What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[The Panda Nut]

Well a small tribute to Her late Majesty from one as couldnt be there, but would have been if it had been a possibility. What value can you put on decency, humility, honesty and service to others less fortunate than yourself, and the bringing together of millions of us, even after her death with a sense of our common national identity. We owe Queen Elizabeth more than most of us ever understood.

 

[vexorg]

We owe Queen Elizabeth more than most of us ever understood.

I'm not a royalist, though have no problem with anyone that wants to be.

One question does bugs me though, what did she do for the UK? in a practical sense.

As queen she has no real power, every part of our lives is ruled by the governement, houses of lords and commons.
She had a privileged life, cost me (and every other tax payer) money to keep her there. So as a serious question, what did she add to the joe public's life in an everyday paying the bills way. There's no extra food on the table, or help with heating come winter times. What warrants the vast turnout beyond being famous for being famous.

 

[bugsymike]

I'm not a royalist, though have no problem with anyone that wants to be.

One question does bugs me though, what did she do for the UK? in a practical sense.

As queen she has no real power, every part of our lives is ruled by the governement, houses of lords and commons.
She had a privileged life, cost me (and every other tax payer) money to keep her there. So as a serious question, what did she add to the joe public's life in an everyday paying the bills way. There's no extra food on the table, or help with heating come winter times. What warrants the vast turnout beyond being famous for being famous.

Speaking as a Royalist, I prefer the system we have to a Dictatorship or Presidential system. The queen was our best promotion across the World, in the past before Blair killed of the Royal Yacht, wherever in the World she traveled, British Businesses went as well and were able to generate new customers and work for people in Britain.
The day to day problems we all have are the fault of politicians, so vote them out, though the next lot will be just as bad of any party.
Even if you don't like what she stood for the fact that she worked for the good of our Country for over 70 years is something no politician can ever say.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I think I could easily write a book on that. Providing a non political leadership based on a set of values that are right and good should be dear to us all. Providing moderating influence and a leadership role which played an enormous part in the ongoing success of the Commonwealth of Nations in which we as a country play a central role, guiding not just individuals by example but more importantly some of the more extreme world 'leaders' and by that example exerting what they are all referring to as soft power. We sit as individuals within a group of humans that encompasses a third of the planets human population, we all benefit in extremis from the wealth that grouping brings us culturally and lets not deny, it financially. Without a doubt by being a focal point for the slowing of our national decline has benefitted each and everyone of us. When you add the economic benefits of the pomp and circumstance and resulting tourism, that brings in billions in revenue I can't see how the value of our system is so hard to see. I too can understand the arguments against individual inherited power and accept that each has a right to differ. What I see is a woman who in reality lived a modest existance, who hated waste and who through her organisation kept many people employed. I alspo greatly vale the fact that we still have areas of the UK such as windsor great park that are conservation areas which would be long gone without the system we have. The benefits of the head of state exercising influence on the people we have in government also cannot be ignored. The downside. I really dont think there are so many. I am content to contribute the £1.50 a year for each member of my family to not have the likes of Putin or any of the other 'leaders' anywhere near, or to do with me. Its quite clear from the turn out today, that one or two of the rest of the people in the UK agree. If you get nothing from the pride of seeing out nations best doing their thing as we have to day I rather feel you are missing out.

 

[vexorg]

None of that answers the question, did she negotiate deals while touring the world? No.
Did other countries fall for thinking "queen has been to see me, we must be important, lets deal with the UK", maybe.

Tourism is a side effect, not a reason or justification for what she's done.

 

[bugsymike]

None of that answers the question, did she negotiate deals while touring the world? No.
Did other countries fall for thinking "queen has been to see me, we must be important, lets deal with the UK", maybe.

Tourism is a side effect, not a reason or justification for what she's done.

I think the word is, she facilitated the deals.
We shall have to agree to disagree

 

[vexorg]

Well, we can agree on nothing tangible in that case.

 

[Rocinante]

In my view the Queen/King doesn't have any real power any more, she is really just a figure head, and approves everything that is put in front of her, after it has passed through both houses. In terms of a governing official, the Monarch doesn't govern, they are a figurehead. She obviously has access, but I don't believe any more than a rich party donor could obtain.

If you are a Royalist and do believe the Monarch has significant power and influence, then it is grossly unfair that an unelected person has such sway, purely from their birth right. You may say that, well look how honest, hard working, and fair she was, and how beneficial her influence was. Well perhaps we were lucky this time. If King Charles turned out to be a raving lunatic, would we be as happy that we can't vote them out ?

But as I said, I don't believe they hold that Power.
In my view the Royal Family can provide a focal point for raising British Interests, in a way that other methods wouldn't, from the history and pomp of the Office, and I believe that is their main purpose.

However, If your main drive for getting rid of the Royal family, was to save money, I don't think a president wouldn't save us much, I believe France's Office of the Presidency costs a similar amount to the money we spend to maintain the Royal Family.

It makes me think that you could apply Winston Churchill's quote “democracy is the worst form of government – except for all the others that have been tried.” to having a Monarch as head of State. We have a functioning governing body, (Parliament) with its checks in place (The Lords - That's a whole other debate), and the Monarch to act as a figurehead. I don't think that a presidency would serve us better, and in some ways worse.

My main objection is probably that these People benefit, purely on the basis of an accident of birth, and as such I'm not a Royalist in the sense, but for the reasons above, I'm happy to let it play on.

 

[varesecrazy]

Fitted a set of Iridium plugs to my 50k 500 I bought in the winter.. mpg and drive unchanged.. now blaming the cheap tyres for an odd sensation @45 mph while 'cruising'

Almost became irrelevant today though!

I had to turn left from a B road..joining a busy 50 mph A road

A glance across the field to check on traffic that will arrive at the juction as I do it revealed a SLOW moving queue


So.. I arrived at the juction.. a bicycle 50 metres to my right.. keeping them all at 10mph.. great


I turn left.. get up to 4th - 35 mph where I indicate right to Turn Right into a minor road

A gap in oncoming traffic is revealing itself.. so a liitle brake to help time the gap

Just as I apply a little throttle and steering @20 mph in 2nd

I hear a tyre screech from behind.. and when Ive tuned out of harms way I glance right .. its a 500 and its braked that hard the Hazards have flashed

How on earth have they got that so wrong? If Id hesitated with the gap I would have been talgated @40 mph


Had that once before at 17 years old in my 1st car.. wrecked my neck then.. adding 40 years wont have made it easier

That Mk1 escort got £100 off the insurance.. would be worth nearer £7k now..!!

 

[portland_bill]

Fitted a set of Iridium plugs to my 50k 500 I bought in the winter.. mpg and drive unchanged.. now blaming the cheap tyres for an odd sensation @45 mph while 'cruising'

Almost became irrelevant today though!

I had to turn left from a B road..joining a busy 50 mph A road

A glance across the field to check on traffic that will arrive at the juction as I do it revealed a SLOW moving queue


So.. I arrived at the juction.. a bicycle 50 metres to my right.. keeping them all at 10mph.. great


I turn left.. get up to 4th - 35 mph where I indicate right to Turn Right into a minor road

A gap in oncoming traffic is revealing itself.. so a liitle brake to help time the gap

Just as I apply a little throttle and steering @20 mph in 2nd

I hear a tyre screech from behind.. and when Ive tuned out of harms way I glance right .. its a 500 and its braked that hard the Hazards have flashed

How on earth have they got that so wrong? If Id hesitated with the gap I would have been talgated @40 mph


Had that once before at 17 years old in my 1st car.. wrecked my neck then.. adding 40 years wont have made it easier

That Mk1 escort got £100 off the insurance.. would be worth nearer £7k now..!!

I'm guessing the 500 was behind the bicycle, and got a chance to overtake it, and was focussed only on the bicycle, and not far ahead of it.
Unless they came from further back along the queue, but I think you'd have spotted that one coming.

 

[StevenRB45]

Car has a fresh MOT with no advisories, service light turned off, book stamped, locker returned to the boot...also tyres were rotated as requested..none of them are on backwards and they even got the pressures right front to rear.

So far so good...

Shame this service revealed the spark plugs were a year overdue, they probably didn't get done last year due to mileage (17k from new) but reasonable chance all the sheer ****ery that went on with me chasing a misfire could have been old plugs. It had a load of short trips and cold starts in it's early life so good chance they weren't A1..

You'd have hoped they would have been ruled out prior to presenting a quote for cleaning the valves but nevermind.

The inlet valves were an issue and were leading to loss of power ...but not the misfire.

Shall see if the now extremely occasional misfire disappears entirely.

 

[StevenRB45]

Some may or may not remember that over a year ago I applied for a job maternity cover I wasn't entirely sure I wanted...but got it..and took it as it came with a nice pay rise.

In many ways it was as expected and my initial lack of enthusiasm about it was proven to be a reasonable as at times it was very hard indeed. However maternity cover is over..so back to the old job.

Having done it...not sure how I feel about going back to old job..or wage.

Spotted something locally with a 10-15k payrise and unlike previous times I actually have the required experience these days having been at it for 8 years.

But what price the life of Riley? Currently pay is only OK, but my commute is 3 feet..if I need to bugger off to do something important outside of work the answer is "do what you need to do" (within reason obviously). I spend my lunch time on a Friday wandering round a forestry commission wood, other days wander round the village, pick my son up from school 2 days a week..finish early Fridays and Mondays to do so etc. That's not to say I don't work..I do, but different to office environment.

This would involve commuting 5 days a week, only 11 miles..but we'd probably need a second car again etc.

Probably going to apply but if I did get it I'd have to really consider everything as fuel alone is en extra 1500 a year at current levels.

 

[bugsymike]

Quality of life is everything!
My two younger sisters both earned more than me by working in the city. Working for myself since 1982 I could choose my customers and work to suit my life, as long as I could pay the bills and provide for my family I was happy.
I could hear the stress in them when talking on the phone and eventually succeeded in getting them to take early retirement, they both agree it was one of the best things they did!
My dad, a skilled tool engineer died at 48 in 1962, prior to that he was traveling 60 miles every day by train to earn just £20 per week with overtime, I always remembered that when balancing my life priorities .

 

[StevenRB45]

Quality of life is everything!
My two younger sisters both earned more than me by working in the city. Working for myself since 1982 I could choose my customers and work to suit my life, as long as I could pay the bills and provide for my family I was happy.
I could hear the stress in them when talking on the phone and eventually succeeded in getting them to take early retirement, they both agree it was one of the best things they did!
My dad, a skilled tool engineer died at 48 in 1962, prior to that he was traveling 60 miles every day by train to earn just £20 per week with overtime, I always remembered that when balancing my life priorities .

Of course, I suppose the issue is "as long as can pay the bills" is very much a moving target these days and it's only moving in one direction whereas my wage is pretty static. Company doubled it's pay offer due to inflation..however that pay offer was 1%.

Worry about my lad a little bit, I took an hour the other day just to drop the car off at the garage. He'd actually seen me go, but apparently half an hour later he went into my office to show me something was heartbroken when I wasn't there. As far as he's can concerned I've always worked from home given he was 18 months old when Covid kicked off.

To be fair this is probably all a bit ahead of itself given I've not got a job offer to consider but in the search I do need to figure out what would make upsetting my current circumstances worth it.

 

[bugsymike]

Of course, I suppose the issue is "as long as can pay the bills" is very much a moving target these days and it's only moving in one direction whereas my wage is pretty static. Company doubled it's pay offer due to inflation..however that pay offer was 1%.

Worry about my lad a little bit, I took an hour the other day just to drop the car off at the garage. He'd actually seen me go, but apparently half an hour later he went into my office to show me something was heartbroken when I wasn't there. As far as he's can concerned I've always worked from home given he was 18 months old when Covid kicked off.

To be fair this is probably all a bit ahead of itself given I've not got a job offer to consider but in the search I do need to figure out what would make upsetting my current circumstances worth it.

For the first few years after my first wife left in 1978, taking with her half the value of the house I had paid for, a 1966 Fiat 500 and an Alfa Romeo 1971 1750 GTV, even though I was the foreman of a Mazda Dealership as I was single again I was taxed at the then current 30% income tax and living off black coffee and spam sandwich's, so going self employed in 1982 was a definite step forward.
You obviously need a good sell able skill,for which I whole heartedly thank my mum for saying "get yourself an apprenticeship and you will never be out of work" (two weeks unemployed since 1969 and that was me jacking a low paid job in) that and having a good accountant who really did his job well, unlike those that type your details into a program and tell you to pay the tax man £XXXX !!!
So life is never perfect, surviving these days is more than many can do.
If I carry on like this everyone will be putting nooses around their necks.

 

[The Panda Nut]

For the first few years after my first wife left in 1978, taking with her half the value of the house I had paid for, a 1966 Fiat 500 and an Alfa Romeo 1971 1750 GTV, even though I was the foreman of a Mazda Dealership as I was single again I was taxed at the then current 30% income tax and living off black coffee and spam sandwich's, so going self employed in 1982 was a definite step forward.
You obviously need a good sell able skill,for which I whole heartedly thank my mum for saying "get yourself an apprenticeship and you will never be out of work" (two weeks unemployed since 1969 and that was me jacking a low paid job in) that and having a good accountant who really did his job well, unlike those that type your details into a program and tell you to pay the tax man £XXXX !!!
So life is never perfect, surviving these days is more than many can do.
If I carry on like this everyone will be putting nooses around their necks.

Im OK Nuts dont have necks. Maybe thats a disadvantage. My daughter was told her pension contributions are increasing to 11.5% of pay and the benefits she will receive are being reduced. Her NHS payrise is less than the increase so her take home will be less this year than last. Final insult is that they have said the increase is retrospective and they will be taking £250 out of Novembers pay to recoup it. She could leave NHS employment and get a great deal more pay quite easily. Fortunately she is basically well paid in her role but this is neither good basic, or people management or terribly sensible if trying to retain people. She recently completed a Masters degree and I had the opportunity to read her dissertation. I thought it was an outstanding piece of work. Clearly someone else in NHS agrees as it being taken forward for additional research. I believe she is a real assest to them as are most of their staff. It really makes me wonder if there will be anyone working for the dear old NHS before long. NHS used at least to provide a stable job and reasonable conditions if not good pay now it seems thats sliding as well. The world of work is a sick sick place these days. This ridiculous government of ours is making life worse and will see this nation on its knees like never before very soon. This week I discovered my private pension fund had dropped 25% and its now clear that the flife style fund was to say the least suffering from inflexibility and slowness to react. There seems to be no answers to the world as it is. Might as well spend the whole lot of what there is left and get drunk! I am glad i am not working but being retired looks pretty grim financially at least. My son left the UK a few yeasr ago. It broke my heart, but hes done well in the states and it seems to have been a good move. He's the only one in the family gaining from our governments astonishing actions this week. He rubbing his hand as the cost of his trip keep on dropping. I may give hime some cash to take away where it might just keep some of its value....

 

[s130]

that and having a good accountant who really did his job well, unlike those that type your details into a program and tell you to pay the tax man £XXXX !!!

Good accountants can help in lowering tax bills but you also have to be careful and ask them what the implications of what they are claiming as business tax deductible expenses are.

Many moons ago my wife's accountant wanted to claim tax relief (other than petrol) on her car which she paid for herself before. This being her personal pride and joy she asked the relevant questions and had she gone ahead with claiming tax relief the car would have in effect become a company/business asset that could be lost/seized etc.

In some cases claiming business tax relief on your home as an office actually has the effect as far as the local Council are concerned as making your home not fully personally owned so when you sell they can bill you for any relevant/proportional gains in the value of your property.

This was all many many years ago so I don't know what the current status on this type of stuff is but the point I'm making is that Accountants can and do legally work the tax system to your advantage BUT you should also check what the side effects are of such actions/reliefs they claim are in relation to what you consider PERSONAL AND HANDS OFF.

 

[bugsymike]

Good accountants can help in lowering tax bills but you also have to be careful and ask them what the implications of what they are claiming as business tax deductible expenses are.

Many moons ago my wife's accountant wanted to claim tax relief (other than petrol) on her car which she paid for herself before. This being her personal pride and joy she asked the relevant questions and had she gone ahead with claiming tax relief the car would have in effect become a company/business asset that could be lost/seized etc.

In some cases claiming business tax relief on your home as an office actually has the effect as far as the local Council are concerned as making your home not fully personally owned so when you sell they can bill you for any relevant/proportional gains in the value of your property.

This was all many many years ago so I don't know what the current status on this type of stuff is but the point I'm making is that Accountants can and do legally work the tax system to your advantage BUT you should also check what the side effects are of such actions/reliefs they claim are in relation to what you consider PERSONAL AND HANDS OFF.

You have to keep your eyes open , but speak as you find, mine was a genuine friend and highly experienced also.

 

[StevenRB45]

To be fair this is probably all a bit ahead of itself given I've not got a job offer to consider but in the search I do need to figure out what would make upsetting my current circumstances worth it.

Oh fudge...seem to have passed telephone interview and been asked for a face to face.

This is feeling a bit more real..

If that goes well it's pretty much a choice between family time and career unless there's homeworking/hybrid options they've not mentioned. But the reality of that would be if someone I didn't know from Adam turned up and asked for something that wasn't in the spec I'd not be particularly likely to give it.

 

[bugsymike]

Oh fudge...seem to have passed telephone interview and been asked for a face to face.

This is feeling a bit more real..

If that goes well it's pretty much a choice between family time and career unless there's homeworking/hybrid options they've not mentioned. But the reality of that would be if someone I didn't know from Adam turned up and asked for something that wasn't in the spec I'd not be particularly likely to give it.

Just remember the 7 dwarfs song, "I owe , I owe, it's off to work I go"