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Edited by Dynamic Dave on 28/09/2008 at 04:36
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I asked Altea Ego what NP stood for in txt spk in Vol 249.
He replied >> You dont know? There is a whole world evolving around you and leaving you in its wake. >>
Is English your second language, old boy? If that's your gender, since I thought only giggly girlies trilled snip, no blasphemy please. Anyway.
Only boats and other craft leave wakes so a world does not and cannot, even if used metaphorically, because it implies powerful forward motion and worlds don't do that.
And what do you think you mean when you say a world is "evolving" around me? Do you mean changing? Advancing? See, that's the problem with txt spk, isn't it? It doesn't add anything to anything and leaves its exponents even less articulate than they were in the first place.
And NP stands for?
Edited by Webmaster on 28/09/2008 at 04:42
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No Problem? Quick 30s google suggested that. I'd post the link but cannot be sure no inappropriate words in the long long list.
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>And NP stands for?
Its a new species of dinosaur.
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Only boats and other craft leave wakes so a world does not and cannot even
?noun 1. the track of waves left by a ship or other object moving through the water: The wake of the boat glowed in the darkness.
2. the path or course of anything that has passed or preceded: The tornado left ruin in its wake.
?Idiom3. in the wake of, a. as a result of: An investigation followed in the wake of the scandal.
b. succeeding; following: in the wake of the pioneers.
The path of ANYTHING (like a world) that has passed.
Mr Optomist, if you are going to be pedantic at least be factual. Even more so if you are going to wear the mantle of the saviour of the english language.
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Even more so if you are going to wear the mantle of the saviour of the english language.
Fie, sirrah! Hoity-toity!
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And NP stands for?
Non-deterministic Polynomial time.
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Altea Ego.
You provoked me into pedantry with your recourse to txt spk followed by unhelpful suggestions concerning my ability to keep up.
Good to see that the exchange has driven you to the dictionary. I remain doubtful that even in metaphor a world would travel at sufficient speed to leave a wake, but I leave detailed knowledge on such matters to you young people who watch Star Trek.
I would like to conclude with some expression of good wishes in txt spk but I'm wobbling in the wake of your world evolving around me and so cannot.
Cheers!
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I remain doubtful that even in metaphor a world would travel at sufficient speed to leave a wake, but I leave detailed knowledge on such matters to you young people who watch Star Trek.
"world" - see list of meanings:
www.elook.org/dictionary/world.html
I think Star-trekkers would take the 2nd or 5th meaning.
Whereas I think Altea Ego probably was using it in the context as given by the some of the other meanings on that list.
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>>I think Star-trekkers <<
Come on Chaps! - if we are going all pedantic-like everyone knows they are "Trekkies"!!
;-)
Billy
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I am irritated by the tendency of some people to make a statement with their voice rising in pitch at the end, as if they are asking a question.
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I am irritated by the tendency ..... voice rising in pitch at the end as if they are asking a question.
I think someone [was it L'escargot] made that same point some time ago. The theory is that this habit is formed from too much exposure to watching Aussie soap opera on TV.
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Those are Antipodeans? It's a way of offering your comments without making them sound like a bald assertion? More winsome than aggressive? A habit easily picked up by the young?
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Combined with the current extraordinary predilection for overusing the word "like", it can be interesting to hear such comments as "so I'm like, hello, and she's like, whatever".
I mean, like, wow, man. At least I'm a hep cat.
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Tell me about it...
Clk Sec
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I am irritated by the tendency of some people to make a statement with their voice rising in pitch at the end as if they are asking a question.
Its called a rising inflection, utilised by Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders.
Sigh, not only are we now all worried about what people say and what words they use, we are now worried about the pitch.
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I ger' irrita'ed by summa this stuff as well - but when our erstwhile Prime Minister joined in, I realised that the problem is with me, not the rest of the world, and if I don't want to be bothered by it I have to decide to ignore it, or be forever grumpy.
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And I am constantly irritated by those who vehemently object to everything that is different to how it used to be.
I suggest that you all go back and try and read a book in "Old English" and then in "primordial swamp gaseous exchange".
I mean surely those are far better ways of communicating as they have been around for a lot longer .......
As long as it is understandable I care about neither the spelling nor the grammar.
Edited by hxj on 23/09/2008 at 19:27
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As long as it is understandable I care about neither the spelling nor the grammar.
And the way to be certain of that is to use current conventions. Christopher Howse wrote an excellent article in the Telegraph a fortnight ago on exactly this point.
limit education by using only reformed spelling would be a great betrayal because it would cut off children, later adults, from reading old books. They'd soon tire of trying to make out the words, just as Germans today puzzle over books printed in their old gothic type.
A new elite would be born. In the same way as the knowledge of Latin used to distinguish the educated, so in future anyone who knew only reformed spelling would be stigmatised as being educated to a rudimentary level.
www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinio...l
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Chinese, true literacy in which used to take years to acquire, was schematized into a sort of meccano version that underpins today's much more widespread literacy.
I have heard it asserted, and it seems not unlikely, that this has resulted in a similar two-tier sort of literacy to the one Christopher Howse sketches above.
All languages mutate and no one in their right mind would really try to resist. But short-term, specific resistance of the sort represented by this thread is perfectly all right, indeed inevitable. Conflict and disagreement are endemic to human society and a feature of all its variants, along with constant change, the mythologisation of history and a lot of other things.
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All languages mutate ...
Language has mutated today with Gordon Brown's pledge for a "A new settlement for new times. A fair Britain for the new age. "
In his language, these two parts of his speech are consistent:
" So what happened with 10p stung me because it really hurt that suddenly people felt I wasn't on the side of people on middle and modest incomes - because on the side of hard-working families is the only place I've ever wanted to be. And from now on it's the only place I ever will be."
"We are and will always be a pro-enterprise, pro-business and pro-competition government. And we believe the dynamism of our five million businesses large and small is vital to the success of our country. "
But then his "new settlement" has a solution for the oil crisis and climate change threat:
"... the new settlement also requires another great and historic endeavour to end the dictatorship of oil and to avert catastrophic climate change, a transformation in our use of energy."
Gord will help us.
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>> As long as it is understandable I care about neither the spelling nor the grammar. And the way to be certain of that is to use current conventions.
Actually the secret is to write little and directly.
"me and me m8s went 2 the fare" is perfctly undrstndble. Whereas some of the writing that is allegedly at the peak of intellectual capacity is usually unintelligible.
limit education by using only reformed spelling would be a great betrayal because it would cut off children later adults from reading old books. They'd soon tire of trying to make out the words just as Germans today puzzle over books printed in their old gothic type.
So is the argument that there is an intellectual elite in Germany, being those who can read the gothic print? Or is this a flaw in the article?
Edited by hxj on 23/09/2008 at 20:50
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As long as it is understandable I care about neither the spelling nor the grammar.
Quite. As long as they're both OK, it'll be understandable.
English language does change, of course, but slowly. It's the great swathes of incomprehensible gobbledygook written and spoken by illitriates and bearing no real relation to normality that's the issue.
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........ different to .......
I care about ...... nor the grammar.
That's obvious!
;-)
Edited by L'escargot on 24/09/2008 at 08:36
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>> ........ different >> to ....... >> I care about ...... nor the grammar. That's obvious! ;-)
Really? Consider the difference between:
She is different from me. She is different to me.
Different to is considered to be perfectly acceptable in British English under all circumstances - and I write, no different to you, as a stick in the mud. American English is different to British English, and there only different from is acceptable.
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American English is different to British English and there only different from is acceptable.
Americans usually say different than.
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Different to is considered to be perfectly acceptable in British English under all circumstances
Er, no. I can tell you that 'different to' is absolutely not acceptable to any editor worth his or her salt because it doesn't make logical sense. However, it is in widespread usage in spoken English and will probably become acceptable in written English in due course. Good? Bad? Who knows?
My experience working as an editor on both sides of the Atlantic is that American editors are much better educated in grammatical niceties than British ones and much more likely to be sticklers about it. But oddly enough American editors are also much more likely to accept slang and other innovative usages if they can be justified. Go figure.
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I was enjoying that post until your final sentence.
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...and variable English would make a meal of you in my line of work
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Well, that depends. You have to work to the style guide and different publications have different style guides.
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Surely none of them would allow "go figure?" It is ghastly.
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That was my attempt at a joke and as such it might be allowed, but it really depends on the publication and the context. This idea that language is fixed is very strange. We all use different kinds of language depending on where we are and who we're talking to.
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Sorry which bit causes you concern and why?
Even if it is wrong it is still understandable, and therefore in line with my previously expressed views
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I have a tv and a vcr -without instructions - and would like to connect them-but have no idea how!! I have various aerial leads and scarts but am not sure where to use them.
The tv has one aerial socket and one scart socket , the vcr has two aerial and two scart sockets. Could anyone help me out please - i have tried my best but dont seem able to get it working.
Also,if anyone knows how i would connect a freeview box too that would be even better.
Thank you in advance
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Go to this site and use the connection wizard.
www.dtg.org.uk/consumer/connection_wizard.html
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It seems conmplicated, but once you get started quite simple, providing the Freeview set top box has two Scart sockets.
The main TV aerial coaxial cable goes to the Freeview set top box and you then use a short aerial extension lead to the VCR's aerial input from the STB's aerial output socket. In turn, another TV aerial extension lead is connected to the TV from the VCR (this provides the TV signals for the set itself on analogue transmissions).
In the case of the Scart sockets, one goes from the STB to the VCR and the second from the STB to the TV (the Scart sockets will/should be marked for TV and VCR as necessary).
A second Scart lead is then taken from the VCR to the TV but, if it only has one Scart socket, you may have to use a Scart adapter (i.e. to switch from one Scart cable to another).
Recording Freeview programmes on the VCR may require you to use a recording channel such as L1 or L2 (originally used in the early days of satellite TV) - you can only record the programme selected on the STB. Remember to programme both the VCR and the STB to switch on and off if doing unattended recordings.
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Perhaps someone knowledgeable could/should advise the OP regarding the construction and quality of cables/connections needed to get the best results.
Edited by L'escargot on 24/09/2008 at 10:28
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Perhaps someone knowledgeable could/should advise the OP regarding the construction and quality of cables/connections needed to get the best results.
In terms of SCARTs then cables with individually screened video conductors are worth having, apart from that check for a reasonable degree of mechanical robustness and that's about it. Gold plating / oxygen free blah blah is all just marketing piffle to sell more expensive cables.
I use an earlier version of there Hama cables without the yukky gold plated housings:-
www.amazon.co.uk/Hama-ProClass-SCART-1-5m/dp/B0000...8
That's as much as I'd pay for a SCART.
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Concur with SpamCan61 {P} except to add to make sure that all the 21 Scart pins are connected and that they are not one-way only cables...:-)
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And buy the shortest practical for your needs. Less mechanical strain and loss/reflection
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that is great thank you so much to everyone
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I have been asked to arrange disposal of two wheelchairs.
I have been told they do not meet current standards etc. etc. and appear to be no longer useable in the UK.
I am reluctant to take them down the tip and would prefer them to have a future life in maybe the third world.
I have contacted the Red Cross and drawn a blank.
Are they recyclable or not ? If so could anyone give me a contact (s) of any organisation that would take them.
My location is Kingston but I would be prepared to readily deliver then locally and maybe further afield south /south west of London.
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I wouldn't give up on Blighty just yet. Try your local Age Concern or day centre for old folk. You might also contact your District Nurse who will also be in touch with the elderly. There are loads of people around anxious for kit for older people. I don't know what current standards are so recipient will have to beware. I'm sure you wouldn't offer anything dangerous. And if it is dangerous, it's not fit for the third world either!
Good luck.
Edited by Optimist on 24/09/2008 at 13:46
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Thanks for replies.
From my view the wheel chairs are perfectly OK and useable but we have been advised re standards and they are not OK for UK use.
eg. You have to have foot plates that swivel and dont forget seat belts etc.
The added problem is that they are from my local doctor's surgery so no cutting corners re the UK. The local Day centre is adjacent and you can only start to image H & S issues. They would not loan any steps cos I would need a "ladder course" first.
So IMO the wheelchairs are fine for third world.
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We were of the understanding that one of our children would be eligible for orthodentistry on the NHS though are now advised to the contrary hence the possibility of a bill running into thousands.
Any orthodentists or dentists on here?
How does this work?
Can one appeal what is after all a subjective opinion by one orthodentist?
Any thoughts and experiences?
Thanks.
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though are now advised to the contrary hence the possibility of a bill running into thousands.
I have realised that my question might infer an unexpected bill. To clarify, we thought that proposed treatment would be NHS though are now told that it would need to be private at a cost of 000s.
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Since April 2006, free treatment for children is based on meeting certain criteria:
www.bos.org.uk/orthodonticsandyou/orthodonticsandt...m
www.bos.org.uk/orthodonticsandyou/orthodonticsandt...m
I can recommend a private practice (which covers all aspects of Dentistry) in Woking if you are interested.
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>> I can recommend a private practice (which covers all aspects of Dentistry) in Woking >>
>>
Mr N - by any chance? If so I would concur.
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Thanks jbif, we were aware of the fact that the criteria exist, it is the subjectivity that is the question. The dentist and a previous orthodentist implied that NHS would apply, we have seen another orthodentist because they are much more local and apparently less busy (shorter waiting lists) and their official (though of course subjective) opinion is that it would have to be private.
Reckon a visit to the dentist is the next step.
Woking - we used to live in West Byfleet and have family in the area so not totally out of the question. What is so good about the practice? What are they called? Do you have any interest or perhaps personal experience?
Regards.
Edited by cheddar on 25/09/2008 at 08:11
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Be very careful about any orthodentistry.
Most of it is a complete waste of time and money.
Or at least a friend who is a hospital based orthodontic surgeon working for the NHS says so.
Edited by hxj on 26/09/2008 at 23:21
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>Be very careful about any orthodentistry.
>Most of it is a complete waste of time and money.
I think my (now) straight teeth would beg to differ! I thought dentist work was free as long as it was started before you turned 18? Or did I just get lucky ten years ago in having my braces fitted two days before my 18th birthday and never having to pay a penny?
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My then teenage daughter had to have treatment from an orthodentist in the late 1970s-early 1980s.
We had to pay a considerable sum to have the work done (a brace to straighten her teeth); what's more each visit involved a round trip of around 80 miles.
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The rules on NHS orthodontics changed in the last two years or so. Free treatment is still available in severe cases but not where the effect is deemed cosmetic. The dentist/orthodontist will assess each case and seek funding from the NHS - presumably based on a score sheet of some sort.
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We've just received an invoice for work done on our bungalow, and I intend to pay by sending a cheque through the post. Should I return the actual invoice with the cheque so that it's obvious what the cheque is for, or will a photocopy be sufficient? In days of yore I'd have written a covering letter, but in this day and age doing that seems OTT.
Edited by L'escargot on 25/09/2008 at 07:48
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Send a photocopy, you keep the original
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"Send a photocopy, you keep the original"
Perfect solution. The customers who do this to me are wonderful. Makes my life so much easier.
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Hi further to my recent post regarding legal advice needed for a former employer that owed me commision, does anyone know if you can get a template of this type of letter off the net to download? just want to make sure i put the right things in.
to recap - i left a job in march and the employer has withheld commision on sales that i made. the managment team have changed now and the current manager said there is no record of items ive sold.
id like to send a letter than if need be small claims court
thanks
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If you visit the local CAB, most will make an appointment for you to see one of their volunteer solicitors to help draft your letter. All they ask is that you make a donation if you can afford to.
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I understand how banks have made loans for people to buy properties secured on the properties. I understand that there is a problem because people are not making their repayments and if the banks call in their security they are not able to recover the loans because property prices have fallen and it is very dfficult to sell property, so these have become bad debts.
What I don't understand and haven't read any mention of is - what happened to this money when it was received by the people who sold these properties?
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It has been spent, fuelling the consumer boom that had been running for the last 9 years. So adding weight to the problem is that the consumer boom upon which growth and jobs has been based has dried up as well. The whole circle is gummed up.
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simple answer: cancel the mortgages on homes being foreclosed rather than let the clowns who caused the problem off the hook
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what happened to this money when it was received by the people who sold these properties?
The trickle down effect has meant that the money has ended up in China. China has a huge trade surplus, see this report dated 10 Sept 08, which quotes the MONTHLY net inflow:
www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/10/business/AS-Chi...p
"China's yawning trade surplus rose to a monthly record high of US$28.7 billion in August as the gap with the United States and Europe widened despite a global economic slowdown, according to data reported Wednesday.
The trade surplus with the United States grew 16.6 percent to US$17.5 billion during the month, the agency reported. The gap with the 27-nation European Union, China's biggest trading partner, swelled 25 percent to US$16 billion."
simple answer: cancel the mortgages on homes being foreclosed rather than let the clowns who caused the problem off the hook
Unfortunately that solution is not working in the US, because there are NO buyers and there are rows and rows of streets with empty repossessed homes. That is the how the "security or collateral" in all the sub-prime or NINJA [No Income No Job or Assets] mortgages have suddenly become worthless. Unlike the UK, there is just no demand left in the housing market for those homes. There are apparently similar "junk" areas in the UK in some districts [in parts of Liverpool for example] where rows and rows of unsold terraced property are boarded up as they are in undesirable locations.
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>>There are apparently similar "junk" areas in theUK in some districts [in parts of Liverpool for example] where rows and rows of unsold terraced property are boarded up as they are in undesirable locations.
It's sort of true in Liverpool, but a lot of those houses have been bought by developers (or are left empty by landlords who have evicted tenants) who then board them up to drive down property prices so they can buy more houses at very low prices. When they have enough they persuade the city to compulsorily purchase the remaining occupied properties, then they devise a plan to pull the whole lot down and build new developments which they can sell at a huge profit some time in the future. These are not usually unsold in the same sense as in sub-prime areas of the US, because private house ownership was never that significant in poor areas of Liverpool. In the US a lot of the abandoned neighbourhoods are formerly affluent or 'aspirational' areas--big houses, large gardens etc. The main areas where you see boarded up houses in Liverpool have been in a bad way for 30 years.
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but a lot of those houses .... .... board them up to drive down property prices so they can buy more houses at very low prices.
I take your word for it. I saw them a few weeks ago on this BBC programme:
www.norfolkandholmes.co.uk/propertydetails.php?pro...9
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Note the complete lack of For Sale signs in those streets. They are waiting for the wrecking ball even though many of them are or were recently perfectly decent and fixable houses. On Edge Lane in Liverpool some hardy souls are holding out against the developers. These are people currently living in large, perfectly good, but worthless Victorian houses who will not be able to afford the much smaller yet much more expensive modern houses that will replace them. In their position I'd have moved by now because the neighbourhood looks grim, but the houses themselves are lovely big Victorians that would be worth well over a million in SW London. It is quite a scandal.
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This demolishing of nice Victorian houses in a hangover from the rule of PieMan Prescott SFAIK.
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>>large, perfectly good, but worthless Victorian houses >>
As someone who lives in a Victorian semi-detached I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Modern properties have neither the character nor useful living space offered by those built in the period before the Second World War.
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When mortgage providers were building societies all they had to do was balance mortgage interest income against running costs plus interest paid to investors. The system was self-governing.
Why did a lot of building societies convert into banks? What did they hope to gain?
The banks are now in trouble, and it doesn't seem to me that the conversion was a good idea.
Edited by L'escargot on 26/09/2008 at 11:33
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"Why did a lot of building societies convert into banks?"
So they could escape the confines and regulatory regime of only working with money invested with them. They could start gambling with our money on a much larger scale.
"What did they hope to gain?"
Profit.
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Why did a lot of building societies convert into banks? What did they hope to gain?
A lot of them didn't want to, but were forced to do so.
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The old building society (or mutual) business model where you only lend what you have in deposit from savers is self regulating. (as long as you stick to the model, several didnt and went bust)
It is so self regulating, it was unable to service or finance the increased demand for home ownership (and hence mortages) seen int he last 25 years. The increased demand for home ownership was driven and encourged by government.
The new model woild have worked except for one small issue. The creditworthyness* of the loans provided went out the window.
The banks left a major housekeeping fucntion behind. Risk. They figured that if they spread the risk around to other people it would be ok. Bad mistake. Every financial instition now carried risk, their own and the risk of others. When the risk bit EVERYONE got bitten.
* When applying for my first mortage, I had to search hard and long to get a 90% loan of 3 x Joint earnings. That was the maximum risk anyone would carry in the late 70's early 80's even for those with a perfect credit record.
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Reading some of the above Qs related to today's economic turmoil got me wondering .......
Let's say you had 3 different sums of money, a) £10k, b) 100k, c)500k in cash and assuming you had to invest that in today's economy, what would you do?
.....and no, unfortunately I don't have any of the above but am purely interested in the views of Backroomers and their (usually very reasoned) theories and arguments.
Edited by Chad.R on 26/09/2008 at 12:41
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you had to invest ... a) £10k, b) 100k, c)500k
1. never go near a broker or financial advisor or fund manager.
2. first £50k, all in National Savings [tax free Premium Bonds + tax free Index Linked bonds.
3. remaining amounts split 5 ways, all in invested directly [via self-trade dealers] index-tracker ETFs [exchange traded funds]. The 5 splits being
# cash+gilts,
# emerging markets BCIR [Brazil, China, India, Russia] and Tiger economies [Far-East including Japan],
# commodities,
# UK + EU,
# and USA.
The proportion of these 5 splits for me would be 2:3:1:2:2.
Edited by jbif on 26/09/2008 at 14:54
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a) Property
b) Property
c) Property
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Not at the moment with prices falling ;-)
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Why not?
Everyone needs somewhere to live ....
There is huge pent up demand caused by a lack of funds to borrow, not affordability.
There will always be someone out there who wants to sell more than I want to buy.
Bought five houses, first two in rising markets, got caught out by both, last three in weak or falling markets, done very nicely out of those.
Edited by hxj on 26/09/2008 at 23:14
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Because they are still falling - better deals to come I would think. Unless you need somewhere to live. As in investment no such a good idea. There are for example hundreds of flats empty in central Manchester. And most worth less than purchased for.
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Agree property (though 10k not enough) because you can get a great return via rental income, in fact the lettings market is quite buoyant currently.
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We are due visit New York in a few weeks for a short break.The prices of many things seem to be quite attractive over there.With that in mind our daughter is after a Nintendo Ds Lite.Would there be any problem useing a American bought on in the UK.I undersatnd that the US operates on 110v.
As a side question if any one has any tips/advice re' Manhatten it is more than welcome.We are staying five nights at the Paramount and flying Gatwick to Newark on Continental.
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My daughter bought one in the summer - it works fine in the UK
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Thanks for that.I wasn't sure if it would accept 240v.
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>I undersatnd that the US operates on 110v.
External AC/DC converters can usually handle anything between 110v to 220v input (shown on the casing). The only problem you might have is if the plug pins are moulded into the converter in which case you'd need to use a travel adapter.
All you need to do is ask the store to show you the converter before you buy so you can check. They'll be happy to do so.
>As a side question if any one has any tips/advice re' Manhatten..
At the risk of boring other BR'ers who have heard me harp on about this before:
If you are going to the US, buy or borrow a copy of Frommer's before you go.
Kevin...
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>>All you need to do is ask the store to show you the converter before you buy so you can check. They'll be happy to do so.
>>
Or ask if it is as below.
There seems to be a good trend towards having so called figure of 8 shaped mains sockets on many of the AC/DC converters for many products.
If so you just buy an off the shelf UK version. They are easily obtainable
www.revealcable.co.uk/acatalog/Figure_of__8__conne...l
We are slowly building up a collection, UK, US, Euro, Oz and maybe a South African next week.
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Maybe ignore my previous posting.
It looks like you will have to plug it into a standard US/UK adaptor
Or buy a UK plug/built transformer. If so this will erode the savings a little. (at least £9)
tinyurl.com/3w4s42
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Our daughter has a DS Lite, I would check that the consoles and games are not regionalised as per PS2/3 etc.
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Currently in a rented house.
This afternoon one of the two smoke alarms has started chirping periodically similar to the battery type ones do to let you know time to change battery. Except these are main wired.
There is no make or model number on them.
I have pressed the button to test it and it has worked correctly. But then it goes back to chirping again every min or so.
Any idea why it would have started chirping, and secondly, any ideas how I can sleep tonight if it carries on? (Considering we are in rented property due to our own house having a fire, I ain't disconnecting the smoke alarm even if I could!)
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It will be the battery Bobby. Even the mains ones have battery back up. Mine did this last year after about five years of the batteries being in. Just change them and it'll be fine.
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Think about it.
You want them to work during a power cut, so they have batteries.
I could never understand the logic of mains powered smoke alarms, perhaps someone could explain.
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So that they are linked by the house's wiring system - All three here are, so when I burn the toast downstairs it fires off the one on the landing and in what we call the west wing. Sort of primitive network.
Edited by Pugugly on 27/09/2008 at 20:08
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Ahh! So everyone's aware of your culinary skills ;>)
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>>I could never understand the logic of mains powered smoke alarms
>>
They work when the mains is on rather than trust the user to keep a good battery installed.
They should automatically recharge the built in rechargable battery so the the user is freed from regularly changing a "normal" battery.
I would have expected a rechargable battery to last many years.
There are many varients out there - either or both detection types, temp switch off wilh auto reset (in the kitchen, while the toast burns ) emergency light etc.
As PU mentioned linking them together ensures that (midnight) toast may alert the whole household :-)
IIRC they have been mandatory on all new builds for some while.
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Thanks for advice guys. When I took the cover off earlier there was no obvious signs of a battery within it. It has now, for some reason, stopped chirping.
I will take another , closer look, for a battery.
Thanks
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Cover may be concealed as a slide out tray on the outside of the bit that the cover connects to.
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My employer has written to me three times regarding my P11d. First was received in July stating taxable benefits in kind I received last year was about £2300.
In August I received another P11d to say the original was wrong and a revised one was attached - it reduced by about £30.
Guess what arrived yesterday? Yes another letter stating the two previous P11ds were wrong due to 'resource and software problems' and the actual figure for benefit in kind was just £87!
The reason this matters is Child Tax credits are based on income and according to the form I sent in (which had to be completed before 31 July) I have earned £2200 more than I actually have. Employee says all p11d info is sent to HMRC and they have written to them saying any mistake is not my fault.
Problem is I may be due more child tax credits, but it's after the deadline. I registered my unhappiness at the first letter, but accepted £30 as being inconsequential. Now this £30 has become almost £2200 I'm a bit P11d'd off!
I work for a large organisation and am in a Union (they are pretty useless), but how would you approach complaining this time? I'm all for a letter to top man demanding a full investigation and solution to the problem asap, but a bit of legalise would help.
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Just phone tax credits, they should sort it out.
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If you go to www.hmrc.gov.uk and put benefits in kind into the search engine, you should get some hints. If you know what benefits you receive from your employer, you should be able to make a reasonable guess as to what their value is - certainly whether it's nearer £87 or £2300!
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