Zear0

Seems to be based on manufacturer rather than Android OS itself. I've got Samsung's SmartThings that has it.

Yeah, not much to complain about with where his donation ended up

Yeah the stories of people paying more in interest than they pay off is appalling.

You Alan Carr's dad?

I forgot to add: Rejoin the EU...

I voted Labour at the last election as I had some optimism they might at least be ambitious and implement some more radical changes that the country desperately needs. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement...I don't regret the vote, as I'm more minded to vote for whom I feel is more competent to lead, rather than any political dogma (After Boris, Liz and Rishi and his VIP lanes that ruled them out. Kimi will also neve get a vote). Jury is out on Starmer but outlook not looking too favourable. I am curious if posters here have any ideas themselves for what they'd implement. Not proposing it's time for the FT Party to govern, but at least have an idea of the manifesto! As I'm bored... The positive ones... Abolition of Capital Gains on Investment in UK Companies - As of today, my investment portfolio consists of my pension (of which only 2.8% is in UK company according to the fundsheet), bitcoins (not particularly useful for the UK), S&P500 (clearly not very UK) and a truck load of Rolls-Royce shares they gave me for suffering their employment some years ago (whist UK, they gave me these and required no financial investment outside of my time and soul). There is not an immodest sum of money there, the majority of it is doing f**k all for investing in UK companies supporting expansion or expansion of jobs. If there's benefit to investing in UK companies rather than multi-nationals, this must surely be a good thing. Need to realise we're unlikely to get a UK company of the cap of nVidia and, even if we did, they'd be taken over by a US corp immediately. So to offset the reduced gains, make it more appealing. Tax bands - The "oh it's too hard to implement a linear increase and therefore we need to stick to the PA, Basic, Higher, Additional lines". No, make it scaling as we don't pay people in cash via brown envelopes anymore. Tuition Fees - Base these on skills demand. If we can financially incentivise people to study engineering, medicine etc. based on the skills demand of the nation that should be done. We do it for nursing, broaden that. Also make sure people stay for 10 years so they don't do as I do and graduate and FO to America (I came back though). Mandatory cash and card payments for any trading business - I equally despise businesses refusing cash as much as I despise them refusing cards. We all know why the latter is done and if you want to operate as a registered trader, accept card payments. Profit Caps on Essential Services - This isn't the post-Russian invasion of Ukraine screwing our gas prices anymore, current inflation is greed driven by the post-COVID splurge giving companies a new baseline for profit. Supermarkets (on food), utilities, and social housing landlord profits need capping. Wealth Tax - It simply has to come in, can't keep taxing work. On that, council tax needs changing. If Zoopla can tell me every month what my house is worth, I'm sure they can find a solution to ensure I'm not paying the same rate as the guy over the road in his £7mil house. Investment in Green Energy - We know fossil fuels are poison, and even if that doesn't bother you, finite. If any government can borrow to invest in things that make profit, just do it. Jobs and lower bills. On this, mandatory solar and battery storage on new builds (where appropriate). If the government is happy with Help to Buy schemes to stump up for deposits, they can do it for schemes to lower bills. Sunday Trading Laws - Bin OBR - I'm reluctant to say bin, but given the most recent chancellors seem to be doing budgets to appease the bean counters there, we're locked into this cycle of decline. Not bin, but they really need to know their place and know that they're not the ones running the country. I've always despised auditors. Stop within a fixed distance of admin lines - When I lived in Birstall, the "traveller" site was built on the city limit right on the edge of the village. When I moved to Markfield (since escaped so do need to update my location), new developments under Charnwood were put right on the edge, but not inside H&B so they got the money, but didn't have to pay for the services as people went to the other districts school/GP. The contentious ones... Right to remain - I can't fathom this one. As mentioned above, I was offered a job in the US for great pay and an opportunity. At no point did I ever countenance the thought of working for a period of time, jacking it in and expecting the state to pick up the tab. We've got a skills and jobs shortage, offer loads and loads of visas to get people in, but if they jack it in, return. I was speaking to the nurses at my grans care home and they said every single one of them was here on a skills visa but was going to pack it in after the 5 years was up. This scam, along with international student visas being transferred to work visas needs to stop. Make people become naturalised citizens just so I'm clear I'm not promoting a ban on immigration. Language Requirements - Now this is where I am terrified I'm sounding like Rupert Lowe, but if you're claiming anything from the state, at least have a grasp of the language such that you can fill out the paperwork without a translator. This is where I'm scared by associated I'm sounding like a TalkTV viewer so hurl abuse at me for this one. Payment for out of work - I've heard generations of politicians say that issuing the unemployed food stamps or restricting spend to be degrading. I don't want anyone going hungry, which is why I hold the two child cap in utter contempt, but we can't be spending tax payer money on luxuries. Give them bank cards identical to retail ones to stop them feeling targeted, but the unauditable cash payments is a bit mad. *Edit* And banning Thai nepo babies from owning football clubs.

I'm sure this was posted already as its a few days old. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7v80n7mz2jo But when 70% of income tax revenue is covering sickness related pay, raising it by 2% isn't going to make a jot of difference. Especially when it's, allegedly, being offset by a reduction in NI which funds the services getting people into work. My own political leaning is for higher taxes and better services, but Labour giving up on Welfare reforms means they're absolutely screwed as it'll just balloon further and make no tangible difference. They're sweeping the problem under the rug if they don't actually implement welfare reform. If they use this extra revenue to create the services and infrastructure to reduce the welfare burden by helping people into work, that'll be fine, but it won't be as Reeves is treating her job as an accountancy exercise.

Don't get me wrong, we're also all of those things.

I'm not sure if I open any biological textbook it'll say men can become pregnant. More the latter which is proving my point that you will happily park some (not all I'll grant you) scientific views for your own political ideology. And re the second paragraph. The slippery slope is the continued assault on women's lived experiences and the disgusting misogyny that goes with this ideology. Your experience, or your friends and colleagues, is no more important than that of other people so don't use it as a trump card by saying "I can't be objective when my viewpoint is right". Both are real, so stop ignoring the other viewpoint entirely and act the victim as that's going to drive the behaviours you mentioned in the previous post. I'm not for a second thinking this is an easy discussion and it's one I try to avoid as I get emotional for my own personal reasons. I'm done with this but please respond and know my violent disagreement with you on this is generally limited to this!

Always knew I was a great golfer for never doing that

With respect, I do find it slightly odd you're willing to park your own commitment to scientific truth when it threatens your own political views. Also, to try and link a woman pointing out it's women who get pregnant and to link that to that appalling crime is pretty low and shows how even the most logical can be poisoned by this culture war.

I do hope one day we look back on this idiocy and laugh as opposed to being dragged further down this ideological insanity.

Comfort the guy who's just ****ed you over *Edit* Out here on my own having a mental time.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory there guys.

PS6 launch title.

If the boyband thread gets more comments this forum needs closing.

Given the final is on as we speak, we need a nod to the series highlight

Want sure where to post this, but I found it a great listen.

Did bands like The Beatles or Queen absolutely dominate Popstars:The Rivals? I don't think so.

I always rated The Cheeky Girls

This thread is cat nip for you.

Making room for the fairly lights which should have been up at least a month ago tbh.

If you've not done it before it can be intimidating, but it's a piece of piss to do. It is cheaper, but not by miles. It's a very worthwhile skill to have as it makes upgrading much easier and cheaper. Have a look at pre-built systems at scan to compare the price differences. Happy to help if you get stuck!

I get the point that as more cars move to EV fuel duty revenues drop, but when they're issuing fines to manufacturing for not shifting volume of EVs, being big supports of green initatives and offering frankly outrageous discounts through salary sacrifice schemes, it's just a mess.