Forum Replies Created
- Replies
I think I have to disagree with all of you. I see it having a massive impact, with the EU and also eventually the UK (once they realise that Trump will never give them free trade) imposing retaliatory tariffs on the US. The US tariffs are on parts as well as cars, as Kezo has already said, so it will cause spikes in prices for most European and US cars. China must be rubbing their hands together and ramping up production of EVs ready to replace all those Teslas!
There’s always 2 ways to look at fraud. Anything less than 1% can easy be seen as negligible. However if your total bill is £60bn per annum, then the 1% is still £600m which isn’t a small sum. Then there’s the small factor that all government departments are required to account for expenditure to the penny, back when I was reconciling the military pay account, there was £250m which had to be fully reconciled to the last penny and any discrepancy had to be identified and a path to rectification agreed within the period it was identified. It was probably the strictest guidelines I’ve worked under but it showed how the accounting at department level was properly managed.
So you’re the one I have to blame for having to pay back that £11 salary overpayment! 🤣🤣
So it appears that tomorrow has become official announcement day, although I can’t see us being too surprised as most of the details seem to have been leaked already.
Just been a report on ITV news following the government proposals having been leaked. PIP to be frozen next year and a further £6 billion of cuts to be made. PIP claim criteria to be made much stricter and other out of work benefits to be linked to much stricter rules on looking for work. No longer speculation. It seems that the Labour government are going where the Conservatives felt was a step too far!
I saw an interview with ‘Rachel from accounts’ (or Rachel from customer services as I more accurately call her) on Sky News yesterday. She specifically highlighted the fact that since the pandemic the number of young people (under 25?) not in employment, education or training, has risen to over 1 million. I am no fan of this disastrous government, but that does need tackling. People of working age should look for reasons why they can work, not reasons why they can’t. IMHO the bar for being able to get benefits does need to be higher, but this will be very difficult now as the flood gates opened a few years ago when qualifying criteria and definitions of what constitutes a ‘disability’ was widened to include things that were previously deemed ‘health conditions’. The unintended consequence of this change is that when hard working tax payers see people with conditions that the majority of people would not consider to be ‘disabilities’ languishing at home on benefits, sympathy levels vanish and that has a negative impact on everyone. The one thing that I wouldn’t agree with would be the freezing of PIP rates, but I doubt that would happen. We are in the run up to a budget and governments of all colours always adopt the same pre-budget approach. They allow discussion documents to be leaked that include things that would be deeply unpopular but have already been discounted. These things cause outrage and grab the headlines, but when the budget is finally announced they don’t happen. However, plenty of other negative things do happen, but rather than generating negative headlines, there is relief that the worst of the proposals didn’t happen, so all the negative stuff slips in under the radar. Call me a cynic, but it’s happened prior to every budget that I can recall over many decades!
I think I agree with just about everything you said there, but unfortunately nowadays anyone speaking common sense seems to get shouted down by a tiny minority that think that if they protest loud enough they will get their own way.
Just been a report on ITV news following the government proposals having been leaked.
PIP to be frozen next year and a further £6 billion of cuts to be made.
PIP claim criteria to be made much stricter and other out of work benefits to be linked to much stricter rules on looking for work.
No longer speculation. It seems that the Labour government are going where the Conservatives felt was a step too far!
EU signs a massive trade deal with 4 South American countries. We could do with a bit of that action. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyv0k88dgjo.amp
The press release is very misleading, as it isn’t actually an agreed and signed trade deal, as that can’t happen until all EU states ratify the agreement and France, Poland, Demark and Portugal all object to the deal, with France in particular determined to veto the deal. With EU farmers already planning mass protests, many other countries will begin to doubt just how good an idea the deal is, but Macron will not want to antagonise the unions in France any more than he already has, so will definitely veto the agreement.
It’s just another example of the EU leadership thinking that they can do exactly what they want, no matter what anyone else might think.
We bought the Ninja 15 in 1 about 14 months ago and whilst I was a little worried that it would become an expensive cupboard ornament, (We paid about £250) I am so glad my wife talked me into it.
We use it for so much, including cooking large joints on the steam roast function for melt in your mouth meat, par boiling roasties on the pressure function for 2 minutes and perfect results, fantastic bread, using both the prove and steam bread functions and amazing crackling covered pork joints using the roast function and temperature probe. It is also brilliant for all of the normal air fried stuff. So quick and so cheap in comparison to the normal oven.
The washing machine is causing a flood whenever we use it. There’s a hole in the seal, I squirted water in it and it came straight out the bottom so I don’t think it’s a drain hole. I’ve watched a few videos online and it looks straightforward. Anyone done this themselves, any tips?
I’ve done a fair few over the years and as long as you have a good clear area to work on and around the machine it is normally pretty straightforward. I have had a couple of retaining springs break on me when doing older machines but I have always had spares on hand so it wasn’t really a problem, but I guess it would delay things if you only had the new rubber when doing the job. The springs that broke on me were very old.
The strip down involves removing the front retaining spring, taking the top off the machine and the control panel before then removing the front to get to the seal and the inner retaining spring. Some people advocate using washing up liquid when fitting the new seal but having tried this once I would never do it again as it makes it almost impossible to hold the seal as you try to work it over the lip and into place on the machine.
My tips would be to keep all the screws in separate little tubs. The ones from water contact areas (inside the powder drawer) are stainless and need to go back there. Make sure you put the seal on the right way up. The drain holes must be at the bottom. Don’t use anything other than water to lubricate the seal, but letting it sit in a bowl of very hot (Not boiling) water does help to fit it more easily. And finally, remember to fit the inner seal spring before re-assembling the machine. (I once did this.)
The EU should have just stayed as a trading block. Once it became a political union too it’s fate was sealed. The countries asking for entry are only doing so because they see endless subsidies and grants available but someone has to pay for it and currently that is Germany and France. The only reason we are constantly being asked back is so that the UK can share the burden. It’s certainly not because they want their buddy back in the club as we all know that most of the EU have a great dislike (I was actually going to put detest) of the UK, as they constantly demonstrate at every turn.
Not only that, but now the US have a different administration we could actually find not being in the EU to our advantage, as Trump certainly isn’t as anti British as Biden was and the EU are not exactly his biggest fans.
The EU is a broken experiment, far too big and unwieldly, rife with corruption, deception and duplicity. It’s only a matter of time before it breaks up so I just can’t see why anyone would want to join, never mind re-join, especially as we would lose any of the concessions we had the first time around.
Well your new manager has been appointed what are your thoughts?
Although surprised that they never went for an English manager, I can’t say that I am too disappointed. The big problem with any English manager we have appointed in the past is they either have a defensive mentality or think that attack means throw all caution to the wind and put seven up front! (Remember Kevin Keegan?)
The new guy has a proven track record of winning big and will not be scared of rocking the boat when it comes to selection, so I’m going to give him a chance!
A penalty shoot out in the final against Germany could be very interesting though! 😂😂One thing I have found tricky to get used to is the adaptive cruise control. Most of the time its fine, but for instance if I’ve got it on and I’m on a dual carriageway in the outside lane, if i’ve got no car in front of me, and the road bends to the right then the car can lock on to a car in the left hand lane and as that car turns with the road, the Subaru then brakes to avoid a collusion, but there is no need as we’re not in the same lane. Just an idiosyncrasy that you learn to drive with.
That’s good to know beforehand and I will be well prepared now. Keep the handy hints coming.
I took the plunge and ordered the Forester 2.0i XE Premium yesterday after deliberating for some time. I think it was the video that Kezo posted that finally convinced me. Delivery should be before Christmas.
Nice one Willis, hope its serves you well and your off beaten track driving is equall pleasing 🙂
Cheers Kezo, I’m really looking forward to getting the car now and giving it a test or two. I have driven lots of different vehicles over the years and normally just see them as a tool to get from A to B, but for some reason I’m getting a bit excited about this one!
That all sounds really positive Macca. (apart from the bad back) I found the car stuck to the road really well on my test drives too.
We have gone for the crystal white pearl (wife chose it) and it is growing on me the more I look at it. I think I preferred the blue but as she gives me free rein on choosing the make and model of car I let her make the final decision on colour, as long as I don’t actually hate it.
I have taken ages to actually decide which car to go for but now I have ordered I feel really happy with the choice and can’t wait for the call with collection date.
So after some 30 ish years driving on the scheme, I had my first experience of Kwik Fit mobile. Last Saturday, I picked up a metal fixing in the offside rear tyre. I rang Kwik Fit and they said they couldn’t get a Bridgestone Dueller Sport to me until the following friday (not so Kwik Fit 🙄). Wanting the tyres to match I went with that. The guy asked me twice which tyre it was, told him twice Offside rear. So fast forward 6 days to the Friday, fitter arrives …. with 2 Dunlops for the front wheels ??? 🤪. He was as puzzled as me. But he was a very decent guy and give him his due, he got on the phone to Kwik Fit, and then to Motability to get it sorted. Ultimately both Dunlops were fitted to the rear wheels in order to fit a matching pair as the Forester is an AWD. So a mixed experience but came good in the end.
How’s the Forester going now you’ve had it a while Macca?
I took the plunge and ordered the Forester 2.0i XE Premium yesterday after deliberating for some time. I think it was the video that Kezo posted that finally convinced me. Delivery should be before Christmas.
As I understand it with grants is, you are offered an award amount (£x), along with a catagory (size) of vehicle they are willing to fund and a short list of vehicle’s them deem suitable for your needs. This forms the basis of your needs. You can choose any vehicle in the catorgory you were awarded, which doesn’t need to be on the list up to the value of the award plus 50% from your own funds if needed.
The amount you are able to contribute towards an advance payment is limited to £750 or 50% of the award, whichever is the least.
From Motability Foundation FAQs section:
“The majority of beneficiaries will not choose to make any contribution on top of their Advance Payment grant, however, if you choose to order a vehicle that costs more than the agreed grant award, then we may contact you to better understand your requirements.
If you choose to make a voluntary contribution towards your Advance Payment grant, there are limits within our policy. Grant applicants can add up to £750 or 50% of the Advance Payment grant, whichever is the least.”
Cheers Kezo.
The light started flashing a lot more yesterday when I was doing a few jobs in the garage so I dropped the unit and checked the wiring which all seemed secure, so I took the decision to change it. A quick trip to Screwfix and a 6ft batten now shines brightly in place of the previous disco flasher!I’ve just been reading the FA’s press release about their inclusion policy in use for selecting the next England men’s team manager. Made me wonder if they are trying to prepare us all for when they announce a woman has got the job!
I thought Klopp agreed a 2 year extension?
Klopp finished as Liverpool manager at the end of last season and Arne Slot took the job on from June 1st. Klopp is now out of work but said he wants to take a good break to recharge his batteries.
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11669/12600821/jurgen-klopp-liverpool-manager-signs-new-two-year-contract-extension-at-anfield However, I don’t know for sure 🙂
Blimey Kezo, that’s really old news! Kevin Keegan was still England manager in 2022! (Allegedly) 😂😂😂
Stranger things have happened in football, Scotland did qualify for the Euros remember!
I must of missed that! 😂
Easy to do Kezo, it was over before most people realised! 😂
They won’t have klopp because he’s German end off
Stranger things have happened in football, Scotland did qualify for the Euros remember! 😂
I thought Klopp agreed a 2 year extension?
Klopp finished as Liverpool manager at the end of last season and Arne Slot took the job on from June 1st. Klopp is now out of work but said he wants to take a good break to recharge his batteries.
