State pensioners, like me, have already had a £200 winter fuel allowance and will get about £550 next April. There's nothing to moan about there. Also, over 65's get to keep their full £20,000 tax free isa allowance..
Anyone who complains about the reduction to £12,000 from April 2027....well....you can hardly claim poverty if you can afford to save that much.
Everyone's circumstances are different. My wife still, officially, has 12 years to go until retirement. She won't wait that long, of course.
Better off spending any cash in ISAs now, can't see any point in being the richest guy in the cemetery.
- 27 November 2025, 07:49:53
- Welcome, Guest
News:
Please play nicely. No one wants to listen/read a keyboard warriors rants....
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1
on: Today at 07:48:48
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by STEMO | ||
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2
on: Today at 07:42:32
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| Started by Marks DTM Calib - Last post by Kevin Wood | ||
What they're saying is there were pre-accident fatigue cracks in 3 of the 4 mounting lug surfaces for the #1 engine. The engine "fell off" when the 4th lug gave way under the overstress of the take off. Whilst it's possible a bird strike was the straw that broke the camels back, the root cause of the accident is the fatigue cracks. It appears the design can withstand cracks in one and two of the 4 lugs, but if/when the third cracks the fourth isn't strong enough to hold it all together. And you wouldn't expect it to be. Indeed. Bird strike or not, that aircraft was an accident about to happen when it started its take-off roll, and potentially so is the rest of the remaining MD-11 / DC10 fleet. Given its obsolete status and the fact that there are relatively few airframes left flying, I wouldn't be surprised if the inevitable inspection and rectification actions that would be required to continue safe flight turn out to be prohibitively expensive. |
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3
on: Today at 07:36:42
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by Kevin Wood | ||
Point being just because your house is hypothetically worth X amount doesn't mean you paid anything like it .. and the fact that this measure is conveniently based on an arbitrary value rather than just applying to the top council tax band, for example, means that this will be yet another tax threshold that they can conveniently freeze until, in a decade or two, after a bit of inflation, we're all paying it. .. and whereas the council tax banding system has arguably worked OK for a couple of decades without constant re-valuation of properties, this one won't. Not that Rachel from accounts has that long left in the job. ![]() |
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4
on: Today at 07:29:24
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by Rangie | ||
State pensioners, like me, have already had a £200 winter fuel allowance and will get about £550 next April. There's nothing to moan about there. Also, over 65's get to keep their full £20,000 tax free isa allowance.. Better off spending any cash in ISAs now, can't see any point in being the richest guy in the cemetery. |
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5
on: Today at 07:08:11
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by STEMO | ||
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I've just read that this 'mansion tax' is likely to raise £400million by 28/29. FFS, is it worth all the news inches for such a paltry amount? (In the context of government revenue)
It just smacks of labour trying to show that they're whacking the wealthy, for the benefit of a few dim back benchers. |
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6
on: Today at 06:46:14
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by STEMO | ||
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Even less than I said then. But, as you point out, it will be very difficult to precisely value a home at, say, £500 under £2million or £500 over £2million.
It's also going to be a nightmare estimating annual mileage for EVs. |
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7
on: Today at 03:04:13
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by Mr Skrunts | ||
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All the mention of the mansion Tax of £4500?
I thought it was set at £2500 for homes over £2,000,000 So after googling several reports are saying A new council tax surcharge, aka the “mansion tax”, will apply to properties valued at £2m or more. A flat amount will apply to four bands over that value, starting at £2,500 for properties valued between £2m and £2.5m. The mansion tax will be capped at £7,500 for properties of over £5m. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce910z9jd3po Also mentioning that it starts in 2028 So this then starts a new debate based on the value as there have been reports of the council tax ratings being totally out of date so how would they value a £2.000.000 property? On its sale valuation, it's Rateable value or is this why the valuation/Rateable value discussion was on the news a while back was started so that they could amend it knowing the Mansion Tax was to be applied. |
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8
on: Today at 01:38:43
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| Started by Marks DTM Calib - Last post by LC0112G | ||
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Page 9 of the initial report states...
Quote from: NTSB After initial cleaning of the fracture surfaces, examination of the left pylon aft mount lug What they're saying is there were pre-accident fatigue cracks in 3 of the 4 mounting lug surfaces for the #1 engine. The engine "fell off" when the 4th lug gave way under the overstress of the take off. Whilst it's possible a bird strike was the straw that broke the camels back, the root cause of the accident is the fatigue cracks. It appears the design can withstand cracks in one and two of the 4 lugs, but if/when the third cracks the fourth isn't strong enough to hold it all together. And you wouldn't expect it to be. So the report will IMHO concentrate on how/why these cracks occur, and how to inspect them such that the fault is detected when the first crack appears, rather than waiting for the engine to fall off when all 4 become cracked. |
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9
on: Yesterday at 23:31:30
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by Viral_Jim | ||
YouTube seems to think so. https://youtu.be/uBZ7NIEEvck?si=RsJt0OTwc-akTvJI It might be useful to know what the values should be. But given the age of boiler, I suspect it won't be that precise. ![]() |
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10
on: Yesterday at 23:04:56
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| Started by Field Marshal Dr. Opti - Last post by Doctor Gollum | ||
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Point being just because your house is hypothetically worth X amount doesn't mean you paid anything like it
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