Greg2607

yeah it is... I figured i'd been hacked... turns out not!

Yeah I've watched it and the recent Novara media one as well.

if he is genuinely a friend of yours, then feel free to tell him that he's abit of a hero of mine. He seems like a very genuine guy.

I went to Lisbon last year and it's a beautiful city. VERY hilly! It's the only city i've ever been to, that has escalators in the street. Time Out Food Market is a bit of a must. and someone else has mentioned a day trip to Sintra. Don't JUST to Pena Palace, there are 7 or 8 properties you can visit in the area and for me, Pena was the most disappointing. Sintra itself is a lovely little town and great for a spot of lunch and people watching. it's about a 90 minute train journey from Lisbon and my advice is to get up early and get over to Sintra as early as you can. The crowds get huge! we easily spent 7-8 hours travelling around here. You'll probably want to go to Belem as well, that's a tram journey from central lisbon and it's where the original Pastiche de Nata were made. There is a nice monastary and lots of riverside walks here. Definitely no more than half a day though. I got bored pretty quickly after seeing the monastery and eating! As a city, it comes alive at night and there are great bars and food places all around the city. My biggest bit of advice is just walk and get lost. I felt totally safe, whether we were walking down tiny back alleys or in throngs of crowds. The Tram ride that everyone raves about. Avoid. It will be absolutely mobbed and you can't really see out of the windows. Plus the queues are massive and it's a waste of your time. You could get a tuk tuk ride round the city and see more, or just prioritise what you want to see on the route and make your own way there. Enjoy though, it's a fantastic place!

The way local authorities are funded needs to change doesn't it. If there are scores of LA's going bust... then it can't ALL be down to financial mismanagement. There has to be a fundamental short fall in funding streams. What a failing country we are.

fixed it for you... the "average" member of the public doesn't engage with politics. definitely not outside of an election process and mainly through what they read in the press....

We never deserved to lose this, but it's been an exciting game to watch whichever way you look at it.

I'd say i've experienced the Top 2 and bottom 2 bullet points. Honestly, I probably still feel like that a lot of the time, but I do try to take up new hobbies or learn new things, get out of the habits and ruts that I am in. Life can become very predictable and mundane when you settle into your "mid-life". That being said, Mundane for me, really means that I feel secure, I'm happy in my marriage, I have the home that I want, I feel well rewarded at work... I'm not neccessarily driven by that next promotion, as I enjoy my current job and the work life balance I have. Why not try to pick up something new? Maybe try a new thing each month and see if anything brings you a bit of joy.... The last 3 years, I've gone ful "the good life" and started growing veg and plants and doing lots more in the garden. It gives me a real sense of achievement when something grows (even though it's not rocket science) - all of those "little wins" add up to a real sense of satisfaction for me. If you'd asked 30 year old me if that was going to be a thing... I'd have said not a chance. I've also got into photography at some point (although put that down again now really), woodworking and DIY, lots of things that have given me an opportunity to learn... Hope you find something to reignite that spark!

she's no Jennifer Lopez.

most insurers can "stomach" a loss.... that isn't the driver for higher prices as such.. ... its that the regulator stipulates that they HAVE to have that liquidity on hand. for my company it's £14bn....... the regulator doesn't allow for the amount to be less. so if we lost £2bn in a year and the £14bn becomes £12bn... then the company have to demonstrate to the regulator where and how they are going to re-balance.... long and short... if you want someone to blame.... blame Liz Truss.

for the insurance industry, most of them are operating at about a 2% margin for their products. The introduction of Fair Pricing, means that they can't now use "loss leaders" to draw new customers in, which is why you are seeing price rises across the board. additionally, Insurers have to be able to demonstrate that they have a certain amount of liquidity on their balance sheet, to be able to pay out if every customer made a claim.... this money is "typically" invested in the stock market, bonds, gilts, property etc. Huge amounts of insurers lost money last year or 18 months (in the billions per company) due to the instability in the stock market and as a result, due to Solvency II laws, they are having to rebalance their balance sheets due to regulatory constraints.... PLUS, the cost of repairs, claims etc are all going through the roof as others have aluded too. All of that is why you are seeing huge rises in costs. Don't forget, that with things like global warming, we are seeing "200 year events" (storms or flooding that you would only expect every 200 years) happening on a super regular basis.) We saw £150m of vehicle claims as a result of flooding from the recent winter storms.

The squad is really strong, but it's not exactly balanced. We have 4 strikers for a system which uses one. 5/6 centre backs when we only use two. Christ, we had 4 goalkeepers for the 1st half of the season. It's reasonable to say we needed a central midfielder... We have 5 natural central midfielders in a system that uses 3.

Is he a ref by any chance?? 🤣🤣

So we went and had a look at the Tesla's and the BMW yesterday. Looks like we will be going to the BMW i4. It's an achingly beautiful car. The Tesla looks a bit flabby in comparison. Still haven't ordered, but pretty sure we will...

range is an issue for me with the Ioniq 5 as my Mrs has to regularly drive to Norwich and back from Ashby.... It just doesn't QUITE have enough.... It's my favourite looking car though. reminds me of an old school lancia.

I wouldn't worry, my Mrs said the i4 M50 couldn't be the sport version as it didn't have quad exhausts.

I understand the premise of means testing a pension, but lots of people build this into their retirement planning. I'm 42 and would need the state pension to have any semblance of a moderate retirement based on my pension pot... I'm in that awkward age group where DB pensions were phased out as I started work and DC pensions weren't mandatory for companies to offer until I was in my mid 30's... that's a huge gap in opportunity to properly save. I'm already staring down the barrel of not getting a state pension till i'm 71.... I have a "potential" pension pot in the future of around £400,000...... which i'm hugely grateful for... but i've sacrificed alot of "lifestyle" now to contribute a healthy amount into my pension to provide in my retirement. that £12,500 per year is fully part of that planning...

anyone got any experience of the Tesla Model Y?? looking at potentially ordering one as part of a new company car scheme at work..... I prefer the look of the BMW i4... but we currently have a Volvo XC40 and I really do prefer an SUV to a Saloon for the convenience of space and the driving position (i'm a big lump!)

I'm relatively confident that not everyone is "flexing it" with Turkey Teeth, boats, Planes and Yachts. The average person in the UK is struggling to put food on the table. There are large swathes of people who are having to use food banks. They aren't thinking about a new car or eating at a posh restaurant. This is the life that "influencers" want you to see, but it isn't the vast majority of society. There is so much unseen poverty in the UK. we all turn a blind eye to it, because we don't generally move in those circles.

I think the danger of that (and I say this is a labour supporter) - Is that you can't blame the 2008 crisis on a Global issue, and say Labour weren't to blame, then ignore the fact that Covid was an unprecedented global event that the conservative's had to navigate (terribly by the way, i'm not defending them) The big issue for the UK, is that we bet the house on Financial Services driving our economy and it has left it hugely unbalanced. We haven't innovated or got on board with what the future will need. We have to build an economy that is more balanced, that makes things, that innovates and that gets on board with whereever the future of global industry is likely to lead. The sad thing for our country is that we never take a long term view. it's all about political point scoring based on a 5 year cycle to try to retain power. Where is our long term planning? for infrastructure, housing, health, industry? It doesn't exist. We need some form of legislature that has oversight for long term planning around critical things that a society needs to be healthy.

to use two quotes fromNye Bevin.... “How can wealth persuade poverty to use its political power to keep wealth in power? Here lies the whole art of Conservative politics in the twentieth century.” They have besmirched the name of Britain. They have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud. They have offended against every principle of decency and there is only one way in which they can even begin to restore their tarnished reputation and that is to get out! Get out! Get out!

Jason Bourne seems to be having a bad time of it at the minute, based on his twitter posts. I'm not saying it's depression as he hasn't intimated as such, but if anyone knows him personally, might be worth being a friend and checking in on him.

Or use 12ft ladder website and it bypasses the paywall for you.

over 75% of the last 100 years have seen a Conservative government...... the country today is almost a direct consequence of their decisions and design.... with a smattering of socialist reform ever now and then when things get REALLY dark!

hence why I said we've never really recovered from the Financial Crisis....