Bellend Sebastian

I'm getting nervous about markets to be honest and reading about the BofE warning about the risk of the AI bubble bursting isn't helping. 

Pension has done so well over the last two years I'm weighing up de-risking a bit. So difficult to decide though, having had three decades of just going all out risk wise and not worrying about it

I see stuff like this and think the planet killing meteorite cannot come quickly enough: 

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/oct/07/robin-williams-daughter-zelda-hits-out-at-ai-generated-videos-of-her-dead-father

Four years after getting my first 5g capable phone, more than that on a supposedly 5g SIM only contract, and 2 years since I got my current handset, assorted visits to EE shops, replacement SIM cards, various calls to EE customer services my phone has at last started receiving a 5g signal completely out of the blue.

Ours is not to question the machinations of the technology gods

Knowingly had a post deleted for the first time in 19 years, really feel like I've made it, baby 

Went to see the Beta Band at Rock City this evening. 

Very good, but weird in that it was sold out and absolutely rammed, and I saw them at the same venue on their farewell tour and it was half empty

Is there anything fundamentally right wing about this obsession with fossil fuels? What is it about the use of ancient hydrocarbons for power generation that aligns with conservative values in a way that solar or wind power, for example, doesn't?

I don't really get it

A story about a Tesla crash and fire in Germany popped up on Facebook so I've just been enjoying all the comments from people who "wouldn't buy an EV if it was the last car on earth" and "I wouldn't drive one if you paid me", "I'll stick to my 25 year old diesel forever, thanks!" etc etc etc etc etc

Has sir or madam been tricked into becoming an unwitting participant in a culture war?

You could really have fun on the internet if you had the time, couldn't you? I don't, sadly

This whole album is insane and also very good

13 hours ago, Parafox said:

 

I think if you've got good co-ordination and still be able to separate the left from right it's not too difficult.

 

I learnt play the drums and that required all 4 limbs doing different things at the same time. It took a while and I'm no way accomplished but I can pick up a rhythm pretty quickly whilst listening to a song where I can fill in the drum track.

 

 

I'd love to be able to play the drums, the 4 limbs doing different things always just seemed like witchcraft though

My son is so desperate to get it he read a book

If I can learn to play the guitar then I think anyone with hands can

7 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

this is blasphemy of the HIGHEST order!!! 

Perhaps one for the unpopular opinions thread. The bloke has more talent in a fingernail than I have in my entire body but there's something about stage musicals - even his - that makes me just want to drink

Not that long ago I'd have said be able to play cool guitar solos but I can sort of do that now, so I'd say be able to write top pop hits to give to the chart bothering acts of the day. 

I saw a documentary years ago where a very camp man who wrote 'Like a Virgin' was showing how he threw it together on a piano in a few minutes and I thought it looked like being able to do that would be the best fun. 

Like that Lin-Manuel Miranda bloke that's done a lot of the Disney songs over the last few years (I'll ignore Hamilton, which I think is shite) - imagine being able to churn out songs like that - just knowing that people will love them. A proper gift

35 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

I'll have to check that out. 

 

WRT the bolded, I couldn't agree more. The divide now isn't left/right, it's between those who actually want a future for all of our civilisation and our species, and those who don't (and those who just want a future for their favoured demographic fall into the latter category by default).

 

And those, no matter how people try not to see it, really are the stakes. The last time I checked, survival wasn't really a political-compass-sensitive matter. 

But it can be! That's one of the things that has turned my brain inside out especially since the pandemic is how literally ANYTHING can be turned into a culture war. 

And these are wars that cannot be won. What does victory look like? If everything is split down the middle it's not like the other side just evaporate into the ether.

It's so exhausting and destructive as well, isn't it? And such an enormous waste of energy and time - imagine if that were channeled into something constructive

14 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

 

Is a very good read, though. 

Well then I simply must insist that everybody reads it twice. Come on folks, chop chop.

Did you listen to the last episode of The Rest is Politics US? I would guess she wrote it either after that or around the time that was recorded as the article expands on that conversation.

I really thought The Mooch was on to something when he said we perhaps need to stop thinking about things from a right/left perspective which seems to get ever more extreme largely due to social media algorithms that just push people apart

Worth a read if you're still prepared to digest the written word, from a BBC journalist of all people:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c78n0e83ye0o

2 minutes ago, VLC86 said:

Looking for some advice if anyone has ever done this…

 

Ive got a sharesave scheme maturing and I’ve been told I can transfer it into a stocks and shares ISA to avoid paying the capital gains tax. The question is, is it correct that it doesn’t need to stay in there for any period of time to avoid this? And, if I transfer this out in a day realistically do you think I’ll lose any? I know the second bit is very hypothetical.

My understanding is that everything you have said is possible but this stuff is very scheme specific and basically you need to check with the rules of your arrangement because sometimes there are exclusions

14 minutes ago, fox_favourite said:

Interesting as whenever I see one it always looks oversized. But I do like the style of it. When I first saw pictures of it, I thought it was like a normal hatch back 

And when you see one in the flesh you think you're stood closer to it than you actually are!

I had an old Mazda 6 before, and the footprint was actually about the same, but the IONIQ just seems so FAT in comparison. The good thing about it though is it does translate into a ton of interior space, which was important to me as I'm not small and my son is growing very quickly so I need space front and back

36 minutes ago, The Bear said:

SUVs are the worst invention in the history of cars. Massive wide transit van sized vehicles driven by people dropping their kids off or doing the weekly shop. 

 

I do feel a bit self conscious about my car sometimes, in that although it's an EV and not an SUV it's as big and heavy as one, and it takes up a lot of space, although I'm lucky in that I've got a drive to put it on. I also don't insist on driving up to the door of everywhere I want to go, which is a modern phenomenon I'm very aware of, living next to a school

4 hours ago, BKLFox said:

I'm always wary about these types of so called "quick wins" to claw in funds because whilst the the headline states "UK could raise nearly 2bn....." who will then buy these vehicles thus missing out on the larger than normal car tax from original purchase along with potential closures of Land Rover & like minded plants in the UK due to lack of sales & lost investment in the UK.

But what's really happening here which they have hidden in plain sight is they are aware that with electric cars they are going to be losing huges sums of funds through fuel & emission taxes & notice in the report they are saying these SUVs harm the roads more because they are heavier than a 'standard' car & therefore should pay more....well surprise surprise an electric car is heavier than its equivalent petrol/diesel car due to its battery size which will probably only get heavier in the near future before there is a break-thru in tech & thus are they spinning it as a SUV heavy tax to set up the same thing for all new electric cars?

I'm all for taxation based on negative impact, and as the driver of an EV that weighs two tons it's only fair that this is reflected in how it's taxed.

It's a weird situation though isn't it? EVs are heavy by their very nature but that so many people have decided to drive massive, heavy vehicles isn't what I would've predicted.  There are more vehicles on the road, we're struggling to find the space to put them, the cost of living has rocketed, the environment increasingly seems to be f**ked so the public says: let's all get SUVs

35 minutes ago, fox_favourite said:

Does it feel as big as it looks?

 In most situations, no. 

If you're taking a roundabout at speed you're aware you're driving a tall and heavy car but I imagine that's the same in any SUV of any size.

Otherwise it's really, really easy. You just sort of waft about effortlessly and I even find parking it really easy thanks to the camera, sensors etc, none of which I had on my previous vehicle

3 hours ago, JonnyBoy said:

Looking at test driving a few EV's, lease on company car coming to and end (Tesla M3) so far going to test drive the Audi A6 etron, MG IM6, Tesla Model Y performance, would test drive a polestar 4 but nearest is Solihull so CBA. May test drive the mercedes CLA electric for the ridiculous range on offer. Anybody own a larger EV than a model 3 that they absolutely love and would recommend? 

I've driven an IONIQ 5 for two years and it's been brilliant overall