election campaigns rarely shift a great deal, the conference season still less. Election promises by the parties? The debates?
As for haircuts - £12 here, par for Islington. I could save a few quid doing it in Broxtowe but never have time there. If my bank manager is interested, he can't have enough to do.
I thought you'd like that table! I thought of you ask saw Broxtowe soar up to third spot.
One piece of self-certification which should be done away with immediately is that by drivers aged 70+ that they are fit to drive. I was appalled when I got to first 70 and then 75 and found that all I had to do was say I was fit to drive. When I was 70 I got a driving instructor friend to spend half an hour with me to tell me I was OK.
Must confess I didn't when I turned 75 and now I'm beginning to wonder ……...
Now that is one area of regulation I do agree needs tightened up. The classic old person' s accident is where they come out of a junction in front of another vehicle that was probably going too fast. When they checked everything was fine but it took them so long to get going that the situation had changed.
When I was a solicitor in Fife the local fiscal would charge those involved in such cases with careless driving and then drop the charge if the licence was surrendered but (a) that required the accident first and (b) I am not sure fiscals have the time to bother with simple s3 cases these days. They probably go to fixed penalties with the result the question of a licence is not looked into.
I don't know if Lambeth is typical of UKIP's approach in London, but out of 21 wards they have 1 person nominated in 17 of them (missing only Oval, Vassall, Tulse Hill and Streatham South) - but in no wards do they have more than 1 person nominated.
That makes sense, if you cant get as many candidates as wards why put two in one ward when you can have one in two and offer twice as many people the chance to vote for you. It's only worth putting 3 in a ward in those circumstances if you are giving it a real go.
Have noticed LDs actively canvassing road, though the oil was long off the boil when the MP turned up at the door - plenty of ape's bum fodder from Greens, Tories for local elections. nothing from Labour except a leaflet about their candidate for the next GE. I guess that having a semi-literate student standing for Ed's mob was their idea of a joke which back fired on them last year. No sign of UKIP candidate for the ward elections at local level.
Another day, another load of IndyRef bollocks, from both sides:
Ed Miliband: Tackling the issue [of zero hours contracts] would be "harder" in an independent Scotland. Why on earth would that be? An independent Scottish government could enact exactly the same regulations as a UK government if it so wished.
Still, that pales into insignificance compared with this gem:
SNP MSP Sandra White: "With a Yes vote we can avoid any further cuts to Scotland's budget"
I don't know if Lambeth is typical of UKIP's approach in London, but out of 21 wards they have 1 person nominated in 17 of them (missing only Oval, Vassall, Tulse Hill and Streatham South) - but in no wards do they have more than 1 person nominated.
That makes sense, if you cant get as many candidates as wards why put two in one ward when you can have one in two and offer twice as many people the chance to vote for you. It's only worth putting 3 in a ward in those circumstances if you are giving it a real go.
The risk is that people give one vote to the UKIP candidate, and then spend their other two on (say) Conservative ones. You then end up boosting people you are in competition with.
On the subject of mortgage defaults, back in the property boom of the late eighties there was quite an industry in Brighton in which mortgages were obtained using false references with no intention of making any but the first payment. Property prices were rising so fast that by the time the legal formalities were completed the property was worth considerably more than the outstanding mortgage and lenders costs the difference went to the borrower. No prosecutions were ever made, partly because it was very difficult to prove intent but mostly because the banks and building societies refused to co-operate with the police. Some of Brighton's more intelligent young toe-rags made sufficient money that they were able to by properties outright for cash and join the landlord class.
Oh, Haircut costs in Hurst: £11 plus tip (£7.50 for over 60s)
Ed Miliband: Tackling the issue [of zero hours contracts] would be "harder" in an independent Scotland. Why on earth would that be? An independent Scottish government could enact exactly the same regulations as a UK government if it so wished.
I think his point is that a Scottish government might be tempted to outcompete the rUK with lower standards of employment protection.
I don't know if Lambeth is typical of UKIP's approach in London, but out of 21 wards they have 1 person nominated in 17 of them (missing only Oval, Vassall, Tulse Hill and Streatham South) - but in no wards do they have more than 1 person nominated.
That makes sense, if you cant get as many candidates as wards why put two in one ward when you can have one in two and offer twice as many people the chance to vote for you. It's only worth putting 3 in a ward in those circumstances if you are giving it a real go.
I agree - Noticeably more hard work though to get all the nominations - If you have sufficient nominations for 1 candidate, then you have sufficient for 2 candidates, you just need the candidates. I think that it shows that someone in UKIP is actually thinking strategically and sensibly about their approach, and wondered if it was local(ish) to Lambeth, or representative of a wider approach.
I think the haircut price question is more intrusive for women.In a completely unscientific of survey of female colleagues,it seems this information is classified,although I discovered hair cuts are only the tip of the iceberg.There are things like nails,through to colonic irrigation. It is impossible to aggregate the total cost when there are things like highlights and hair extensions and when you can go in grey and come out red and then there are bathrooms full of various creams,uplift,downlift etc etc. The more embarrassing question for men,and some women, is the cost of coping with alopecia.Would you want to put the cost of your wigs on the form or the cost of Regaine-I was in the queue at Boots recently and one chap spent £80 on the stuff?
Bankers screwed up when they *stopped* asking mortgage applicants how much they spent on things like haircuts. That was one of the key steps along the way to sub-prime self-certification.
On topic, I used to pay £8 when I used my local barbers. I've since invested in trimmers so it's essentially free bar the initial purchase cost. (what do you mean 'that's not on-topic!'?).
The problem with self certification (or lying as it is technically described) is that the loan is at risk and the lender may not get his money back. In the past lenders used to avoid the consequences of such poor lending decisions by packaging up these loans and selling them on. From their point of view for as long as third parties were willing to buy these packages this was profitable business. That market is now much more limited so the loan tends to sit on the lender's books and they therefore take the risk. So they are more careful.
That's only partially true. The other side to the equation was that there was an assumption that the capital value of the asset the loan was secured against was strong enough that even if the loan did go bad, the bank would get its money back. This was a gross misjudgement. In any case, the financial industry is so interconnected that packaging up all the dodgy loans and selling them on only makes sense if there's no systemic crisis in either the financial sector or the economy at large which has a material impact on the entire book. As economies go through downturns every so often, that assumption was also deeply flawed with the result that the entire system became contaminated.
So far as the borrower is concerned if he has lied that is no one's fault but his and the consequences are for him alone if things go wrong. Of course in the vast majority of cases they don't and the liar gets onto the property ladder on a better rung than he might otherwise have done.
Why has any of this got anything to do with the government?
For the same reason that the government currently own tens of billions of pounds-worth of shares in UK banks. It ultimately has to stand behind the financial sector because it is so crucial to every other part of the economy. It's best to avoid even an individual bank failing but the regulators absolutely have to prevent systemic flaws developing that could result in the whole sector becoming either paralysed or failing.
In any case, I don't accept the either/or analysis. The responsibility for a loan lies with both the borrower *and* the lender. Remember that when a bank makes a loan, it's putting both its depositors' money and its shareholder value at risk so it can't simply write off responsibility.
If my bank manager is interested, he can't have enough to do.
Nick I very much doubt that your bank manager is interested.
It's not that relevant to his lending decisions.
But the regulators have told him to ask the question. So he has to waste your time, and his, asking pointless and intrusive questions.
See the problem with government/regulatory micromanagement of business?
Seconded - Know Your Customer bollocks has just got plain out of hand. My brother and I were comparing banking stories at the weekend, it's now easier to open an account in "bureaucratic" Germany than the UK. As ever the checks just penalise the law-abiding and the real crooks ignore them and carry on regardless.
Yes, I've told the story here before but it's silly enough to be worth repeating. I've banked with the same bank for over 40 years. When I was an MP, I went into my local branch and asked if I could transfer the account to that branch. They looked horrified and said surely I didn't want to bother. I said yes, it would be nice to have a branch near where I lived so I could maintain a personal relationship, get advice from someone I knew, etc.
So they produced a form of several pages, clearly designed to investigate whether I was a money-launderer and whether I was who I said I was. Everyone in the branch knew me personally, and neither the account number nor any other aspect of the account with respect to the authorities would change.
I gave up, and my account is still in the Pall Mall branch where it was set up ca. 1971, and which I've not visited for decades. "Know your bank manager?" As if.
I suppose there's something to be said for a few question to borrowers, to encourage them to think carefully themselves. But it does seem to me an area where government intervention combines ineffectiveness with irritation to a remarkable degree.
I don't know if Lambeth is typical of UKIP's approach in London, but out of 21 wards they have 1 person nominated in 17 of them (missing only Oval, Vassall, Tulse Hill and Streatham South) - but in no wards do they have more than 1 person nominated.
That makes sense, if you cant get as many candidates as wards why put two in one ward when you can have one in two and offer twice as many people the chance to vote for you. It's only worth putting 3 in a ward in those circumstances if you are giving it a real go.
The risk is that people give one vote to the UKIP candidate, and then spend their other two on (say) Conservative ones. You then end up boosting people you are in competition with.
But in the ward you didnt stand in you boosted them even more. If there are only so many candidates to go around there's no escaping that. Unless you're actively trying to win a ward it doesnt matter if the other two votes float off somewhere else.
Re Populus poll, the trend is your friend - unless you are Ed Miliband. From the top of their polling, Labour has lost 1 in 5 of the people who said they were going to vote for them.
We are one year out from a general election. And yet Labour has no policies. Going into the Conference unveiling them is just W-A-Y too late. How does it shake them up, re-energise them for the manifesto if the voters just go - "yeah, whatever mate..." Labour should have had them in place for these Euro elections, to get the voters familiar with them. But there is nothing. Even Kirsty Walk on Newsnight yesterday mocked them - "Labour has a policy!" - when introducing the piece on zero-hours contracts. Which in the end seems little more than an aspiration to do something about evil employers doing something about this modern evil. If the employers agree. Which they won't.
"We are not the Tories!" is not sufficient. Not when the Govt. is making inroads into the deficit, presiding over a rapidly rising jobs market and tackling the "cost of living crisis" (TM Ed Miliband). I expect the poll trend to continue its current direction of travel for the next year. And I expect by September the Labour conference will be a wake, the buzz phrase being "if only....".
I can't remember the amount, but I do remember asking a friend how much her haircut cost and being quite surprised it was so much. It did look nice, but the word 'fleeced' sprang to mind.
I can't remember the amount, but I do remember asking a friend how much her haircut cost and being quite surprised it was so much. It did look nice, but the word 'fleeced' sprang to mind.
In a hurry, I once got my haircut in a ladies hairdressers. £30!!
I suspect that Farage is among the UKIP voters who would quite like to drift back to the mainstream if he could get satisfaction on a few points. He gives a convincing impression of being genuinely uncomfortable with some of the company he keeps.
I can't remember the amount, but I do remember asking a friend how much her haircut cost and being quite surprised it was so much. It did look nice, but the word 'fleeced' sprang to mind.
Was it woolly hair? If so, that reaction would have been entirely appropriate.
I don't know if Lambeth is typical of UKIP's approach in London, but out of 21 wards they have 1 person nominated in 17 of them (missing only Oval, Vassall, Tulse Hill and Streatham South) - but in no wards do they have more than 1 person nominated. Also - kudos to the Greens for putting up a full slate throughout the Borough.
I didn't know it was legal for one candidate to stand in 17 wards at the same time.
I gave up, and my account is still in the Pall Mall branch where it was set up ca. 1971, and which I've not visited for decades. "Know your bank manager?" As if.
Nick, I have a near identical situation - haven't visited my branch since 1988. Moving branch is just damn near impossible - all the more frustrating as my account is amongst those that RBS has earmarked as being sold off to God-knows-who for competition reasons. The only thing that has kept me in place so long is that moving to another bank is even more laden down with bureaucracy and stupidity.
I don't know if Lambeth is typical of UKIP's approach in London, but out of 21 wards they have 1 person nominated in 17 of them (missing only Oval, Vassall, Tulse Hill and Streatham South) - but in no wards do they have more than 1 person nominated. Also - kudos to the Greens for putting up a full slate throughout the Borough.
I didn't know it was legal for one candidate to stand in 17 wards at the same time.
Sorry - bad phrasing. Not the same person in each of the 17 wards - 17 people, 1 in each ward.
Re Populus poll, the trend is your friend - unless you are Ed Miliband. From the top of their polling, Labour has lost 1 in 5 of the people who said they were going to vote for them.
We are one year out from a general election. And yet Labour has no policies. Going into the Conference unveiling them is just W-A-Y too late. How does it shake them up, re-energise them for the manifesto if the voters just go - "yeah, whatever mate..." Labour should have had them in place for these Euro elections, to get the voters familiar with them. But there is nothing. Even Kirsty Walk on Newsnight yesterday mocked them - "Labour has a policy!" - when introducing the piece on zero-hours contracts. Which in the end seems little more than an aspiration to do something about evil employers doing something about this modern evil. If the employers agree. Which they won't.
"We are not the Tories!" is not sufficient. Not when the Govt. is making inroads into the deficit, presiding over a rapidly rising jobs market and tackling the "cost of living crisis" (TM Ed Miliband). I expect the poll trend to continue its current direction of travel for the next year. And I expect by September the Labour conference will be a wake, the buzz phrase being "if only....".
Surely the reason for the reason for lack of policy is the fact that there's still no money to hand out and even worse, the next government is going to need to make more big cut's?
My view is that Labour's central problem is not Ed Milliband or Ed Balls (though goodness knows they are a drag) but that Labour still hasn't reconciled what it's for in an age of austerity.
They still haven't worked out what they for when there's "no money left". Perhaps they never will. Chances are they will stay on the sidelines until the public finances are back in business, after-which Labour will be back business - Until they over-spend and ruin us all and the whole cycle rinse's and repeat's.
I suspect that Farage is among the UKIP voters who would quite like to drift back to the mainstream if he could get satisfaction on a few points. He gives a convincing impression of being genuinely uncomfortable with some of the company he keeps.
Choosing a white Zimbabwean builder was always going to be a bit risky, I dare say.
Another day, another load of IndyRef bollocks, from both sides:
Ed Miliband: Tackling the issue [of zero hours contracts] would be "harder" in an independent Scotland. Why on earth would that be? An independent Scottish government could enact exactly the same regulations as a UK government if it so wished.
Still, that pales into insignificance compared with this gem:
SNP MSP Sandra White: "With a Yes vote we can avoid any further cuts to Scotland's budget"
The scary thing is that so many people apparently believe the latter. The figures showing a larger deficit in Scotland as a result of significant reductions in oil revenue are not being publicised enough. The gap between them and the fantasies of the White Paper is vast.
Ed is making as much sense as usual. If this is the best he can do OGH is throwing good money after bad.
I suspect that Farage is among the UKIP voters who would quite like to drift back to the mainstream if he could get satisfaction on a few points. He gives a convincing impression of being genuinely uncomfortable with some of the company he keeps.
I think almost everyone would condemn what that guy said. I hope Farage comes down like a ton of bricks on whoever was meant to vet the people taking part in the adverts.
Pretty surprised more isn't made of this to be honest, compared to the trivial things that get big headlines with UKIP.
Comments
I pay £6.50 for a haircut and put 50p in the charity box. Betty in the village has a hair studio in her back garden and when I go, I get 6 week's worth of local gossip at the same time, trying desperately to miss my late grandfather's 94 year old 2nd cousin who takes roughly an hour or two to share the latest gossip (century by century).
Good win for the LibDems last night. Does raise the question of just how reliable the polls are for that invincible Labour vote share! We shall see 4 weeks on Sunday.
Populus @PopulusPolls 39s
New Populus VI: Lab 35 (-1); Cons 35 (+2); LD 9 (-1); UKIP 13 (=); Oth 8 (+1) Tables http://popu.lu/s_140425
http://newstonoone.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-hunt-for-2010-lib-dems-part-3.html?m=1
is interesting on the Red Libs.
I do agree that the Tories should be able to recover some of their doubtfuls and UKIP defectors, though they'll still need more to get most votes (in today's YG the UKIP defector figure is down to 16% for 2010 Tories, 8% for 2010 Lab, and don't knows are almost equally rare for both).
It's worth thinking about what radically new factors could still shake up the glacial situation. The Euros could help or harm UKIP. The Indyref could make a big difference in Scotland one way or another. Election campaigns rarely shift a great deal, the conference season still less. Election promises by the parties? The debates?
As for haircuts - £12 here, par for Islington. I could save a few quid doing it in Broxtowe but never have time there. If my bank manager is interested, he can't have enough to do.
and the tories have all that 'potential' swingback from UKIP...
Bad news for nettle victims.
But it does seem hypocritical too.
I don't honestly think it's a big issue. Advertising is based on getting good looking people to push a product. Do you remember the Ocean Finance adverts? Real-looking people who didn't look like actors? It was soon dropped. That's the reason, the Labour party will try to minimise the Ed appearances. It's always a facade. You're selling a dream, real people get in the way.
And politics is a battle of adverts.
Mr. CD13, amongst other things the Labour Party PEB, which managed to not mention Europe once, also managed never to show Ed Miliband or use his voice.
I'm still in shock re your comments on instant coffee.
What next - the butler serves Pot Noodles to your guests ?
Chortle ....
Excellent piece by @Antifrank on the Red Liberals. With some interesting betting analysis to boot...
It's still early days yet, but still shows that the next general election is all to pay for..
It's not that relevant to his lending decisions.
But the regulators have told him to ask the question. So he has to waste your time, and his, asking pointless and intrusive questions.
See the problem with government/regulatory micromanagement of business?
That is very much the impression I get from the other two - that if I've somehow got anything left after all the taxes, there's been a mistake, and new taxes must be thought up.
I think Miliband honestly believes that taking money off families like mine, piling it all up in cash, and torching the lot in the interests of spite (or "fariness" as he calls it) is a better outcome than letting me keep and spend it.
It's similar to the John Prescott view of good schools, which is that their existence poses a fairness problem best solved by closing them so that all schools are equally bad.
To Miliband and Clegg, the only legitimate fortune is one that is amassed in the public sector. UKIP hates me too, but then UKIP hates almost literally everyone.
On topic, I used to pay £8 when I used my local barbers. I've since invested in trimmers so it's essentially free bar the initial purchase cost. (what do you mean 'that's not on-topic!'?).
UK's largest bookmaker to close 109 shops, with around 420 jobs under threat
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/apr/25/william-hill-closes-shops-fixed-odds-betting-terminals?CMP=twt_gu
Baked beans (I liked). Jacket potatoes (liked). Meat paste (vile). Indeterminable stew (ok). Instant whip (Yuk) all featured along with a precocious Spanish wine so young that the bouquet was redolent of the growers feet !!
It's obvious really.
Off topic £8.50 +£1 tip for a haircut in Dundee. Mind you my son always insists I get the one who manages to cause cuts so he can get the other.
The idea of "stress testing" if you can afford an increase from the artificially low rates we have had for the last 5 years makes some kind of sense but surely it is a matter for the borrower to judge, not the lender. So some guidance for the uninformed borrower to consider is helpful but that is it.
There can be all kinds of circumstances where higher loans might be appropriate, someone starting out and with legitimate expectations of rapid promotion being the obvious one.
I really think we have gone far too far in asking a financial provider to be responsible for the actions and decisions of the borrower. This is an arms length transaction where the Bank or other lender is obliged and entitled to look out for their own interest. This kind of approach creates a bureaucracy of costs that we all end up paying for. We should be cutting back on this sort of nonsense, not encouraging it.
Labour started the by-election in second place. If there was going to be any tactical voting, it would have gone *from* the Lib Dems *to* Labour. The Vote UK Forum site lists previous election results for the ward as:
2011 - Con 593/554, Lab 379, LD 305/165
2007 - Con 513/414, LD 364/258, Grn 127
2003 - Con 492, LD 189/185
so what might at first appear to be tactical voting looks in reality like something different. Clearly, the E Cambs result was excellent for the Lib Dems and poor for the Tories but the prompt was highly unlikely to be tactical voting, both because the votes moved the wrong way and because there don't look to be enough tactical votes in play for the Lib Dems to chalk up 523 votes. A more likely explanation is probably simply a genuine large but local swing.
Whatever, we'll get a far better idea of the various parties' chances come the May local elections, when they'll all have to fight wide-scale campaigns and when local factors should more-or-less even themselves out.
Cameron £90
Clegg £20
Lansley £15
Bryant £13
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/poll/2014/jan/09/how-much-pay-haircut
Obviously the bookie can and should load the book in his favour with ~ 8 - 20% overround (50%+ for Grand National ...), this represents the profit margin - and an average punter won't win in the long run if the odds compiler is worth his salt. Not sure odds compilers are used any more - think (For horses in particular) it is just linked up to Betfair...
Roulette is a casino game, and should need a casino license.
I don't spend that much time in your neck of the woods.
UKIP weighted from 324 to 181... Just saying like.
So far as the borrower is concerned if he has lied that is no one's fault but his and the consequences are for him alone if things go wrong. Of course in the vast majority of cases they don't and the liar gets onto the property ladder on a better rung than he might otherwise have done.
Why has any of this got anything to do with the government?
DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU'VE NOT SEEN THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN 2.
Contains mahoosive spoilers.
http://www.theguardian.com/media/mediamonkeyblog/2014/apr/25/spider-man-tweet-tom-watson-twitter
Other points of note:
Labour still has a big lead among wage-earners, Tories among the retired (though Con lead just among private sector workers).
Weird regional sub-groups (Con lead 4% in SE but 15% in Midlands; Con 24% in Scotland to SNP 26% etc)
LD 2010 support splitting almost equally three ways, between Lab, LD and 'everyone else'.
16% of Con 2010 support going UKIP against 5% of 2010 Lab support and 10% of 2010 LD support.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/tibetan-monk-loses-his-lifes-work-in-tube-laptop-theft-after-taking-selfie-with-the-mayor-9285082.html
http://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/2bleia67gd/UniversityofCardiff_FutureofEngland_Wales_140422_website.pdf
The banking industry needs to be seriously reformed so banks are no longer too big to fail and the risk is dumped on their shareholders rather than the tax payer. There is lots to be done in this area but if 2008 taught us anything it is this kind of micro managed, tick boxed regulation by a consumer focussed regulator is as useful as the contributions the bats are making to that church.
Shades of a Python sketch : Your Majesty is like a stream of bat's piss...I, um, I, ah, I merely meant, Your Majesty, that, ah, you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.
Must confess I didn't when I turned 75 and now I'm beginning to wonder ………
I seem to have the odd senior moment.
£10.50 for a haircut in London, £4 for Budapest.
When I was a solicitor in Fife the local fiscal would charge those involved in such cases with careless driving and then drop the charge if the licence was surrendered but (a) that required the accident first and (b) I am not sure fiscals have the time to bother with simple s3 cases these days. They probably go to fixed penalties with the result the question of a licence is not looked into.
Re haircuts - £11.
Ed Miliband: Tackling the issue [of zero hours contracts] would be "harder" in an independent Scotland. Why on earth would that be? An independent Scottish government could enact exactly the same regulations as a UK government if it so wished.
Still, that pales into insignificance compared with this gem:
SNP MSP Sandra White: "With a Yes vote we can avoid any further cuts to Scotland's budget"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27152757
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-27151993
(haircut: £8)
Oh, Haircut costs in Hurst: £11 plus tip (£7.50 for over 60s)
It is impossible to aggregate the total cost when there are things like highlights and hair extensions and when you can go in grey and come out red and then there are bathrooms full of various creams,uplift,downlift etc etc.
The more embarrassing question for men,and some women, is the cost of coping with alopecia.Would you want to put the cost of your wigs on the form or the cost of Regaine-I was in the queue at Boots recently and one chap spent £80 on the stuff?
In any case, I don't accept the either/or analysis. The responsibility for a loan lies with both the borrower *and* the lender. Remember that when a bank makes a loan, it's putting both its depositors' money and its shareholder value at risk so it can't simply write off responsibility.
So they produced a form of several pages, clearly designed to investigate whether I was a money-launderer and whether I was who I said I was. Everyone in the branch knew me personally, and neither the account number nor any other aspect of the account with respect to the authorities would change.
I gave up, and my account is still in the Pall Mall branch where it was set up ca. 1971, and which I've not visited for decades. "Know your bank manager?" As if.
I suppose there's something to be said for a few question to borrowers, to encourage them to think carefully themselves. But it does seem to me an area where government intervention combines ineffectiveness with irritation to a remarkable degree.
We are one year out from a general election. And yet Labour has no policies. Going into the Conference unveiling them is just W-A-Y too late. How does it shake them up, re-energise them for the manifesto if the voters just go - "yeah, whatever mate..." Labour should have had them in place for these Euro elections, to get the voters familiar with them. But there is nothing. Even Kirsty Walk on Newsnight yesterday mocked them - "Labour has a policy!" - when introducing the piece on zero-hours contracts. Which in the end seems little more than an aspiration to do something about evil employers doing something about this modern evil. If the employers agree. Which they won't.
"We are not the Tories!" is not sufficient. Not when the Govt. is making inroads into the deficit, presiding over a rapidly rising jobs market and tackling the "cost of living crisis" (TM Ed Miliband). I expect the poll trend to continue its current direction of travel for the next year. And I expect by September the Labour conference will be a wake, the buzz phrase being "if only....".
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/tottenham-weigh-up-gamble-on-david-moyes-9281480.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/25/ukip-nigel-farage-andre-lampitt_n_5210967.html
I suspect that Farage is among the UKIP voters who would quite like to drift back to the mainstream if he could get satisfaction on a few points. He gives a convincing impression of being genuinely uncomfortable with some of the company he keeps.
My view is that Labour's central problem is not Ed Milliband or Ed Balls (though goodness knows they are a drag) but that Labour still hasn't reconciled what it's for in an age of austerity.
They still haven't worked out what they for when there's "no money left". Perhaps they never will. Chances are they will stay on the sidelines until the public finances are back in business, after-which Labour will be back business - Until they over-spend and ruin us all and the whole cycle rinse's and repeat's.
Ed is making as much sense as usual. If this is the best he can do OGH is throwing good money after bad.
Pretty surprised more isn't made of this to be honest, compared to the trivial things that get big headlines with UKIP.
Haircut £20