[Fear]

Only if you like pushing..................................

..............................rather a lot of pushing

[It's called sticking your head above the parapet]

Chessie wrote:

Imagine Churchill doing 'touchy feely' - he had far more important things to do; 

Except of course that he is recorded as walking through the blitzed streets of London and encouraging those in the thick of it. It is called empathy and seems to be a trait that TM is sadly lacking - at least in a visible form.

To be fair she does seem to be doing the "right" things but she seems to be about 50 hours off the beat. And the local council seem to be behind even her beat.

[It's called sticking your head above the parapet]

I think Nomoss will be shown to be right.

In my experience of serious accidents there is rarely one single failure, but a whole series of minor failings, which given the wrong conditions leads to a serious or catastrophic incident.

We described this to staff as the Gruyere cheese effect.

A Gruyere cheese is full of holes (potential safety defects). You take a slice. then you put a second slice behind which blocks off many of the holes. Then a third that blocks of more and so on until all of the holes have been blocked off. Now it only needs one slice to move very slightly and you can still have a hole right through all the layers.

My guess is that we will find this is the case in this terrible incident. Lots of small (you might even say in their individual rights insignificant) issues that combined have led to tragedy.

Out of that it is highly likely that no one will be found to be specifically to blame - but really that should not be the point. The point should be that we should learn and correct the mistakes so that such a tragedy cannot possibly happen again.

[Use of Real name rather then Pseudo]

Another good reason why using your real name might be disadvantageous is that in giving answers to questions you might generate problems for yourself.

Q: How do I get Sky in Blanc-sur-Mer?

A: I did it this way...........

Leaves the answerer open to Sky identifying them and cutting off their service.

There have been multiple questions about re-registration of cars in situations here the car and its user are very mobile and might need to strictly re-register once again within a year. Answers given have included (rightly) the strict letter of the law but also what others have done and their experience which is outside of that strict legal situation. Using their real names would again leave individuals open - in this case potentially to prosecution.

In both cases it may not be the authorities that would create the issue, but potentially other forum members - based on the posts above about the vindictiveness of some forum members (not necessarily this forum).

So if we wish to reduce the helpfulness of the forum and the number of responses then by all means use your real full name.

Furthermore anonymity makes it much more difficult for the ne'er-do-wells of this world to exploit other forum members.

Posts such as, we are off to the UK for Christmas and would like to know.........., is a straightforward invitation to thieves if the poster can be identified. As is the innocent, "just arrived at our French holiday home to find......".

[Strong and Stable, Ha, Ha, Ha]

Andyh4 wrote

It seems the Conservatives remain intent on nailing home the divisions in UK society.

Woolly replied:

Rubbish, andyh4.

What worries me about Corbyn is that he lives in an unreal world, uneducated, TT, veggie, generally detached from the real hard world where people work for a living. In fact he has a Savanarola complex (please check the Wiki site as this crup iPad won't make links or allow me to copier coller anymore.)

And given his penchant for being photographed with young, mainly female acolytes, I suggest he also has a Pied Piper complex.

Fit to be PM, never, better locked in one of those rather fine "Tell Your Future for a Penny" machines at the funfair, dressed as Abu Dhabi.

UK is in a sad place. I already left so I shan't be the last to leave and turn the lights out.

Well that was a good objective criticism of my post. Not one comment on the divisions in society and every thing about what a pile of what's it JC is. If it is any joy I also have reservations about him and some policies, but you have to admit that he has garnered support where the Tory press had tried to destroy him at a personal level. Attack the policy not the messenger was always my mantra - you seem intent on the former.

As for splitting society - well two party politics have always tended to do that. Your cantankerous rantings clearly put you in one of the camps.

Where this leads is that within parties there also tends to be strong division - wet vs dry, new Labour vs traditional (aka old) etc..

The Tories being constantly riven by their Eurosceptic vs Europhile wings have suffered decades of division. They extend this by a once and for all, sort it all out referendum which to put it mildly goes t1ts up as far as the leadership is concerned.

May (or Maybe not) steps in and calls for calm. Now is the time for the country to reunite and make the very best of Brexit.

She then decides (without explanation) to go for the most extreme forms of Brexit possible - total walk out or if that does not work no deal. So alienating the 48% who did not want Brexit to start with as well as a portion of those who did support Brexit but did not expect this to mean the extremes now being presented.

She then 9without plausible explanation) calls an election and bases it on those divisions about Brexit - and proceeds to say sweet FA about what she actually proposes to do. This surely does nothing but intensify those Brexit divisions in society which many had started to become reconciled to and had started to work towards a common goal.

In an attempt (I suspect) to assuage those who have been disadvantaged by 7 years of austerity she starts to attack pensioners with (not just in the manifesto) potential removal of TV licence rights, potential (in fact for most probable) loss of WFA, loss of your house (less 100k) if you succumb to a long term illness requiring community care, but not if you require long term medical. This splitting the elderly infirm.

She demands students pay for their advanced education, but allows fat cat companies to reduce their tax liabilities.

Can you imagine the stress of John Smith who at university falls in love with student Mary Jones. They both become teachers (or any other government funded service except the Civil Service itself) and work in very stressful conditions where the funding in real terms falls year on year and they are expected to more and more with less and less. They marry with the hope of buying a house, but they have a joint £85k+ debt round their necks. What does their credit rating look like when applying for a mortgage??

And yes I know that 75% or more of loans will not be paid off and will be written off. And that exposes the whole nonsense. Those who can and do pay off their loans do so because they earn enough to do so. Those that don't and cannot pay them off do not earn as much. So logically the better paid could pay more I tax and the lower earners would not have the higher rates of tax imposed.

I did receive the benefits of free university education. I bettered myself and as a result received more pay - and critically paid more tax. I hope that repaid the benefits I had received earlier in life. If not then more fool our government(s) for not taxing me a little more.

I did not have a millstone of getting on for 100k debt round my neck - albeit that (in money of the day) that is what I owed and had to repay over time - probably and more so.

Scottish Conservatives played the independence card mush more strongly than the SNP - a tactic that clearly worked, but who was being divisive?

I can however agree with your last paragraph. The UK has indeed become a sad place and TM has to take her share of the blame.

I too do not intend to be there to turn off the lights.

[Strong and Stable, Ha, Ha, Ha]

It seems the Conservatives remain intent on nailing home the divisions in UK society.

[Apple tree]

The bigger and older the tree, the less necessary it is to do manual thinning, although to get bigger fruit you can still do it.

[Apple tree]

You will frequently get 2/3/4 apples developing from the same spur on the branch. These will need to be reduced to one by July. Trees will automatically do some of the thinning themselves - known as the July drop. In France - at least here in the South - this seems to happen in June. Even with this manual thinning is necessary.

Some trees, as Pat has said, are self fertile (usually poorly so) but Cox's is not one of them, so your supposition of bees flying round and taking advantage of your tree's blossom is correct.

[The Blame Game]

Please add me to the "no" camp, but I guess no surprise there either.

[Cultural Enrichment]

You are of course right Gardian but the fact is that in both the Manchester and the latest London atrocity individuals were known to the security teams, but (we have to assume) were not deemed as sufficiently interesting to be kept under watch.

That is either a resources issue or a giant **** - up.

[Those who are allowed to vote]

"never gave it a thought" about sums it up Idun.

It does not excuse the disenfrachment. I bet you never gave the right to breath clean air a thought, or drink clean water, or have uncontaminated food or 101 other things..

Until some arrogant barsteward takes them away

Thank dog none of the above have yet happened in the UK.

As for the right to return. well lets see how the Brexit talks go. If mother Theresa has her way we could see 1.5m repatriates ending up on the Uk shores and personally, I hope they all end up in Maidenhead and shaft her ladyship.

[Darty]

Funnily enough I was asked this evening to review my (non)purchase and add comments. I had to do it in English despite my French knowledge (which I acknowledge could be better). I could not find adequate translations for "numpties" (nul just does not do it for me), "wazzack" and as for a company that sells IT systems and equipment to their customers, their own internal IT system is a "sac de merde" - a term that I did use in our "discussions". I had the politeness to apologies for the statement but also reinforced it by saying that was how it seemed to someone who had had to use IT system all his working life. I did not get a Gallic shrug which kind of suggested they know their system is wanting.

[Those who are allowed to vote]

Idun

I respect your disinterest in being able to vote. Your choice.

I respectfully suggest that voting rights are not the highest on many agendas when they move.

Finding somewhere to live

Ensuring the employment is secure

Making sure all members of the family remain happy and secure

Ensuring you comply with local laws and requirements.

Voting rights comes down the list and will I respectfully suggest rarely apply as a high priority.

In my own case I moved to Germany on a 3 year contract, then extended by two years and then extended again by a further 3 years - why would voting rights appear on any agenda there?? But in the mean time the UK operation had contracted, my home base had closed, and so when I was offered a permanent contract in Germany, the last thing on my mind - with a wife who had settled into an ex-pat wives community, a couple of children needing financial support through university education in the UK, and an ex-wife needing her pound of flesh - was if I would be able to vote in the future.

This does not in any way reduce the fact that voting rights are important. I bet that the first words of the suffragettes was not "I want the vote." It was not their first priority but was nevertheless so important that some gave their lives.

IF you don't want or need (and I note you now have a right and intend to use it) that is for you. Please do not denigrate those who do not have that right but would wish to have it.

In a civilised modern society the removal of suffrage should be seen as an attack on human rights. I think that sums up where the UK is today.

[Don't be Shy Theresa]

Chancer wrote:

I agree with everything but your memory of credit card interest being a liitle over bank rate, whilst I have not borrowed on a credit card for décades I'm pretty sure it was always at least 2% per month, 24+% APR

Except that 2% per month is around 27% per year due to the compounding of the debt.

Compounding is badly understood by the population at large but it is the reason that you end up paying nearly twice what you borrowed on your mortgage over its full lifetime, even though the headline interest rate is only a few percent.

[Darty]

Thanks for the replies.

In short, I did indeed spoil a few lunches but after over half an hour of sheer bloody mindedness (1) and standing my ground (2), the impossible happened and they gave me a cash refund - even though the computer said "non".

(1) On both sides: they insisted that they would give me a credit voucher; I insisted it would be cash and I would stand at the SAV desk and block all future transactions until they relented.

(2) literally. I just stood at the front of the SAV desk and refused to move. At one stage a rather large gentleman arrived and said their were three options, I leave voluntarily. he physically remove me or call the police. I warned him that if he touched me he would be personally responsible for any and all injuries and damage and that my preference was that he call the police who might be interested in the theft of customers' money. (that made them go rather quiet.).

[Those who are allowed to vote]

Idun wrote:

I suppose if people feel so strongly they should take on french nationality and at least be able to vote in french elections.

Which of course pre-supposes that those people would be eligible to take French nationality.

I have lost my voting rights but have been French resident for less than 5 years. There will be around the world thousands of people like me who for work reasons are working outside of the UK (or are married to such a person) but who move around and never meet any local requirements to enable them to take on foreign nationality - not that I image they would want to. In the end they remain British and are just working somewhere else.

[The problem as I see it]

WB wrote:

My point is that is the coincidence of a rise in corporation tax and Brexit which will cause an exit of companies. Of course, there is also the arrival in power of a government which is hostile to business.

Well actually Brexit was raised I think by me and you now have latched onto it.

As has been pointed out by Norman's post where the option of moving elsewhere to reduce taxes is significantly limited, and by Eurotrash who rightly point out that the cost of a hop across a border is not une tranche de gateaux.

Lets take the case of Acme Widgets 9AW) currently located in London. Scared by the increase in Corporation taxes they decide to move to Dublin.

Why Dublin?

1. Corporation taxes are even cheaper than the UK is today let alone when JC increases the levels.

2. It is still close to home (UK)

3. They speak English and AW does not have to worry about issues of language and language training for its staff.

AW is a moderately technologically advanced company and so on its move it wants to retain 2/3rd of its 1000 staff. so it wants to retain 670 staff from its current roster because of their knowledge of the business, specific technical skills etc.

Let's see what this company is faced with:

1. 330 redundancies of those staff not offered a move - say 10K per employee = £3,3m

2. However of the 670 you want/need to retain 170 say no. They may have spouses that cannot move, children whose education would so disrupted as to make them say no, even perhaps those who hate the Irish - the reasons matter not. [And to add that a 75% take up would be exceptional. My experience of UK to Germany would suggest that 25% would be generous, but there we have an additional language barrier.]

3. So 170 key employees will need to be replaced. In a market where jobs are scarce the uptake will be higher than as in the current UK where people can just walk away and get and equivalent job with someone else.

2. Moving packages for 500 employees - this is a cash payment (bribe) for the move. It includes the costs of new curtains, new built in furniture - kitchens, wardrobes, etc. - a variable feast and one that will depend on your level in the company, but 15k is probably not far off. Add to this the physical removal cost or perhaps 10k and we have a total of £57m

3. Some will demand that their children can continue in UK education so boarding/education changes will apply as will six return air tickets from their school to Dublin (3 x holiday and 3 x half term) - say or average 0.5 children per person moved. £7,5m

4, Each employee will be offered 2 x return tickets per year home to return to friends and relatives. £0.25m

5. You will have to provide minders for each and every person who transfers, who will help them find a home, re-register their car, become aware of any registration or taxation requirements, best local schooling and advise or all or any issues. At best a minder can look after 5-6 persons. Duration is probably one year and maybe more for some. £1.5

6. Some of the staff moved will face problems and will not be able to function at 100% for some period of time, This can be due to spouses who are unhappy, children who cannot settle - loss of friends and networks in both cases are important. Their loss of productivity I the first year might collectively be judged at £10m

7 The missing 170 key staff will need to be replaces/retrained. If you are lucky you can use existing staff from the UK to act as temporary mentors and train staff for 3-5 days per week. You fly the in, you put them in hotels and feed them and fly them home each week. £4.8m

8 the whole operation will need to be overseen by (in)human resources - at least 2 personal officers plus assistants for a minimum 2 years - one for planning and one for enactment. .25K

9. Then there are the legal issues. You could perhaps leave all as is. But you would probably need to change your legal contracts - if only to say the disputes will be agreed in Dublin and not London. Paper-heads are easily changed on computers but envelopes with company logo will probably need to be changed. As will business cards and the costs for this are staggering - probably .25k

10. Of course we miss the fundamentals of physically finding a suitable location and renting/buying. We miss the loss of productivity of the team due to newcomers who need training, new location, disruption at a personal level, disruption of their family lives etc.

There are probably many things I have left out but our running bill for year 1 is over £83m or £83000 per current employee.

And that Wooly is why the world is not centred in Dublin. However if Brexit means that our fictitious company were to find its market limited or subject to tariffs then the art of survival might just kick in.

[Macron shows May what leadership means]

Draytonboy wrote

And the letter to Trump will achieve what?

Good question given that I have seen no evidence that he can read and some of his tweets (or is that twits) show that writing is a challenge. However I suspect that some of those around him do have command of both faculties. Perhaps they can relay the messages to him.

[Darty]

Thanks Mint

My searches could not identify one way or the other; it explains a lot and I will be spoiling our not local manager's lunch tomorrow.

[Darty]

As a previously very satisfied customer of Darty, I am now suffering some problems.

Does anyone know if Darty is a chain or a franchise?

[Those who are allowed to vote]

Norman is right about fiscal residency being a messy situation. At one stage the OH was fiscally resident in 3 countries at the same time.

Does this mean three sets of voting rights?

If so, think of how the great and wealthy would find ways to capitalise on that to their own ends.

As for the statement from an intellectually retarded ex-pat in Spain being used as the basis on which all ex-pats should be judged, well that is nonsense is it not?

I have heard equally nonsensical statements from British people living in Glasgow, Birmingham and London. Do we then exclude all residents from those cities from having a vote?

The problem of ex-pat voting rights (and I do accept that there is something of a problem) has been looked at around the world. I know of no country that does not use nationality as the basis for being part of the plebiscite. The UK it seems alone deems this a right that can expire. One would hope quid pro quo they would deem their right to tax such people would apply equally - of course it does not.

[The problem as I see it]

Oh dear Woolly

have you been indoctrinated by May mind-thought?

Businesses will set up and stay wherever they can make money (aka profits). JC is proposing to increase Corporation tax to a level lower than when the Tories began their austerity policies.

Where companies queuing up to exit the UK before then? If so I did not notice it.

The proposed increase will leave UK tax levels below those of Germany. You will notice how world companies such as Ford, VW, Bayer, Hoechst or BASF are rushing to depart.

If companies in the UK are preparing to leave the European archipelago then I would suggest it has more to do with uncertainty over Brexit than the thought that JC might win an election that he started out 20 points behind and would then increase taxes to levels still below most of our near neighbours - Ireland excluded.

[advice please for a tondeuse débrousailleuse]

Chancer wrote:

I can only advise on electric mowers for flat and level postage stamp sized gardens

I have to half disagree there Chancer. For large areas an electric machine is absolute pants, but for steep slopes a light electric can come into its own.

I have a grassed bank about 15m long by 2-3 m wide as a surface but inclined at 35 - 40 degrees. Too steep for the petrol jobbie, too steep really for a strimmer, but starting at the top I can let the mower down the slope as far as I can reach working along the length in an up and down motion and then from the bottom I can run the mower horizontally on the lower uncut slopes, without having to put crampons on my boots to gain purchase on the slope.

[Is the Forum PM system working?]

A good "IF". If they use the email address that you registered with, there is a good chance that many have moved on and at best the account is inactive or maybe even has been closed.

[We're Baffled !]

Perhaps also a Scops Owl, which is often confused with the midwife toad.