s_dog

Really interesting thread. And it's a great read showing how different people with autism can be, despite many sharing some quite similar behaviours. For Crazy Days, just think that getting a proper diagnosis as a good thing, as it'll help with getting any additional support put in place for your grand-daughter with her education, allow her to flourish, and be the best person she can be. I'm not an expert, but I always remember working with a guy who struggled to support someone with autism because he said he couldn't understand him. But it's not really about understanding why someone behaves in certain ways, it's knowing they are neurodivergent and just learning what works and doesn't work for them, and then learning how to either avoid or minimise the problems. BFTD don't beat yourself up for not knowing more earlier as you said, autism is such a complex condition, and even health professionals that know a bit about it can struggle.

All the conversions & calculations do tend to make a bit confusing. Paying by DD & getting monthly billing is the easiest way to keep an eye on it, but if you don't want to pay by DD the best thing you can do to give yourself some certainty with paying on receipt of bill & quarterly billing is to take monthly meter readings. You've already got the sums you need to work it out what it is in £s (just remember to use the formula that's on your bill to convert your gas units to kWh). Then when your quarterly bill comes in, you'll already know roughly how much it'll be. You are spot on with the confusion that bills, emails about bills and amounts owed can be very misleading and confusing. It may be partly down to British Gas taking the account over from the previous supplier, but sometimes their billing is just a bit shit. I left EDF at one point when even though I was paying by DD and giving them monthly readings, their billing was all over the place. For some reason they stopped doing monthly billing and began sending them out at varying intervals and sending emails with amounts owed, which I didn't owe because I paid by DD. I've helped a few vulnerable people with their bills, but most don't really understand what they're paying. Some have already had the first half of their cost of living payment (think the second one will be in Oct/Nov?) into their bank accounts, which is great, but if a monthly bill of £100 is going to now be £285 and then higher in January, there will be people that used to pay £4-500 per quarter in winter being hit with bills for £1200. I fear its going to be absolute carnage for a lot of people this winter.

Yes, there's a guy in Glasgow running an unsanctioned drug consumption van for a couple of years now. Police have mainly monitored it and taken no action (once tried to charge him with obstruction but no action was taken), and there have been continual calls for it to be legalised. Scottish Government and other MSP's want to legalise these kind of facilities but up to now the UK Government has said no it would be against the law, and so far they don't seem interested in changing that. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/drug-consumption-van-scotland-success-26971813

It's usually slightly more expensive to pay for your energy on receipt of a bill than by DD (because the suppliers obviously prefer it that way). In fact I just looked it up and it's more of a difference than I thought, see the note under the Energy price cap changes table on MSE. It says "The prepay price cap is about 2% higher, and for those who pay each month after getting a bill, 7% higher. That differential will likely continue." It also depends how you view it, you can choose to look at it the way you are doing, better stopping the DD and have the money sitting in my own bank account. Or you can think I'm saving a wee bit and spreading a fixed payment equally throughout the year. It is worth checking how much you actually use each year, and making sure that your DD is set to the right amount, instead of leaving it to your supplier to set it.

Based on everyone's predictions, the league table looks like this 1. Dundee 2. Partick Thistle 3. ICT 4. Raith Rovers 5. Arbroath 6. Queen's Park 7. Morton 8. Ayr Utd 9. Cove Rangers 10. Hamilton Most predicted place for each team 1st Dundee (68) 2nd Partick Th (40) 3rd ICT (45) 4th Arbroath (27) 5th Raith (28) 5th Queen's Park (20) 8th Morton (22) 9th Ayr Utd (30) 10th Cove Rangers (24) 10th Hamilton (44) So by far the biggest expectation is that Dundee will be champions, also broadly expected that Partick Th & ICT will be their nearest challengers and Hamilton will finish bottom. Everything else less certain, but Arbroath & Raith most likely to be chasing 4th play off spot and Queen's Park an outside bet for play-offs, the rest trying to avoid relegation. Although, it was mostly the early predictors that put Hamilton bottom, later predictions more likely to have Cove finishing last. Queen's Park and Arbroath have the honour of being predicted to finish in every position at least once.

They always use the arguments that most of their profits are from other aspects of their business and consumer energy doesn't make them much money, and that they need the profits to reinvest in future energy generation, and they now add in that they need the money to diversify/explore green energy. Plus of course they need profits to keep shareholders happy, lobbying politicians and the like. The fact that Shell has more than doubled their second quarter profits compared to last year (£9.4bn up from £4.5bn) , and Centrica's half year figure is five times higher (£262m last year to £1.3bn) is crazy and there is nothing that can justify these huge increases when people are going to be asked to pay silly money for their energy this winter.

Second this suggestion for joining a credit union. If you can find a small local credit union, that's usually your best bet, although you usually need to start saving with them first before getting a loan. It can be a small amount, like £5 a week for a few months, and for a loan of £200 you may not need to have any savings first. Some of the bigger credit unions will charge more, but even looking at Glasgow Credit Union, the minimum loan on their online calculator is £500 for 12 months, total payable is £551. It does say you need to save £10 per month along with your loan repayment to get it. https://www.glasgowcu.com/loans/personal-loans/

Good write up on the BBC that explains the big gamble Laporta is taking. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62258788

That Berwick Rangers home top doesn't look quite so bad now...

f**k, first time I've looked at this thread in weeks.

So you disagree but basically, aye we're fucked you mean, just maybe not forever when no one said anything about the length of time. OFGEM are making changes that do everything to protect the suppliers, and nothing for consumers. It's immaterial how long it's for, they are restricting competition by making it cost suppliers more to charge consumers less. They are even trying to sell the 3-month price cap review as a way to also drop prices as well as raise prices more often, ignoring the fact that it's a price cap, and there is nothing to stop suppliers charging less than the price cap whenever they want.

In addition to Clown Job's post above, listen to Martin Lewis from just after 3 minutes for exactly why OFGEM is making sure we're all fucked from more than just high prices.

Why should they get a free ride because of this idea that they'll use some of their profits to invest in renewables? It's in the interests of their own future that they do so, otherwise their business will fail.

Some people want a fixed deal so they know how much they will be paying for the next year or two, and are willing to pay a bit extra to get that. Also, when you consider the price cap was originally expected to go up a further 20% in October, but there's since been talk of the price rise being much higher, come December all those on their expensive fixed deals could be paying less than the rest of us on the standard variable rate just at the time when we'll be using the heating most.

The terms of their licence were eased slightly and they are now allowed to sell tickets to away fans but the cash goes to the away team and the relevant organisers of the competition. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/mar/23/chelsea-permitted-to-sell-tickets-to-their-fans-for-away-fixtures

Exactly why people like Martin Lewis advise you to download your bills and take monthly meter readings, even if you've got a smart meter. Never trust the b*****ds not to try and screw you for more cash whether its down to their incompetence or just an error. Its even worse now as there's no longer a legal requirement to read/inspect meters.

You can sort of understand there might be a reason why it costs more to supply & maintain distribution networks in rural areas and that's why southwest of England, North Wales & North Scotland might suffer, but why should London & East (which covers part of greater London area) be so low compared to everywhere else. And the fact that the highlands generates far more electricity than it uses (think its 3 times more), might not be linked to the supply, but still, the fact they pay the highest standing charges just seems crazy.

Every now and then I think this thread can sink no lower, but it just keeps on sinking

Spot on for this, all the fanboy and exerting control stuff, nah not so much. The idea of wearing masks in shops, in healthcare settings, on public transport etc, there is nothing particularly wrong with, if there's a chance it reduces the transmission, even if its fairly minimal, then why not just wear them? Carrying this on into pubs, restaurants, concerts when you only wear them to go in, or to the bar etc is just crazy though - it is airborne so the difference in it spreading because you did or didn't wear a mask when at the bar won't make a difference. They should be looking at air purifiers in public spaces like this instead. But this costs money, and perhaps there's none to be made for the Gov and their 'preferred' suppliers. There were studies that show wearing FFP2/3 masks in hospitals compared to using mainly surgical masks made a huge difference, but there's been no further studies on whether that difference is still there with the more transmissible omicron. Also, most studies are done in controlled circumstances, so while use of FFP2/3 masks is clearly better, its not obvious when the general public are mostly wearing them like they do in France. I don't really see why that means we should just give up on them altogether though?

It's not misleading, the energy cap is an average price, and overall, the price is rising by 54%. It's the same as the typical usage they give for gas & electric (12000 & 3000kWh) it's based on an average sized house that has both gas and electric. All of these figures are pointless for anyone that stays in a house heated by electricity. The increase is mainly being driven by the spike in gas prices, but additionally the doubling of the standing charge for electricity - which is in part being used to pay for all the costs of the 'supplier of last resort' taking on the customers of all the suppliers that have went bust. And no doubt it'll increase next year when the Government claw back the £200 loan they're giving us.

I remember being told a few years back that it's in the generation of electricity that they make most of their money and there's very little to be made in the domestic energy supply market, profits margins are pretty small, and that explains why so many have gone out of business really. That doesn't explain why so many companies try it though?

Remember those variable rate prices shown in your quote will change from April 1st, from 20p & 4p to 28p & 7p (and electric standing charge doubling from 25 to 50p). So you need to base your options for fixing with that, not the price you are currently paying for another month.

If you try to submit readings that are outside the expected range (no idea if its 5 or 10% above/below), it won't accept the readings and they'll just estimate your bill. And since its so fucking expensive, 5-10% won't save you very much.

The price cap only applies to the variable/standard tariff. There is nothing to stop suppliers offering you a fixed deal at a higher price, and currently, there are no fixed tariffs available that are any cheaper than the current price cap, they are all a bit more expensive. Also worth noting, that as per the OFGEM website, the prices given by them for the price cap are "averages and will vary by region, payment method and meter type" https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/check-if-energy-price-cap-affects-you The current price cap will last until October 2022. No one knows how long the current very high gas prices will last (and what's happening in Ukraine won't help it in any way), but it's already thought that the next price cap rise in October will add another 20% increase. I think even Martin Lewis is a bit lost with what to advise people right now.

Whereas I didn't get a single letter in my first two attempts Wordle 245 5/6