RMweb Premium polybear Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 4 hours ago, SM42 said: The apparent bottomless pocket of HM Treasury means things that are 50p in the local DIY shed cost £10 via the government's approved supplier. Oh yes.... Maybe 10-15 years ago a certain Defence Supplier (not the G.E. - this time....) was getting computer keyboards (£10 - 15 quid in Currys?), counting them, changing the legends on three of the keys (= sticky labels) then charging HMG £400 for them..... 4 hours ago, DenysW said: Healthcare costs in the USA for the in-work are generally funded by the employer (as insurance) and the user (via an excess system). The insurance will only pay out what is 'reasonable and customary' and can restrict you to the local low-cost provider of healthcare. And it still ain't cheap. And it has to pay for practitioner malpractice insurance and the cost of administering and checking all of the payments. It ain't cheap in the non-NHS world either. I know of a Guy that is waiting for a gall bladder removal op; 22+ weeks wait on the NHS. Private? Eight Grand - with one night in Hospital.... 3 hours ago, rockershovel said: Aren't motorways supposed to be a higher specification than A roads, with a higher speed limit in accordance? Both 70mph. 5 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dave Hunt Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 (edited) Apart from the forecast weather, a good weekend beckons as tomorrow morning I'm off to St Albans for a couple of nights whence I will be taking part in a Midland Railway Society outing to look at the Midland's London extension, or rather what evidence of the Midland's activities there still remain, and not returning to Hunt Towers until Sunday evening. Quite a bit of train travel will be involved going up and down the line and I daresay much gumbashing and ale quaffing will also feature. I am also travelling to and from St Albans by train, which will be an entertainment in itself as outbound there are four changes and on return no fewer than five. It will be interesting to see whether the plot works OK. If not, there may well be material for a rant or three. It's quite a while since I was in St Albans; the last time was when I was visiting Hawker Siddley Dynamics at Hatfield and, as the Bear and Puppers will confirm, an awful lot of water has passed by since then. Dave Edited June 13 by Dave Hunt 14 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dave Hunt Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 25 minutes ago, polybear said: Maybe 10-15 years ago a certain Defence Supplier (not the G.E. - this time....) was getting computer keyboards (£10 - 15 quid in Currys?), counting them, changing the legends on three of the keys (= sticky labels) then charging HMG £400 for them..... Back in the eighties when I was involved with the production of a simulator to go with the F4Js that we were buying from the USN and for which I was the project pilot, Ferranti's were buying switches from Radio Shack for something like 50p that were identical to those for which McDonnell Douglas wanted about $50. The excuse was that they were quality controlled to be able to withstand 8G and the vibration and temperature changes associated with a fighter cockpit environment. Yeah, right. Dave 7 4 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium J. S. Bach Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 7 hours ago, PhilJ W said: The problem with the US tax system is too many loopholes allowing some (usually wealthy) persons to avoid tax. Yet political parties of all colours are reluctant to close them, why? because the tax avoiders make donations to almost every party. ...snip... There, I have fixed it for you! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 More importantly whose ruined the weather. Bournemouth currently has visibility of about half a mile and high waves and rain. Jamie 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM42 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Just now, jamie92208 said: More importantly whose ruined the weather. Bournemouth currently has visibility of about half a mile and high waves and rain. Jamie It's not living up to expectations here either. I was promised an afternoon and evening of torrential rain. We had a coupe of hours of light rain and nowt since 4pm. Maybe it running late, or stood in a queue at BHX. Andy 4 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Happy Hippo Posted June 13 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 13 (edited) 17 minutes ago, jamie92208 said: More importantly whose ruined the weather. Bournemouth currently has visibility of about half a mile and high waves and rain. Jamie It was fine until just after lunch. Since we are off home tomorrow I'm not too bothered. One bit of advice I will pass on is don't expect more than a 30 mph average speed in the county of Dorsetshire. Since you are in the UK, will you be venturing up into the realms of Dick and Dave's military banter zone? Edited June 13 by Happy Hippo 7 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyID Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Meanwhile at the opposite corner of Idaho - https://news.yahoo.com/aerial-footage-shows-catastrophic-damage-174100297.html Somewhat of a bummer as I will probably use that route next Winter. It's a pretty wicked road when it snows and not one I will use after dark. 1 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dave Hunt Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 32 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said: Since you are in the UK, will you be venturing up into the realms of Dick and Dave's military banter zone? No, Jamie has said that he has to get back to France as if he came up to Hipposhire he may have to buy a round. Dave 1 13 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
br2975 Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 Taxation................ . Bought our first home in 1978 . The interest rate then was 17% . We got by. 2 3 2 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said: It's quite a while since I was in St Albans; the last time was when I was visiting Hawker Siddley Dynamics at Hatfield and, as the Bear and Puppers will confirm, an awful lot of water has passed by since then. Dave Not sure exactly when HSD became BAe (Puppeeeeeeers......), but that'll be 43+ years ago. 1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said: Back in the eighties when I was involved with the production of a simulator to go with the F4Js that we were buying from the USN and for which I was the project pilot, Ferranti's were buying switches from Radio Shack for something like 50p that were identical to those for which McDonnell Douglas wanted about $50. The excuse was that they were quality controlled to be able to withstand 8G and the vibration and temperature changes associated with a fighter cockpit environment. Yeah, right. Dave In the days when the 10pm news (or was it 9pm news?) finished with "And Finally....." (20+ years ago at a guess) there was a story about a worker in the US DoD querying just what was so special about a "Missile Aerial Spanner" - and he wanted to see one. It turned out to be a cheapo Piece of Sh*t made just like those stamped out of steel by the likes of Raleigh, Qualcast etc. and supplied with their products. It turned out the Manufacturer (Lockheed? General Dynamics? A.N. Other?) was charging the DoD $100K EACH for one of these spanners.... Once that had been discovered the DoD started looking at the prices of EVERYTHING to see what they were getting for their money. 8 2 2 1 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 1 hour ago, polybear said: Oh yes.... Maybe 10-15 years ago a certain Defence Supplier (not the G.E. - this time....) was getting computer keyboards (£10 - 15 quid in Currys?), counting them, changing the legends on three of the keys (= sticky labels) then charging HMG £400 for them..... I know of a Guy that is waiting for a gall bladder removal op; 22+ weeks wait on the NHS. Private? Eight Grand - with one night in Hospital.... Both 70mph. 3 points on the licence for that man. Speed limit is 70mph on motorways and dual carriageways - 60mph on single carriageways BUT not all A roads are dual carriageways. Nor is a road with two lanes in one or both directions but no centre divider. The M11 near Cambridge is built to A road standards - 2 lanes plus hard shoulders - because the original design had the motorway starting at Stump Cross. 4 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 7 minutes ago, polybear said: Not sure exactly when HSD became BAe (Puppeeeeeeers......), but that'll be 43+ years ago. In the days when the 10pm news (or was it 9pm news?) finished with "And Finally....." (20+ years ago at a guess) there was a story about a worker in the US DoD querying just what was so special about a "Missile Aerial Spanner" - and he wanted to see one. It turned out to be a cheapo Piece of Sh*t made just like those stamped out of steel by the likes of Raleigh, Qualcast etc. and supplied with their products. It turned out the Manufacturer (Lockheed? General Dynamics? A.N. Other?) was charging the DoD $100K EACH for one of these spanners.... Once that had been discovered the DoD started looking at the prices of EVERYTHING to see what they were getting for their money. Interestingly enough, Norton motorcycles covered its overheads for many years by producing cheap "toolkit" spanners of that sort 5 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 12 hours ago, iL Dottore said: All this talk about tax has got me thinking about the parlous state of the UK and how various parties claim that the country’s dead skint, yet the OECD reports that the UK's current tax level burden is the highest rate on record (matching the 1948/49 tax levy - but without the rebuilding of a nation that came from that taxation). So where’s the money going? The NHS is an endless money pit, always underfunded (and will remain in that state until Britain has a grown-up conversation about healthcare in the UK, and does something about the incompetence and toxic corporate culture seen in far too many places across the NHS), the military has been stripped to the bone, public services have disintegrated and much of the public infrastructure is Victorian and Edwardian and almost unchanged from when it was built. So I repeat myself, where is the money going? Although Switzerland is perceived as a low tax country (27.2% of GDP versus 35.3% of GDP for the UK), personal tax burden varies from Kanton to Kanton, with mostly rural Kantons having a lower tax burden. One of the differences (and possibly the reason why the UK’s infrastructure is crumbling and Switzerland’s isn’t) is that we pay taxes to the Gemeinde (roughly equivalent to a UK council), the Kanton and to the State. These are three separate tax bills with the biggest chunk going to the Kanton followed by the Gemeinde and then the state. This means that both Kanton and Gemeinde raise funds for local needs and don’t have to go cap-in-hand to central government for funds. Would I pay more tax if I were in Britain? Quite possibly (but not certainly) and as much as I grumble about paying taxes (a common refrain across the world and across social classes), overall I am fairly happy with the way my tax money is being spent: I have a public transport system which is second to none, a clean and well maintained public infrastructure and public services that work effectively. The biggest drawback to paying taxes in Switzerland? There is no PAYE, which means you have to set aside a certain percentage of your gross income to pay taxes and the tax departments will send you two bills for each tax year: a provisional tax bill (their estimate of what you should pay based on previous tax returns) and then, after you have submitted your tax declaration, they send you the definitive tax bill (which sometimes means money back, but mostly not). And with three tax departments to keep happy, above a certain level of income, a Treuhand is definitely needed to keep things sorted out - not because the Swiss tax system is particularly Byzantine (unlike the UK and US tax codes), but the various tax departments are always tweaking the rules and regulations, making it almost impossible for someone who only deals with tax matters on an incredibly infrequent basis (i.e. once a year for personal taxes) to keep up with the changes. Some brief points: The UK tax code is around 1600 pages, one of the longest in the world (Germany's is about a quarter as long). More pages equals more loopholes. A high rate of VAT in the UK makes it worth avoiding/evading, which is why there is a thriving black economy working for cash. State pensions account for a very large portion of government spending but with an ageing population that's to be expected. The triple-lock has made them more generous over time and it's starting to really cost money. Public sector pensions are also quite generous (I know, I've spent half my career in the public sector) although for many roles, this is compensation for relatively low pay, certainly in more junior roles. The NHS is a bottomless pit for money - I completely agree with your analysis - but it's also a sacred cow with the public who are reluctant to accept anything more than throwing more money at it, preferably someone else's money. When I hear (comfortable) people talk about cutting defence spending to spend more on health, it's not taking from the poor to pay the rich, it's more like giving to the comfortably off by taking from the destitute. Benefits; no I'm not going to complain about benefits scroungers and people playing the sickness benefit system by recovering from one illness and immediately developing another. That's a small proportion of claimants and the total budget. The problem is that more than 50% of the population is now entitled to some form of benefits. This is absolutely NOT the safety net intended by Aneurin Bevin. There is no way in the foreseeable future that UK governments would give more financial powers to local councils. Mainly because voters have an annoying habit of voting for the wrong party in local elections. No-one seems to be hurrying to be elected to get into the cabinet to sign away a large chunk of their own budget and empire. 7 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenysW Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said: Hawker Siddley Dynamics at Hatfield Was that really DeHavilland? I lived in Hatfield in the 1950s and the aviation was not Hawker Siddley, at least by name. And the Hatfield->St Albans (Abbey) line still had single track down. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 3 hours ago, iL Dottore said: Continually pouring funds in to the NHS (the 2024/2025 NHS budget is £164.0 Billion) is unsustainable. So it spends just under a million quid every three minutes...... 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 1 hour ago, jamie92208 said: More importantly whose ruined the weather. Bournemouth currently has visibility of about half a mile and high waves and rain. I'd be grateful if you could sort that out by Tuesday when I'm collecting my daughter (and all her belongings) from Uni. 3 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DenysW Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 4 hours ago, rockershovel said: The NHS is seriously good value for money. Per Capita costs really aren't bad by any standards. I often disagree with @rockershovel. Not this time. Nail on head comes to mind. It's not what you spend on health (as a country, in absolute terms or £M/min), it's does it work, and are we comparing low-cost-UK (in %-of-GDP) with high-cost AN-Other to push an agenda to spend more/less. 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 25 minutes ago, Northmoor said: Benefits; no I'm not going to complain about benefits scroungers and people playing the sickness benefit system by recovering from one illness and immediately developing another. That's a small proportion of claimants and the total budget. The problem is that more than 50% of the population is now entitled to some form of benefits. This is absolutely NOT the safety net intended by Aneurin Bevin. A friend is entitled to Child Benefit but as a Company Director doesn't need it so doesn't claim it - I'll bet there aren't too many like him. 12 minutes ago, DenysW said: Was that really DeHavilland? I lived in Hatfield in the 1950s and the aviation was not Hawker Siddley, at least by name. And the Hatfield->St Albans (Abbey) line still had single track down. That's the place. It's an Industrial Warehouse Site now.....and much of the Airfield is covered in Housing.......'sterds.....🤬 3 2 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northmoor Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 44 minutes ago, polybear said: It turned out the Manufacturer (Lockheed? General Dynamics? A.N. Other?) was charging the DoD $100K EACH for one of these spanners.... Once that had been discovered the DoD started looking at the prices of EVERYTHING to see what they were getting for their money. When I worked for LM we had to do online training every year on the importance of accurate booking of time to projects. It didn't strictly apply to us because our contract with the MoD wasn't on a cost-plus basis (which is how the industry had long creamed the US taxpayer, seemingly with their approval), but it was made clear that whatever time you claimed you'd better be prepared to justify to a Senate Committee hearing. There were other courses on how to avoid paying bribes or being bribed. Despite the public image of big US defence companies, in LM at least, behaving ethically - and being seen to be - was very important. I didn't see the same at QQ. 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 49 minutes ago, rockershovel said: 3 points on the licence for that man. Speed limit is 70mph on motorways and dual carriageways - 60mph on single carriageways BUT not all A roads are dual carriageways. Nor is a road with two lanes in one or both directions but no centre divider. The M11 near Cambridge is built to A road standards - 2 lanes plus hard shoulders - because the original design had the motorway starting at Stump Cross. Guilty as charged M'Lud - I mis-read A Roads for Dual Carriageways...... Oops. 2 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium polybear Posted June 13 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 13 4 minutes ago, Northmoor said: There were other courses on how to avoid paying bribes or being bribed. I'd be far more interested in a course on how to avoid being caught taking bribes....🤣 12 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 1 hour ago, AndyID said: Meanwhile at the opposite corner of Idaho - https://news.yahoo.com/aerial-footage-shows-catastrophic-damage-174100297.html Somewhat of a bummer as I will probably use that route next Winter. It's a pretty wicked road when it snows and not one I will use after dark. I try to avoid using any mountain road after dark. There’s always the possibility of an obstruction (or a missing bit of road) or of encountering something large and stupid in the dark. (The wildlife can be a problem, too. 😉) We had something like that happen on a suburban highway here about 10AM on a Friday morning. They had a single makeshift lane open into the city in time for most of the morning rush on the Monday, and a lane open each way for the Monday evening rush. They had opened several quarries, rounded up all the dump trucks they could get hold of, and put 17000 tons of rock into the hole over the weekend. 9 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyID Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 5 minutes ago, polybear said: I'd be far more interested in a course on how to avoid being caught taking bribes....🤣 Isn't that what Swiss bank accounts are for?😀 1 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 A propos the good Doctor, the relationship between earnings and housing costs in UK was very different within quite recent memory. Of course we still had a Labour Party which represented us, which kept the Conservatives in check to a fair extent. 3 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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