See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
£80,000 will get you a 2 bed terrace in Darlington that I would happily BTL.
Hit the villages in county durham and it will be less than that.
Separately we drove through North Cumbria on Sunday (heading slowly to Ambleside from Glasgow) and there were some very acceptable houses for £200,000 ish. and a 8 bedroom farm house that was tempting for £350,000 if it wasn't for a place in Llanfairfechan I'm actually really tempted to buy for it's sea front location).
Yes but can't move currently as have to look after my father
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
Hard to buy a house as a single person these days, did own co own a house till 2003 with the gf but we split up and she got half. Couldn't afford to buy after that
Really - my 22 (at the time) daughter did exactly that.
Paying the mortgage off is harder but equally she has 30k of house improvements to pay for so tenants in the 2 spare bedrooms will cover those costs.
Plus she's generous - both students / tenants will be paying well below market rates next year, especially the one who was begging for a discount and even afterwards trying to minimise the weeks she had to pay for,
Her name was on the deeds to because I am stupid, she forced the sale as I couldn't buy her out. She picked the wrong time for me as I was made redundant so couldn't even remortgage to buy her out (I hasten to add in her defence it wasn't the redundancy we had been rocky the last year before that and was always heading that way)
Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that but head north there is a reason why I live where I do and it's the location, local people and the communication (air, train) links...
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
£80,000 will get you a 2 bed terrace in Darlington that I would happily BTL.
Hit the villages in county durham and it will be less than that.
Separately we drove through North Cumbria on Sunday (heading slowly to Ambleside from Glasgow) and there were some very acceptable houses for £200,000 ish. and a 8 bedroom farm house that was tempting for £350,000 if it wasn't for a place in Llanfairfechan I'm actually really tempted to buy for it's sea front location).
I intend to retire to North Ayrshire. Houses are cheap and there is a good train link to Glasgow.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
Hard to buy a house as a single person these days, did own co own a house till 2003 with the gf but we split up and she got half. Couldn't afford to buy after that
Really - my 22 (at the time) daughter did exactly that.
Paying the mortgage off is harder but equally she has 30k of house improvements to pay for so tenants in the 2 spare bedrooms will cover those costs.
Plus she's generous - both students / tenants will be paying well below market rates next year, especially the one who was begging for a discount and even afterwards trying to minimise the weeks she had to pay for,
Her name was on the deeds to because I am stupid, she forced the sale as I couldn't buy her out. She picked the wrong time for me as I was made redundant so couldn't even remortgage to buy her out (I hasten to add in her defence it wasn't the redundancy we had been rocky the last year before that and was always heading that way)
Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that but head north there is a reason why I live where I do and it's the location, local people and the communication (air, train) links...
If it was just down to me maybe, however its not and when you suggest people on housing benefit move somewhere cheaper just to point out you get shrieked at by the guardian readers for suggesting they break their ties with home and community networks
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
I am however tied down here as my father is in a home here
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
I am however tied down here as my father is in a home here
Where is 'here' ?
Best wishes with your Dad
Devon. yes not the cheapest place in the world but cheaper than where I moved back from which is slough
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
Hard to buy a house as a single person these days, did own co own a house till 2003 with the gf but we split up and she got half. Couldn't afford to buy after that
Really - my 22 (at the time) daughter did exactly that.
Paying the mortgage off is harder but equally she has 30k of house improvements to pay for so tenants in the 2 spare bedrooms will cover those costs.
Plus she's generous - both students / tenants will be paying well below market rates next year, especially the one who was begging for a discount and even afterwards trying to minimise the weeks she had to pay for,
Her name was on the deeds to because I am stupid, she forced the sale as I couldn't buy her out. She picked the wrong time for me as I was made redundant so couldn't even remortgage to buy her out (I hasten to add in her defence it wasn't the redundancy we had been rocky the last year before that and was always heading that way)
Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that but head north there is a reason why I live where I do and it's the location, local people and the communication (air, train) links...
If it was just down to me maybe, however its not and when you suggest people on housing benefit move somewhere cheaper just to point out you get shrieked at by the guardian readers for suggesting they break their ties with home and community networks
That wasn't my aim - I've screwed myself by moving north prior to the boom in house prices from 1999 onwards.
However, I suspect I'm far happier in my cheap house up north than I would have been anywhere else. The location is really unsurpassed - Mrs Eek works in the Dales 1 hours drive away, Moors less than an hour, Lakes 75-90 minutes, Airport 15 minutes (I usually set of 40 minutes before departure), London 2.5 hours, Edinburgh 2 hours.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
It's allowed in Northern Ireland but not elsewhere.
Got to say if that's out it's a real problem. I remember a "riot" that made national news in Banbridge 15 or so years ago. The locals a couple of days later said it really just Dave burning a few things to claim on insurance..
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
Hard to buy a house as a single person these days, did own co own a house till 2003 with the gf but we split up and she got half. Couldn't afford to buy after that
Really - my 22 (at the time) daughter did exactly that.
Paying the mortgage off is harder but equally she has 30k of house improvements to pay for so tenants in the 2 spare bedrooms will cover those costs.
Plus she's generous - both students / tenants will be paying well below market rates next year, especially the one who was begging for a discount and even afterwards trying to minimise the weeks she had to pay for,
Her name was on the deeds to because I am stupid, she forced the sale as I couldn't buy her out. She picked the wrong time for me as I was made redundant so couldn't even remortgage to buy her out (I hasten to add in her defence it wasn't the redundancy we had been rocky the last year before that and was always heading that way)
Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that but head north there is a reason why I live where I do and it's the location, local people and the communication (air, train) links...
If it was just down to me maybe, however its not and when you suggest people on housing benefit move somewhere cheaper just to point out you get shrieked at by the guardian readers for suggesting they break their ties with home and community networks
That wasn't my aim - I've screwed myself by moving north prior to the boom in house prices from 1999 onwards.
However, I suspect I'm far happier in my cheap house up north than I would have been anywhere else. The location is really unsurpassed - Mrs Eek works in the Dales 1 hours drive away, Moors less than an hour, Lakes 75-90 minutes, Airport 15 minutes (I usually set of 40 minutes before departure), London 2.5 hours, Edinburgh 2 hours.
I had to move to slough in 87 for work, covid was actually a god send as companies got used to people working from home. If it hadn't been for that I would have had to quit work altogether to move down here about 3 years ago. Kept my father out of the home as long as possible but no choice by last christmas
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
"Oxford's a right dump!"
It is - it was second rate back in 1261 so it had to play politics / games to close Northampton down..
About the same cost as Ajax, which has provided a fraction of the capability.
Seoul and Warsaw are finalizing a massive deal worth nearly $6 billion for 180 K2 tanks — some of which will be assembled directly in Poland.
This deal is, de facto, a farewell to Soviet-era weaponry. Poland is making a full transition to Western and Asian systems. It’s becoming NATO's armored fortress, starting to assemble advanced tanks and strengthening its sovereignty and influence. https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1932424775852261750
Laughable that the Government is trotting out a £14 billion cost for Sizewell C.
It will be three times that.
And >>10 years
Upside is Rolls Royce has got a mini nukes project - and I strongly suspect that will be the winning solution because continual production beats one off builds.
They should let me do my concept of a thermonuclear reactor.
Detonate one nuke every five minutes in a cavern containing a large quantity of salts. The molten salt is heat exchanged to generate steam.
For real fun, add a bunch of uranium metal to the salts. After a few detonations you’ll have a lake of plutonium salts bubbling away for the next few hundred years. A fission reactor meltdown on a huge scale - and you only need the occasional bomb to stir it and add some more plutonium.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
"Oxford's a right dump!"
The City of Screaming Tyres. Certain parts definitely are a dump.
However, Hull has little to recommend it. Try Beverley.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
I am however tied down here as my father is in a home here
Where is 'here' ?
Best wishes with your Dad
Devon. yes not the cheapest place in the world but cheaper than where I moved back from which is slough
Ah, was in Combe Martin last week. Wonderful place.
There's definitely stuff under 200k in Devon though..
Big county with windy roads so depends which bit you're in I guess
I think I/we drove through this town about 5 years ago on the way to the Giant's Causeway.
I'm surprised, everytime I've been in Northern Ireland the joke has been all roads leads to Coleraine and yes you will be driving through it every day.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
I am however tied down here as my father is in a home here
About the same cost as Ajax, which has provided a fraction of the capability.
Seoul and Warsaw are finalizing a massive deal worth nearly $6 billion for 180 K2 tanks — some of which will be assembled directly in Poland.
This deal is, de facto, a farewell to Soviet-era weaponry. Poland is making a full transition to Western and Asian systems. It’s becoming NATO's armored fortress, starting to assemble advanced tanks and strengthening its sovereignty and influence. https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1932424775852261750
Erm how effective did you expect a bleach based cleaning product to be at defeating tanks exactly?
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
I am however tied down here as my father is in a home here
Where is 'here' ?
Best wishes with your Dad
Devon. yes not the cheapest place in the world but cheaper than where I moved back from which is slough
Ah, was in Combe Martin last week. Wonderful place.
There's definitely stuff under 200k in Devon though..
Big county with windy roads so depends which bit you're in I guess
Points at no car so have to stay somewhere with reasonable transport links so in exmouth devon where my fathers care home is
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
£80,000 will get you a 2 bed terrace in Darlington that I would happily BTL.
Hit the villages in county durham and it will be less than that.
Separately we drove through North Cumbria on Sunday (heading slowly to Ambleside from Glasgow) and there were some very acceptable houses for £200,000 ish. and a 8 bedroom farm house that was tempting for £350,000 if it wasn't for a place in Llanfairfechan I'm actually really tempted to buy for it's sea front location).
Yes but can't move currently as have to look after my father
Sadly the day will come when that isn't necessary. At which point if you haven't got other ties, move North it's actually rather nice..
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
£80,000 will get you a 2 bed terrace in Darlington that I would happily BTL.
Hit the villages in county durham and it will be less than that.
Separately we drove through North Cumbria on Sunday (heading slowly to Ambleside from Glasgow) and there were some very acceptable houses for £200,000 ish. and a 8 bedroom farm house that was tempting for £350,000 if it wasn't for a place in Llanfairfechan I'm actually really tempted to buy for it's sea front location).
Yes but can't move currently as have to look after my father
Sadly the day will come when that isn't necessary. At which point if you haven't got other ties, move North it's actually rather nice..
I have other ties here though and be too old to move by then, indeed I suspect it more likely my father attends my funeral than me his. Sadly he is ridiculously healthy just no longer has a mind
Laughable that the Government is trotting out a £14 billion cost for Sizewell C.
It will be three times that.
And >>10 years
Upside is Rolls Royce has got a mini nukes project - and I strongly suspect that will be the winning solution because continual production beats one off builds.
They should let me do my concept of a thermonuclear reactor.
Detonate one nuke every five minutes in a cavern containing a large quantity of salts. The molten salt is heat exchanged to generate steam.
For real fun, add a bunch of uranium metal to the salts. After a few detonations you’ll have a lake of plutonium salts bubbling away for the next few hundred years. A fission reactor meltdown on a huge scale - and you only need the occasional bomb to stir it and add some more plutonium.
Anyone with a direct phone line to Nick Faldo (who claims to have Trump's phone number and he will pick up). I suspect we could have that as US policy within a week. We just need to work out how to put it the benefits in small words he understands.
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
"Oxford's a right dump!"
The City of Screaming Tyres. Certain parts definitely are a dump.
However, Hull has little to recommend it. Try Beverley.
It's got the Deep and a Premier Inn.
The fact you recommend Beverley says a fair bit about you albeit understandably if you live in the area.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
"Oxford's a right dump!"
The City of Screaming Tyres. Certain parts definitely are a dump.
However, Hull has little to recommend it. Try Beverley.
It's got the Deep and a Premier Inn.
The fact you recommend Beverley says a fair bit about you albeit understandably if you live in the area.
Uh oh, what have I revealed?
I live in the West Riding, albeit in a bit that some cretin renamed as South Yorkshire. Definitely somewhere on the cheaper side of things
You know how the Danes have been wanking on and on about democracy and sovereignty and freedom to choose and “greenland has rights” and “how dare Trump ignore the people” and so on and on and on and on
Turns out that the Faroes had an official referendum after world war 2. They narrowly voted for complete independence from Denmark. At first Denmark seemed to accept this then Denmark decided this was an insult the denmarks pride and they literally overruled the vote. They did a Lib Dem revoke on it. Who cares what the people think. Let’s act like Trump. They annulled the referendum and dissolved the Faroes parliament
What utter steaming hypocrites
Reminds me of the way Sweden voted in a referendum against changing to driving on the right in about 1960, and the Swedish government responded by ignoring the vote and changing it anyway.
The one I always find most remarkable is Malta voting in 1956 by 77% to 22% in favour of fully integrating with the United Kingdom and we turned them down.
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
£80,000 will get you a 2 bed terrace in Darlington that I would happily BTL.
Hit the villages in county durham and it will be less than that.
Separately we drove through North Cumbria on Sunday (heading slowly to Ambleside from Glasgow) and there were some very acceptable houses for £200,000 ish. and a 8 bedroom farm house that was tempting for £350,000 if it wasn't for a place in Llanfairfechan I'm actually really tempted to buy for it's sea front location).
Yes but can't move currently as have to look after my father
Sadly the day will come when that isn't necessary. At which point if you haven't got other ties, move North it's actually rather nice..
I have other ties here though and be too old to move by then, indeed I suspect it more likely my father attends my funeral than me his. Sadly he is ridiculously healthy just no longer has a mind
It is also a nice place to live it has to be said and somewhere I feel worth inviting guests. I think my spare room has been occupied for at least 6 months every year since I moved. Had all my adopted daughters over, my son and some friends from south africa and america
See one thing that annoys me, I have built up a pension pot just over 200k over the years by forgoing money from my wages.
Currently my bills however are 21144 a year before food , clothing , entertainment
not much I can do to reduce them
I suspect when I retire and get a state pension and a non index linked annuity of about 11k which is what they are predicting I can get....well I am thinking I am a fool for saving that money as I am not likely going to be any better off for doing so than someone who put away nothing over the years, indeed possibly worse off as they will probably be eligible for benefits I wont get like free prescriptions etc.
I think you'd be much better off if instead of a pension pot you had a house, which shows everything wrong with this country.
Whats the point in putting away 200k to get an annuity which will then be spent on rent?
You don't have to get an annuity. But... assuming you're over 55 pagan2, spunk the lot in lump sum and drawdown having fun then go on pension credit and housing benefit.. it makes sense
I am sure there will be a rule somewhere about depriving yourself of income
If you use the proceeds to buy a property, and then equity release it, probably not.
I doubt even if I drewdown the lot it still wouldn't be enough for a house
I hear Hull is nice.
"Oxford's a right dump!"
The City of Screaming Tyres. Certain parts definitely are a dump.
However, Hull has little to recommend it. Try Beverley.
It's got the Deep and a Premier Inn.
The fact you recommend Beverley says a fair bit about you albeit understandably if you live in the area.
Uh oh, what have I revealed?
I live in the West Riding, albeit in a bit that some cretin renamed as South Yorkshire. Definitely somewhere on the cheaper side of things
I suspect over time I've revealed exactly who I am to anyone bothered to work it out but it really doesn't matter.
Reality is if you spend enough time anywhere online the little bits of detail you reveal will allow people to identify you no matter how much you try to keep things quiet.
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike.
The Hamilton result was really quite odd, has unsettled the narrative that was developing around the SNP. I don't think they should panic though - give the younger politicians another year or two before finding the right person, even if that means a lacklustre performance at the election.
The Holyrood system means you can afford a rearguard action without risking wipeout.
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
I quite like John Swinney. He's polite, which is a good thing in my book. Nevertheless he leads a government and party that has been in power too long and is completely out of ideas. Given Swinney himself has been there since the ice age, and was also the fallback leader who wasn't a great success the first time in 2000, he's kind of the problem...
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike.
The Hamilton result was really quite odd, has unsettled the narrative that was developing around the SNP. I don't think they should panic though - give the younger politicians another year or two before finding the right person, even if that means a lacklustre performance at the election.
The Holyrood system means you can afford a rearguard action without risking wipeout.
Downside is the Holyrood system is going to create an unworkable mess next year...
I pointed out today in a team call to our product manager that he was the only one of seven of us that didn't have a beard so how could we trust him, I also mentioned his shaved head was a bit too shiny
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
About the same cost as Ajax, which has provided a fraction of the capability.
Seoul and Warsaw are finalizing a massive deal worth nearly $6 billion for 180 K2 tanks — some of which will be assembled directly in Poland.
This deal is, de facto, a farewell to Soviet-era weaponry. Poland is making a full transition to Western and Asian systems. It’s becoming NATO's armored fortress, starting to assemble advanced tanks and strengthening its sovereignty and influence. https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1932424775852261750
Erm how effective did you expect a bleach based cleaning product to be at defeating tanks exactly?
About the same cost as Ajax, which has provided a fraction of the capability.
Seoul and Warsaw are finalizing a massive deal worth nearly $6 billion for 180 K2 tanks — some of which will be assembled directly in Poland.
This deal is, de facto, a farewell to Soviet-era weaponry. Poland is making a full transition to Western and Asian systems. It’s becoming NATO's armored fortress, starting to assemble advanced tanks and strengthening its sovereignty and influence. https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1932424775852261750
Can't see Putin's museum pieces faring well against those new Korean tanks.
Although the big question is how well they do against drones.
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
About the same cost as Ajax, which has provided a fraction of the capability.
Seoul and Warsaw are finalizing a massive deal worth nearly $6 billion for 180 K2 tanks — some of which will be assembled directly in Poland.
This deal is, de facto, a farewell to Soviet-era weaponry. Poland is making a full transition to Western and Asian systems. It’s becoming NATO's armored fortress, starting to assemble advanced tanks and strengthening its sovereignty and influence. https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1932424775852261750
Erm how effective did you expect a bleach based cleaning product to be at defeating tanks exactly?
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
I quite like John Swinney. He's polite, which is a good thing in my book. Nevertheless he leads a government and party that has been in power too long and is completely out of ideas. Given Swinney himself has been there since the ice age, and was also the fallback leader who wasn't a great success the first time in 2000, he's kind of the problem...
He is good for Scottish Unionists though as he clearly will do sod all to really push independence, is focused on the day job and will probably stay in office next year as FM but with an SNP Minority in a Unionist majority Holyrood
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
I would suspect where you live and how good it is depends on your income level
Even if you are poor in California you get the sunshine
Hot sunshine when you are sweating a couple of jobs is not a thing of joy. Its only if you can laze in it
California heat isn't Middle East heat or even Texas or Greek heat in summer but significantly cooler yet the sun is still there all year round even in winter, plus the Ocean is always nearby
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Kate Forbes is anti gay marriage and personally anti abortion and doesn't believe trans women are women and on social issues beyond immigration even more conservative than Farage as well as being a relative fiscal conservative in the SNP.
If she became SNP FM arguably a Labour run UK would be better for left liberal 'progressive' Scots than an SNP run independent Scotland
Interesting article about Britain and France by Dr Anthony Daniels.
"Living between France and Britain, I am struck both by how different and how similar they are, the differences obvious and the similarities underlying. Chief among the underlying similarities is the imperative need for, and the simultaneous complete impossibility of, reform. Both countries live well beyond their means and have done so for years. They have large deficits of almost every conceivable type. They have deindustrialized and maintain their populations’ standard of living, for the moment, by means of cheap imports and borrowing, not for investment but for current consumption. "
I pointed out today in a team call to our product manager that he was the only one of seven of us that didn't have a beard so how could we trust him, I also mentioned his shaved head was a bit too shiny
As someone who is clean shaven and very little hair up top I agree with your viewpoint.
Never met a product manager I would trust to support my viewpoint of don't do that it's f***ing stupid idea which eventually after wasting £x00,000 I would be proven right.
I pointed out today in a team call to our product manager that he was the only one of seven of us that didn't have a beard so how could we trust him, I also mentioned his shaved head was a bit too shiny
As someone who is clean shaven and very little hair up top I agree with your viewpoint.
Never met a product manager I would trust to support my viewpoint of don't do that it's f***ing stupid idea which eventually after wasting £x00,000 I would be proven right.
He was actually a little stumped the other day as we have access to the prod database....we said to him all this feedback you claim to be getting we can see that the beta customers aren't using the app where is it coming from?
(this in context of we didnt build the initial front end of it and all consider it clunky)
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
Never explain, never apologise. Twitter people do not forget not forgive.
I think she cares more about what sponsors think than Twitter people though.
She's just a decent human being. Unlike those giving her crap.
I have no time at all for people who think trans athletes, well let’s be honest trans women, should be allowed to compete in women’s sports. Sorry, but I think the advantages of being born male and gone through puberty with all that that entails leads to bigger, stronger people. You can take all the hormones and hormone blockers you like in later life - it won’t shrink your arms, legs and feet.
Read Biles' tweets. All she's asking is that they be treated as human beings. Those giving her shit just want trans folk to disappear.
You're entitled to choose your side.
I got an Uber the other day with a very obvious man dressed up as a woman. So masculine and large that it would be difficult to describe him as trans. Though I believe in live and let living I could understand how the experience might have been intimidating had I been a woman. It was slightly more odd as he/she only spoke French so it was difficult to judge how masculine the voice. Brave of Uber I suppose.
I'm not sure how Uber works. Was this person the driver?
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
I would suspect where you live and how good it is depends on your income level
Even if you are poor in California you get the sunshine
As they say to sunstruck tourists in the carribean: you can't eat sunshine.
Southern California is very expensive with high taxes. My property tax is $80,000 per year. And my marginal income tax rate is above 50%. Services are merely m'eh. Although, one should note, it's probably a lot safer than in 1994: areas like Compton and Inglewood are now largely gentrified.
The good weather and plentiful jobs attract lots of people who live in their cars or in broken down RVs. But that's a hard life too.
Military forces now outnumber demonstrators protesting federal immigration raids in Los Angeles after President Trump ordered 700 Marines to deploy alongside more than 4,000 National Guard troops – a move the Pentagon says is costing nearly $134 million.
“There’s nothing for them to do,” Mayor Karen Bass tells CBS News
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
I would suspect where you live and how good it is depends on your income level
Even if you are poor in California you get the sunshine
As they say to sunstruck tourists in the carribean: you can't eat sunshine.
Southern California is very expensive with high taxes. My property tax is $80,000 per year. And my marginal income tax rate is above 50%. Services are merely m'eh. Although, one should note, it's probably a lot safer than in 1994: areas like Compton and Inglewood are now largely gentrified.
The good weather and plentiful jobs attract lots of people who live in their cars or in broken down RVs. But that's a hard life too.
Ouch! We don't know we're born with council tax. Can the elderly default and have it taken from their estate, or do they get turfed out?
"Wimbledon line judges break their silence after being replaced by AI at the All England Club Hawk-Eye Live system was first rolled out at a Grand Slam at the 2020 US Open It means more than 300 line judges at SW19 are left uncertain over their future Chair umpire Richard Ings argued that 'nothing will hold back the tide of AI' By SAM LAWLEY
Wimbledon line judges have had their 'love and passion ripped away', a chair umpire has revealed, after the All England Club announced plans to replace them with Artificial Intelligence from 2025.
Immaculately dressed officials courtside at SW19 has been one of the quintessential sights of a British summer for 147 years but the tradition will now be consigned to history after Wednesday's shock decision."
"California heat isn't Middle East heat or even Texas or Greek heat in summer but significantly cooler yet the sun is still there all year round even in winter, plus the Ocean is always nearby."
Depends on where in California -- which includes Death Valley: "Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer.[3]
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level.[1] It is 84.6 miles (136.2 km) east-southeast of Mount Whitney – the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m).[4] On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek in Death Valley,[5] which stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on the surface of the Earth.[6] This reading, however, and several others taken in that period are disputed by some modern experts." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike.
Where have you been hiding for the last ten years?! Swinney and Sturgeon have been tight as ticks for years, he really has been Sturgeon's Norman Tebbit throughout her time as First Minister and beyond! The big clue was when he stepped in to become the unelected SNP leader and FM when Humza Yousaf resigned due to the coup after he ended the Bute House agreement. Mild mannered gradualist my behookie!
A sense of humour can definitely run in the family.
Last week, not long after my nan's funeral, my wife said that her choice of funeral song would be "This Girl Is On Fire".
Today on the drive home the Love The Way You Lie played and after the line "Just gonna stand there and watch me burn" my daughter called out that's the song she wants playing at her funeral.
Both suitable options but I'd have to go for a more classic song, Highway To Hell.
Any choices here?
Going in, the Guitar Coda from Hotel California
Going out, Keep Right on Til the End of the Road.
I am thinking that "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult is the way to go.
Don't let the Sun go down on me Elton and G Michael.
A US federal court has issued a temporary restraining order limiting the deployment of troops in Los Angeles after Trump sent marines and the National Guard to the city.
Meanwhile the Mad King is telling troops he is going to rename a bunch of bases back to the names of losers, I mean Confederates
The troops have got guns. What has the court got?
The legal authority to determine whether their deployment is lawful & constitutional.
If that does not hold, the USA is become a banana republic and it's game over in that respect.
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
What good does the current law do, either for the homeless person, society, or police resources? And can the problem be better tackled by other means and authorities than the police?
I am tentatively in favour of these other changes: "These measures, which will be introduced through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, will include new offences of facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime.
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike.
Where have you been hiding for the last ten years?! Swinney and Sturgeon have been tight as ticks for years, he really has been Sturgeon's Norman Tebbit throughout her time as First Minister and beyond! The big clue was when he stepped in to become the unelected SNP leader and FM when Humza Yousaf resigned due to the coup after he ended the Bute House agreement. Mild mannered gradualist my behookie!
Unionists, always much, much keener to comment on the EssEnnPee rather than the calbre of their own politicians. What’s your view of your own leader, Russell ‘In Liz We Trust’ Findlay?
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike.
Where have you been hiding for the last ten years?! Swinney and Sturgeon have been tight as ticks for years, he really has been Sturgeon's Norman Tebbit throughout her time as First Minister and beyond! The big clue was when he stepped in to become the unelected SNP leader and FM when Humza Yousaf resigned due to the coup after he ended the Bute House agreement. Mild mannered gradualist my behookie!
Unionists, always much, much keener to comment on the EssEnnPee rather than the calbre of their own politicians. What’s your view of your own leader, Russell ‘In Liz We Trust’ Findlay?
You hear very different views on this depending on who you talk to.
My wife's sister - who lives in Jo'burg - has a view similar to the Quilette article.
My COO's family - who are whites in Cape Town - have a very different view.
The South African government had a massive amount of international goodwill in the mid-nineties after the fall of apartheid. The ANC have slowly whittled that down. Some of the negativity has been overblown, but I have no doubt that it is not performing for its citizens. The energy crisis has been ongoing since 2007!
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
Interesting. Incidentally, Alan Whicker made this documentary programme in 1980 implying that California was the best place in the world to live at that time, which was probably true.
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
Herald - " Senior SNP figures held a secret meeting on Monday night to discuss removing John Swinney as party leader, The Herald has learned, following last week’s defeat in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
One of the 25 attendees said the First Minister had two weeks to come up with a new strategy on independence — or risk facing a leadership challenge at the SNP conference in October.
They warned there could be a "clear out” in the internal elections, with challenges for key positions including depute leader and national secretary."
Piss funny. “We’d be doing a lot better if we had a new plan to offer on independence”
No, that’s what your hardline members want. What your voters - especially former voters - want is for you to fix schools, hospitals, councils, transport.
What’s the proposal? I can’t see a dentist. Ah well we have this plan for independence in 10 years.
It's pretty much irrelevant anyway because Swinney wouldn't know what an independence strategy was if it hit him in the face. He's the political equivalent of a cricket nightwatchman, except there's no obvious big hitter waiting their turn.
Wait a minute, I’m sure I read on PB that Kate Forbes was just the gal to get the voters flocking back.
Of a fairly short list Forbes probably tops out as about the only real alternative to Swinney. Whether that changes the SNP trajectory or not is a different question, but seems quite reasonable that one should look at the headline Yes figures in the polls and then look at the SNP's polling and conclude that something's gone awry somewhere and Swinney isn't the person who's going to turn it all round.
If they want to bleed out slowly, probably still be largest party in Holyrood 2026 but nowhere near a majority which leaves them essentially at the mercy of the other parties anyway, then they should definitely keep doing what they're doing just now. But the suspicion is they'd actually be kind of happy with that.
As someone with zero knowledge of Scottish politics I'd be really interested to know why John Swinney is so disliked. On the very few times he ever troubles the news I'm England he always sounds reasonably competent and reassuring. Maybe I just think that because he looks like one of my lovely ex colleagues.
He looks very much like what he is, a mild mannered gradualist which doesn’t really suit the tenor of the times. The Indy ultras hate him for not getting independence NOW (despite themselves being unable to articulate how that would happen), Unionists rage against him like they’ve done for every leader of the SNP (though less than a week ago some of them were predicting/fearing that the Swinney-led SNP would win the recent by election handsomely).
Thanks that's really helpful. As something of a mild mannered gradualist myself that might explain why I couldn't immediately understand the dislike.
Where have you been hiding for the last ten years?! Swinney and Sturgeon have been tight as ticks for years, he really has been Sturgeon's Norman Tebbit throughout her time as First Minister and beyond! The big clue was when he stepped in to become the unelected SNP leader and FM when Humza Yousaf resigned due to the coup after he ended the Bute House agreement. Mild mannered gradualist my behookie!
Unionists, always much, much keener to comment on the EssEnnPee rather than the calbre of their own politicians. What’s your view of your own leader, Russell ‘In Liz We Trust’ Findlay?
That's just Unionists is it?
Who suggested it was just Unionists, apart from you? At least unlike Unionists, for better or worse Indy supporters are willing to criticise their own party. What’s your view of your fellow Truss supporter Findlay?
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
According to the article, there were: "79 prosecutions and 59 convictions for offences related to rough sleeping in 2023, down from a peak of 1,050 and 810 respectively in 2011."
Even if you take the 2011 figures, it hardly shows a problem of the scale you envisage.
And I see your comparison with shoplifting to be rather crass. Shoplifting is very different from homelessness. You or I might, if we were to hit unfortunate times, end up homeless. We probably would not become shoplifters.
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
Rough sleeping is more of a choice/necessity depending on your point of view. The Homelessness Reduction Act entitles rough sleepers to accommodation though central government (via your taxes) do not provide enough funding. Rough sleepers will have a range of issues - mental health, drugs, alcohol, escaping domestic violence. Fining people (or accommodating them in the few cells the police have) while giving them a criminal conviction is not a solution.
Amazed that people think it is but perhaps you are just trolling.
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
Rough sleeping is more of a choice/necessity depending on your point of view. The Homelessness Reduction Act entitles rough sleepers to accommodation though central government (via your taxes) do not provide enough funding. Rough sleepers will have a range of issues - mental health, drugs, alcohol, escaping domestic violence. Fining people (or accommodating them in the few cells the police have) while giving them a criminal conviction is not a solution.
Amazed that people think it is but perhaps you are just trolling.
America has recently recriminalised vagrancy, even in Dem places, so they can finally get rid of tent cities. We in the UK will probably now get those cities. London will decline further. Genius
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
Rough sleeping is more of a choice/necessity depending on your point of view. The Homelessness Reduction Act entitles rough sleepers to accommodation though central government (via your taxes) do not provide enough funding. Rough sleepers will have a range of issues - mental health, drugs, alcohol, escaping domestic violence. Fining people (or accommodating them in the few cells the police have) while giving them a criminal conviction is not a solution.
Amazed that people think it is but perhaps you are just trolling.
It's a tool to move very difficult individuals on. We had one in our town centre the year before last who was aggressive, addicted to substances and routinely abused passers-by, particularly women, and upset a lot of people. He had two tents near a park bench in a very public landmark area of the town and the area around them was littered with bottles, plastic bags and human waste. It was disgusting.
Eventually, he was ordered to move via an order in the magistrates court and it was all cleaned up.
Will that now be able to happen?
I have my doubts, and I expect this to play out in towns up and down the country over the next 2-3 years.
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
According to the article, there were: "79 prosecutions and 59 convictions for offences related to rough sleeping in 2023, down from a peak of 1,050 and 810 respectively in 2011."
Even if you take the 2011 figures, it hardly shows a problem of the scale you envisage.
And I see your comparison with shoplifting to be rather crass. Shoplifting is very different from homelessness. You or I might, if we were to hit unfortunate times, end up homeless. We probably would not become shoplifters.
Prosecutions are not a yardstick for the effectiveness or relevance of the law. It's a tool that's there when it needs to be to address a problem in the public realm.
And, yes, we could end up homeless - but I still wouldn't expect that me living as a vagrant - sleeping as and where I chose, and in any condition i chose - should be acceptable with the public having no recourse on it.
I'd expect there to be rules around this, and rightly so.
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
According to the article, there were: "79 prosecutions and 59 convictions for offences related to rough sleeping in 2023, down from a peak of 1,050 and 810 respectively in 2011."
Even if you take the 2011 figures, it hardly shows a problem of the scale you envisage.
And I see your comparison with shoplifting to be rather crass. Shoplifting is very different from homelessness. You or I might, if we were to hit unfortunate times, end up homeless. We probably would not become shoplifters.
Prosecutions are not a yardstick for the effectiveness or relevance of the law. It's a tool that's there when it needs to be to address a problem in the public realm.
And, yes, we could end up homeless - but I still wouldn't expect that me living as a vagrant - sleeping as and where I chose, and in any condition i chose - should be acceptable with the public having no recourse on it.
I'd expect there to be rules around this, and rightly so.
There probably are many other laws that cover the public harm caused by vagrancy. I might hazard a guess that that is why the number of prosecutions have declined.
As an aside, do you favour the other changes?
"These measures, which will be introduced through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, will include new offences of facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime."
Seems sensible not to waste police time on issues that other agencies should deal with. Vagrancy (sometimes homelessness) has many contributory factors. There will be quite a few veterans in that group who deserve better treatment than is currently available.
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
I expect this will prove to be about as wise a move as decriminalising shoplifting.
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
Rough sleeping is more of a choice/necessity depending on your point of view. The Homelessness Reduction Act entitles rough sleepers to accommodation though central government (via your taxes) do not provide enough funding. Rough sleepers will have a range of issues - mental health, drugs, alcohol, escaping domestic violence. Fining people (or accommodating them in the few cells the police have) while giving them a criminal conviction is not a solution.
Amazed that people think it is but perhaps you are just trolling.
It's a tool to move very difficult individuals on. We had one in our town centre the year before last who was aggressive, addicted to substances and routinely abused passers-by, particularly women, and upset a lot of people. He had two tents near a park bench in a very public landmark area of the town and the area around them was littered with bottles, plastic bags and human waste. It was disgusting.
Eventually, he was ordered to move via an order in the magistrates court and it was all cleaned up.
Will that now be able to happen?
I have my doubts, and I expect this to play out in towns up and down the country over the next 2-3 years.
Was he moved on via the vagrancy law, or by other laws that covered his aggressive behaviour and abuse?
Some background on the VA (1824) Here is what MP's are being told about the Vagrancy Act and the other alternatives available. Whatever your view, we are still a nation of laws, and these are the tools the police and other authorities need to use in response to the reasons for vagrancy - which are different now from 1824.
Comments
Best wishes with your Dad
However, I suspect I'm far happier in my cheap house up north than I would have been anywhere else. The location is really unsurpassed - Mrs Eek works in the Dales 1 hours drive away, Moors less than an hour, Lakes 75-90 minutes, Airport 15 minutes (I usually set of 40 minutes before departure), London 2.5 hours, Edinburgh 2 hours.
Got to say if that's out it's a real problem. I remember a "riot" that made national news in Banbridge 15 or so years ago. The locals a couple of days later said it really just Dave burning a few things to claim on insurance..
Seoul and Warsaw are finalizing a massive deal worth nearly $6 billion for 180 K2 tanks — some of which will be assembled directly in Poland.
This deal is, de facto, a farewell to Soviet-era weaponry. Poland is making a full transition to Western and Asian systems. It’s becoming NATO's armored fortress, starting to assemble advanced tanks and strengthening its sovereignty and influence.
https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/1932424775852261750
Detonate one nuke every five minutes in a cavern containing a large quantity of salts. The molten salt is heat exchanged to generate steam.
For real fun, add a bunch of uranium metal to the salts. After a few detonations you’ll have a lake of plutonium salts bubbling away for the next few hundred years. A fission reactor meltdown on a huge scale - and you only need the occasional bomb to stir it and add some more plutonium.
However, Hull has little to recommend it. Try Beverley.
There's definitely stuff under 200k in Devon though..
Big county with windy roads so depends which bit you're in I guess
The fact you recommend Beverley says a fair bit about you albeit understandably if you live in the area.
I live in the West Riding, albeit in a bit that some cretin renamed as South Yorkshire. Definitely somewhere on the cheaper side of things
2024: 9,276,179 votes
2020: 11,110,639 votes
17% drop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_California
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_California
Reality is if you spend enough time anywhere online the little bits of detail you reveal will allow people to identify you no matter how much you try to keep things quiet.
The Holyrood system means you can afford a rearguard action without risking wipeout.
https://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk
Beards have long attracted suspicion, sometimes seen as stylish, sometimes as unsanitary. But how dirty are they, really?"
https://theconversation.com/beards-and-microbes-what-the-evidence-shows-256917
Turnout in 2020: 71%
"California: Nothing is Utopia, This Comes Pretty Close (1980) Whicker's World"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9TWt3a_fBM
https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/equipment/combat-vehicles/ajax/
Although the big question is how well they do against drones.
Kate Forbes is anti gay marriage and personally anti abortion and doesn't believe trans women are women and on social issues beyond immigration even more conservative than Farage as well as being a relative fiscal conservative in the SNP.
If she became SNP FM arguably a Labour run UK would be better for left liberal 'progressive' Scots than an SNP run independent Scotland
"Living between France and Britain, I am struck both by how different and how similar they are, the differences obvious and the similarities underlying. Chief among the underlying similarities is the imperative need for, and the simultaneous complete impossibility of, reform.
Both countries live well beyond their means and have done so for years. They have large deficits of almost every conceivable type. They have deindustrialized and maintain their populations’ standard of living, for the moment, by means of cheap imports and borrowing, not for investment but for current consumption. "
https://www.takimag.com/article/a-shared-plight/
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/bear-grylls-russell-brand-baptism-b2542225.html
Never met a product manager I would trust to support my viewpoint of don't do that it's f***ing stupid idea which eventually after wasting £x00,000 I would be proven right.
(this in context of we didnt build the initial front end of it and all consider it clunky)
The good weather and plentiful jobs attract lots of people who live in their cars or in broken down RVs. But that's a hard life too.
@CBSEveningNews
Military forces now outnumber demonstrators protesting federal immigration raids in Los Angeles after President Trump ordered 700 Marines to deploy alongside more than 4,000 National Guard troops – a move the Pentagon says is costing nearly $134 million.
“There’s nothing for them to do,” Mayor Karen Bass tells CBS News
The situation of South African “whites” is worse than Donald Trump's critics are willing to acknowledge.
David Benatar" (£)
https://quillette.com/2025/06/10/fleeing-south-africa-boer-trump/
My wife's sister - who lives in Jo'burg - has a view similar to the Quilette article.
My COO's family - who are whites in Cape Town - have a very different view.
https://news.sky.com/story/los-angeles-live-immigration-protests-trump-newsom-national-guard-marines-13380863
Hawk-Eye Live system was first rolled out at a Grand Slam at the 2020 US Open
It means more than 300 line judges at SW19 are left uncertain over their future
Chair umpire Richard Ings argued that 'nothing will hold back the tide of AI'
By SAM LAWLEY
Wimbledon line judges have had their 'love and passion ripped away', a chair umpire has revealed, after the All England Club announced plans to replace them with Artificial Intelligence from 2025.
Immaculately dressed officials courtside at SW19 has been one of the quintessential sights of a British summer for 147 years but the tradition will now be consigned to history after Wednesday's shock decision."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-13944629/Wimbledon-line-judges-England-Club-AI.html
Depends on where in California -- which includes Death Valley:
"Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer.[3]
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North America, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level.[1] It is 84.6 miles (136.2 km) east-southeast of Mount Whitney – the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m).[4] On the afternoon of July 10, 1913, the United States Weather Bureau recorded a high temperature of 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek in Death Valley,[5] which stands as the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on the surface of the Earth.[6] This reading, however, and several others taken in that period are disputed by some modern experts."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley
This result is absurd.
Plurality believe the LA protestors are mostly violent
https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1932541822531682559
If that does not hold, the USA is become a banana republic and it's game over in that respect.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdyz848j0no
There will also be ex-prisoners released on a Friday afternoon with a few £ in their pocket when all the agencies to help them will be closed for the weekend.
A 'bonfire' of Victorian criminal laws would be welcome. I'm sure there are those on PB with a few more suggestions.
What good does the current law do, either for the homeless person, society, or police resources? And can the problem be better tackled by other means and authorities than the police?
I am tentatively in favour of these other changes: "These measures, which will be introduced through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, will include new offences of facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime.
NEW THREAD
What’s your view of your own leader, Russell ‘In Liz We Trust’ Findlay?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_energy_crisis
The ANC need to go. They are corrupt, uncaring, and incompetent. But their does not lie with Zuma either...
Prepare for problem rough sleepers who can now never be moved on with court orders, and are a permanent blight of many of our town centres.
What’s your view of your fellow Truss supporter Findlay?
Even if you take the 2011 figures, it hardly shows a problem of the scale you envisage.
And I see your comparison with shoplifting to be rather crass. Shoplifting is very different from homelessness. You or I might, if we were to hit unfortunate times, end up homeless. We probably would not become shoplifters.
Amazed that people think it is but perhaps you are just trolling.
Eventually, he was ordered to move via an order in the magistrates court and it was all cleaned up.
Will that now be able to happen?
I have my doubts, and I expect this to play out in towns up and down the country over the next 2-3 years.
And, yes, we could end up homeless - but I still wouldn't expect that me living as a vagrant - sleeping as and where I chose, and in any condition i chose - should be acceptable with the public having no recourse on it.
I'd expect there to be rules around this, and rightly so.
As an aside, do you favour the other changes?
"These measures, which will be introduced through amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, will include new offences of facilitating begging for gain and trespassing with the intention of committing a crime."
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7836/