DJ360

Thing is Margie, I wear my specs from getting up, to going to sleep, so they have to be comfortable. My eyesight is appalling without my specs, but very good with them. On that point, you have my sympathy.. it must be very unpleasant knowing your sight is limited, or worsening. My daughter is in that position and hasn't let it stop her doing much, but then she is still relatively young at 43. I don't go daft on 'designer' frames, but like something reasonable. I don't like heavy frames for e.g. But most of the cost comes from my prescription. I get the 'special glass', which I think ha

There are I think two issues here. 1. What is Ms Ali doing and is it legal? As far as I can tell, she is offering to help people to stay here, by exploiting 'legal loopholes'. As far as I know, that is not illegal, and even GBNews, I think, stopped short of accusing her of breaking the Law. The fact that you or I, find her activities *(Insert suitable word of choice), is irrelevant to the legal position and yes.. what she is doing is similar to legal Tax Avoidance. Exploiting the Law to get away with what can legally be got away with. The fact that she seem

In my experience, you look lovely with or without drops Margie.. Your post has reminded me of episodes from my youth, while still in primary school. I had what seemed like years of appointments at what I recall as 'the eye clinic'. Somewhere up by the Ropewalk? Long time ago... After a while, went on my own, by bus. I recall that Mum used to give me enough cash for my bus fare, plus a bit for 'some sweets'. I'd often polish off a pack of Opal Fruits on the bus home. I'd arrive and usually have drops put into my eyes then be ordered to sit with my eyes shut for 20 minute

Would that be Central or Local Govt.?

I wouldn't argue with your first sentence. GB News is a truly execrable channel in my view and I think their motives were simple racist/anti immigrant. Nothing as noble as defending the Law. As for 'evading'.. No, I don't think so. She's helping people to exploit loopholes. Tax accountants do that all the time and it's perfectly legal. It's called 'Tax Avoidance'. Tax evasion on the other hand....

I've had a look at that. I have no strong view either way re: the Trams... except that the deafening 'ping ping ping' every time they stop anywhere nearly drove me nuts on the day I decided to tour the whole system. Still. as I understand it, NCC was keen to reduce car traffic etc., into the city., and trams were seen as one way to achieve that. Seeing how passenger numbers seem to have increased year on year.. they may have been proven right. So.. as to costs. As I understand it, the Trams are based on a PFI financing deal....... not something I'd approve of, but at least it

It's certainly a mess, we agree on that. I just happen to believe that the Tories think it benefits them to keep 'The Boats', front and centre of the picture as they approach the next election. It's pretty much all they've got, given their appalling record on everything else...and it's a great distraction which keeps the focus of many away from the rest of it. In that sense, I believe the Tory 'Mandarins' are happy to keep the frothers frothing. The fact that 'the Boats', only account for 3% of immigration to the UK, is something they are rather less vocal about. Not everyone who oppos

Jim, I've looked at the 'Land Value' stuff and in all honesty I couldn't make much sense of it. All wrapped up in financial gobbledegook as far as I could see, but I still get the impression the dice are loaded in favour of the Landowner. To simplify it, it is my understanding that landowners are still pretty much allowed to demand some sort of 'imagined', or 'hoped for', free market price for their land. That, if true, is ridiculous, for the following reasons. They can only sell their land at whatever price, if there is a buyer. There will only be a buyer, if there is planning permissi

Admirable sentiments Oz, which in my book show great strength of character. You are making your contribution to the country which accepted you, whilst still maintaining a solid, but harmless loyalty to the country of your birth. I had a neighbour who moved to Oz. Even before he did so, I watched him quietly switch allegiance from St Helens RLFC, to Wigan RLFC, when Wigan were in their 'pomp'. When I took him to task over that , in 'jocular' fashion.. he got very defensive and claimed to have 'always supported Wigan'.. yeah right... He was back over here a few weeks back as p

Do you want to quote evidence to back up this allegation?

Roger my friend, please feel free to name me. I don't bite. Block my comments if you wish. There's also a report button. For what it's worth, most of the posts in this thread are political, but some choose not to attach them to a Political Party.

You are stuck in the past. Yes, I created a second account. Years ago. My intentions were not malign, but I wouldn'dt expect you to believe that anymore than you believe anything else I post. Yes.. I was reprimanded and Yes, I accepted same without whining. You haven't been reprimanded as far as I know.. yet still you are whining. Please give it a rest.

The above posts are ALL political. They are about the conduct of our society, our economy etc.. Just because the poster does not attach a Party label to these ideas does not mean they are not political. https://openstax.org/books/introduction-political-science/pages/1-1-defining-politics-who-gets-what-when-where-how-and-why However, I will endeavour not to make Party Political statements outside the Politics thread.

Yes, I omitted to mention that St Helens now make a charge for emptying Green bins. It's around £30 ish I think and they only empty from Spring to Autumn, with a gap for winter. I originally didn't bother as I composted most of my waste, but these days.. to quote Waynetta Slob.. " I cannot be ***ed". Some neighbours share a Green Bin to halve the cost. They have some sort of big rotating Green Waste wagon now,, Not sure exactly its purpose. General waste goes into an old style 'compactor' type wagon and the recycling stuff gets sorted on collection, into a wagon with several differen

That's one Council Jim, which even I, as a left of centre, if not presently Labour, thinker am not impressed with. And you also haven't refuted the legal stuff,around land pricing, which is clearly designed to prevent LAs from building Social Housing without a 'cut' for Private interests, before even contracts are issued to builders. You see, in the Tory mind.. even 'Social Housing', must be privately built and operated and provide a profit for somebody....

Of course.. We'll just have to hope that the Tories make a better fist of limiting the damage to communities around Car manufacturing plants, than they did when they abandoned every mining, steel making and shipbuilding community in the UK to its fate.

Not really in line with the facts Jim. As ever, the Tories have conspired to distort the Law, to suit the vested interests that they constitute, or represent. Until you accept that Toryism since Thatcher has been characterised by a concerted, sustained attack on both Public services AND Local Government, you aren't going to see the pattern. Have look at this: https://www.local.gov.uk/topics/housing-and-planning/council-housing-100/future-council-housing From which.. And...

Hmmm.. GB News eh? She's one Labour Councillor. whose activities, if the GBN hack is correct, seem distasteful, but even the hack stopped short of accusing her of breaking the Law. So, what could possibly be the motivation, for GB News, in drawing attention to a Muslim Asian Councillor, being a bit 'naughty' over migrants...? Hmmm.. let me think... I wonder if GB News is equally fervent in it's pursuit of the politicians and their cronies who defrauded us of £billions over Covid, or those in the Oil Lobby who persuaded Sunak to dish out more pointless North

I may have misrepresented Mrs Col slightly. She doesn't have to organise anything.. it's just that she is obsessive about re-cycling and goes into a decline if so much as a milk bottle cap goes into the general waste... for e.g. She keeps 'dud' batteries, because they quite rightly should be properly recycled, and insists she will take them somewhere.. but she continually forgets to take them anywhere, so they start to become clutter in the house. She drove around for years with a big bag of spent printer cartridges in her car boot.. insisting they needed to be taken f

Our Local Council is Labour controlled and it's often said by moaners that you could put a red rosette on a donkey and it would get elected in St Helens. And yet, when Mrs Col (OC/IC Bins in this house) missed the collection a year or so back, and called the Council in a panic.. (She gets very worried about bins), they sent a couple of lads round with a little truck, who took away the rubbish with a smile. Until recently, the council would collect 'bulky rubbish', such as old mattresses, furniture etc.. for free. These days they make a small charge, but it's worth it. They issue a d

I'm not here to excuse genuine failures on the part of Local Authorities. Jim's bin fiasco seems like sheer ignorance, probably on the part of some 'Officer', rather than the whole council. Such idiots exist everywhere and not just in local authorities... But.. if we are looking for an possible explanation for perceived council failings.... https://fullfact.org/economy/local-authorities-budgets/ From which: The above is not including the additional responsibilities dumped onto local councils since 2010.

Yes, what you say is correct. BUT, the gravel won from the Attenboro area, is not, in itself, polluting. It's rock, which tends to stay pretty much as it is without extreme treatment. I'd imagine the bulk of it is sitting quietly in concrete in assorted locations. On the other hand, although we can grass over slag heaps, or build over the sites of deep mines, we can't put the Carbon, CO2, and other combustion products of the extracted Coal back in the ground. We've released not only the energy, but the Carbon, into our planet's atmosphere, and we are seeing the result.

Ok Jim.. I'll bite... The car has a second hand value of about £800 at best. What could I get for 800 quid that would equal it in driveability, comfort, and most of all reliability? Answer.. not much. It's also still below 80k mileage. I'd save a fair bit on road tax with certain vehicles, but hardly anything worthwhile can be had new under £30k, or s/h, under around £10k. I don't have that sort of cash to spare and I'm certainly not going into debt or getting into the several £ hundred p.m. leasing trap. And despite my Civic's relatively poor fuel consumption figures, c.f. mor

A broad trend I believe, as the whole country dips from West to East, but not sure it's quite that simple. For e.g., there's a lot of coal very close to the surface around Wigan and St Helens. Until recently it was easily visible alongside the M6 and M58. During the 1980s.. or possibly later.. I can't recall exactly.. some 'privateer', opened a drift mine close to the highest point on the ridge which separates Wigan and St Helens.... yards from the A 571. It was literally in the middle of a farmer's field. It's long closed, but the gate from the road is still there. And

What's the practical difference between a political ranting over a given issue..and a non political ranting over the same issue? I'd argue that both, are in fact, political, because both concern policy over the issue in question and are attempts to drive policy in the direction favoured by the poster.