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Posts posted by Left Back

  1. 2 hours ago, MP_MFC said:

    Anyone gone electric?

    Decided that if my insurance is going to be ridiculous anyway with a 7 year old car, I might as well get something newer and looking at going electric. 

    Looking for something quite big, with a decent range. Tesla Model Y so far is the winner but open to consider others cause Musk is a p***k but I don't see any that really come close for the charging convenience and range.

    Mustang Mach-E?

  2. 11 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

    The sovereign grant is only one aspect of their cost to us. 

    Republic estimates the total cost as about £350m.  If you take that as gospel (and I’m not going to attack or defend their claims) it’s the equivalent of wasting £15 from £50k

  3. 3 hours ago, Brother Blades said:

    The favourable tax arrangements, people being feted & given huge privilege at the cost of tax payers by pure accident of birth, hoarding of works of art etc that belong to the nation in general, having a nonce buy his way out of court using public money. I could go on, but you get the gist. There’s loads of reasons to dislike the monarchy. 

    The government spent about £1.2tn in the last financial year according to the IFS.  £120m on the sovereign grant is about 0.01% of that.  Its the equivalent of earning £50k a year and getting your knickers in a twist for wasting a fiver.  Like I said, trivial.

  4. 7 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

    It's important to vent one's spleen every so often. Pretending there is no hate/darkness in your heart is for fantasists. Finding healthy outlets for it is where its at

    Now, back to my 3d printing of a guillotine.....

    That's why sport was invented, so we'd all have teams to hate.

  5. 24 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

    Immense privilege being afforded to certain people at the taxpayers expense, and not by the consent of said taxpayers, is about the crux of what irks me, but the key part there is consent. Because that drills further down into the fact that these people are an ongoing relic of a system of birthright that killed, subjugated, used, enslaved, and generally lorded over c***s like me and you and poor Johnny Foreigner of too many ilks to count. 

    The idea that we still even want a notionally ceremonial nod to that sort of world to me seems like a brazen insult. Then we get to just how "ceremonial" their role is, given that we know for a fact both the Queen and Chuckles routinely meddled in the governance of this country under bullshit laws that afford them that right. 

    The whole thing is insidious and vile. The idea that a "monarchy" needs to exist in the bizarre form it does in the UK is, I think, also shot down by a number of European Countries who have more low key royalty, and also by the much more preferable model of elected heads of state. 

    The very fucking idea that anyone should be honoured, revered, and bowed to by right of birth, let alone funded for a free ride in the lap of untold luxury should be torched from this world

    How do you know I'm not a hereditary peer? (I'm not btw)

    You don't, some people do, I don't care.

    That's separate and I agree they shouldn't be allowed to do that.  It's a separate question to whether the monarch should exist at all though.

    In your opinion, not to the people in the country that are flag waving nutters (imo) that celebrate the royal family

    I believe it's been getting smaller over the years.  I'd be surprised if it doesn't continue to get smaller and more low key as time goes on.

    Again, in your opinion.  Some people are very happy that such a system exists.  Just because we don't understand why someone thinks how they do and we certainly wouldn't entertain such thoughts doesn't mean it should automatically be taken away from the people that are happy with the status quo.

    If there was a vote on not having a monarchy or scaling it down drastically I'd put my tick in the box.  I won't waste any effort getting worked up about it though.

  6. 1 minute ago, Salt n Vinegar said:

    I'm not opposed to things like heat pumps and solar panels but not at a cost over and above current costs.

    Mrs Salt and Vinegar and my good self are in our 60s and in reasonable health.  IF we could look at a payback period of, say, 5 years we'd consider going ahead but I've heard nothing to suggest anything close to that. Anyone got info to the contrary?

    Doubt you'd get it down to 5 years.  When I put in solar in my current house about 3 years ago  I was looking at something like 7-9 years (can't remember the details as it was a while ago).  Should last 20 years so worth it, especially with the way electricity prices went so got lucky there and it will have brought the payback period down beyond my initial calculation.

    I've looked at battery storage many times over the last few years and it's only now it's reached a tipping point where I'm going to invest in them.  I can zero out my electricity bill and actually make money from my electricity provider for about 15 years with the investment.  Payback period about 8 years just on the batteries in isolation.  Something I should factor in but never get round to is running two electric cars in that.  If I did factor in my petrol saving that would bring the payback period down a bit further.

    A combination of solar, batteries, electric cars and a good electricity tariff (Octopus) will have done, and continue to, save me a fortune but the upfront investment isn't cheap and you have to be patient.  Some things you can get grants/interest free loans for and some you can't.  I always look at these things purely from a financial perspective and if the costs don't stack up I'm not doing it.

  7. I don't get the hostility, verging on hatred towards the monarchy.  I'm pretty meh about it myself.  Even if you accept (and there's an argument to be had about it) that they're a net cost to the country in the grand scheme of things it's trivial.

    There's plenty other things tax money is spent on that I don't get any benefit out of but this spending makes some people in the country happy.  The sovereign grant was about £120m last year whereas (for example) spending on libraries is about £700-800 million.

    If neither the libraries or monarchy existed I wouldn't lose a seconds sleep about either but I don't really begrudge spending on either as some people like them and they both serve a purpose.

  8. 1 hour ago, gannonball said:

    Sadly I'm not entitled to those extra days off. My sister who's a doctor in an NHS hospital also said the extra holidays were a nightmare to schedule in at relatively short notice when targets weren't already being met and hospitals already stressed with lack of staff.

    Tough shit you don’t get the extra days off.  The rest of us won’t give you a second thought while we’re enjoying ours.

  9. 59 minutes ago, PB1994 said:

    Are the gas/electricity rates expected to be dropping anytime soon?

    Currently on a flexi rate for both at 28.48p for Electricity and 7.37 for gas, plus the usual standing charges. Can get a fixed deal knocking of 3p per unit for Electricity and 1p for Gas for the next 12 months.

    Ive got next to no clue about the prices so not sure if it is worth fixing for the next year.

    This is from about 6 weeks ago.

    https://www.cornwall-insight.com/press/price-cap-predicted-to-fall-by-14-in-april/

    The above doesn't show regional variations but it's likely that the price cap will be cheaper for you.  Of course if you want certainty for 12 months then lock in.

    In the current climate companies aren't trying to lock you in to get you on a good deal.  They're trying to lock you in above where they think the price cap is going because it's generally falling.  In a normal market when they're locking you in they're hedging it so they aren't losing anyway when prices would typically be rising.

    When you think about energy prices always look at it first from a "how are these thieving c***s trying to shaft me?" standpoint and you won't be far wrong.

  10. 37 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

    Is there any legal requirement for new employees to provide references?

    I'm returning to my old job in a few weeks and they've asked me to provide a reference for what I've been doing since I left three months ago.

    I'm very tempted to tell them that I've been busy minding my own fucking business.

    I didn't mention the last few months in the application, and I've been formally offered the job, so they don't need to check to see if I'm lying about anything.

    Some regulated jobs (financial services) previous employers have to provide a reference for but apart from that it isn't legally required on employers I don't think.

    If you haven't been working for the last 3 months and you've told them that what on earth are they expecting you to provide?  Often you get asked for a couple of years references and as long as you can explain gaps in employment (i.e. I was off travelling would normally be acceptable but I was a guest of His Majesty wouldn't) most companies accept that.

  11. 9 minutes ago, Groundhopping Adventures said:

    Not one comment against the referee on this thread. He must have been outstanding 

    Ben O’Keefe normally is.  Couple of calls you could query but his handling of the two head shots in the first half was excellent.

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