Drayman

Just in case anyone else ever needs to know. 1. Deferred pensions and spouse cover. If you resign from your job (and are lucky enough to have a deferred pension) and die before pensionable age, then most likely, there is no deferred pension transferable to your spouse. However, if you are made redundant or get a separation package then there is, probably, a deferred pension to your spouse. Apparently this affects a lot of annuities as well. I'm no pension expert (as you can guess) but if you are making plans for your family it is worth checking. 2. Hyundai rental car with manual gearbox, even in neutral, needs the clutch depressed to start it . We found that out this morning with visitors staying over and a nice man from the RAC. Apparently its becoming a common feature on new vehicles. Like the questions on "who wants to be a millionaire", easy when you know the answer. As I said, just in case.

Funny you should mention this. Got an email this morning which started: MLG's 'NOT THE CLA GAME FAIR' SALE OFFER No need for an expensive ticket, a two-hour car park wait, rain, mud, floods, grumpy traders, rain, crowds, rain or other peoples' children... Did I mention the rain? ****************************************** telling me what you want from the offers below and I will invoice you by return, 'while stocks last'. If anyone needs a copy of the email - with pictures of what's on sale - pm me. Cartridge bags are £25 off, leather gun slip £50 off and so on, with P&P inlcuded. We've got a couple of his leather cartridge bags - nothing fancy but thick saddle grade leather and lasting well despite abuse!

This should get folks thinking about the rights of a child. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18833145

Didn't mean to infer they were set as a trap but we all know that if nets are up things get caught in them - it isn't the first time and won't be the last. If the RSPB have any balls they should go after the folks responsible for the nets and their maintenance and send them the bill for the brigade call out, any lost local business etc. How about "Pizza Hut sets cruel "trap" and leaves animals to starve and die horrible death" - sure the Mail would like that. Or perhaps they have pigeon pizza on the menu

hmm.... one dead pigeon and one trapped. Who sets the nets, who inspects them daily ... let the RSPB take on a prosecution rather than wasting fire service time. OK, I know they won't but if someone here set a trap and didn't check it every day you know what would happen if a bunny hugger found a dead bird.

I run both Macbook and Mac desk top and PC laptop and grew up on PC desk top. Conclusions so far: 1. A Laptop and Macbook will do exactly the same for the same spec. 2. Most common software is designed for Laptops and you'll need to buy Mac specific stuff. 3. There isn't as much teenage software (games etc.) for Macs but I'm too many years past that. 4. Most problems on both stem from the software and not the machine (that's why Microsplodge plays up on both) 5. Viruses - a zillion on PC's and you must have good protection. They are creeping in to Macs but I know a bunch of people who do it without any anti-virus software. 6. Macs are much more expensive and the educational discount for most is only £50 7. Laptops have a fan underneath so if used as on you lap can get blocked or get hot (constant problem with daughter's laptop). Macbook vents through keyboard so not a problem. 8. Macbooks look cool - laptops catching up but still a way to go. 9. Battery life on my Macbook exceeded anything I could find on laptop at the time. 10. Macbooks, like any other machine, do break down. My sister in law's is always going wrong. 11. If you do presentations and travel you need to make sure that anything done on a Mac will run on PC (not a problem for you but I've seen so many folk get caught out; this is a Powerpoint software problem) 12. Macs look good - I know, but they do. 13. Different command keys but kids will pick this up in a microsecond. For my needs I would go Macbook. For my daughter's current needs (23) she has gone Ipad (did have a laptop). Plays games, does presentations for work etc, great for pictures, but no normal keyboard for school work if needed. Don' know if any of the above helps. I suspect the looking cool has a lot to do with it - as it would when you like to be seen with a nice gun!

Now I know the value of investments can go down as well as up. But, when you invest in a company you have, I believe, a reasonable expectation that it is being run according to the rules. The traders and, presumably their bosses, would know that if their actions ever came to light it would cause the share price to drop. It would also be expected to affect dividend income. Barclays share price crashed and reduced the paper value of individuals' assets below reasonable expectations and normal market movements. Therefore, anyone who needs to trade their shares would be out of pocket. If it is part of a pension plan then the pension pot decreases and so on. Whether manipulating the Libor rate affects the price of one mortgage up of down is not really the point - unless, I suppose, it's your mortgage. It's simply the fact that they were conducting business in an unethical (probably illegal) manner which was likely to be to the detriment of many when discovered. Keep in mind that this was being questioned and noticed several years ago and long before the current media frenzy. So anyone who has shares in Barclays has less asset value than they had before these "monkey"s got caught with their hands in the till. You have to expect better from a leading bank, although it seems most of them have been at it.

So the boys at the top of Barclays have done the honourable thing and resigned. I think not. They have agreed to go and their severance packages have yet to be announced i.e if you give me a barrow load of cash I'll leave. Odds on they get more than most folks will earn in a lifetime. Who says crime doesn't pay. What they should say, and the papers should report, is that they have all reached a "compromise agreement". Resignation it ain't!

As you've been advised above. The thing is, you didn't pay VAT - you paid the invoice amount which happens to have a VAT component which the agent has to charge and declare. All you're concerned about is the invoice total i.e. £1200 and ALL of that needs to be returned to you. Give them the benefit of the doubt as they may have made a simple mistake. If they are deliberately mucking you about tell them you are calling the VAT office to ask about their actions - I suspect it will be returned quite quickly

That doesn't sound right. The chief of planning doesn't "come round" and tell you his hands are tied and tell you that if you complain it will be you who's costing the taxpayer money. Read another way it suggests your parents have a case that would lead the developer to have to go to appeal. Otherwise, the council would have made the decision to go ahead even having considered the objections. If it goes to appeal the developer could lose and will just appeal again. Obviously the council don't want this as it costs so they normally roll over early in the process and give permission. So I don't see why the council don't just give the permission now. It sounds as if they are trying to direct your parents rather than work on their behalf, which neither sounds or feels right, If nothing else you could raise the profile by talking to the local papers and you may get a concerned professional local to help you out. All of the information should be available on your local council / county web site. Also, how can there be 150 objections and only one house affected. There's obviously much more to this than meets they eye.

If you click on the button in the top right of the picture he explodes

We are in the Guildford area but that's quite big. We have a good, reliable farrier if you want the details. I can also tell you about a good but totally unreliable farrier !! Guess which one we use. Drop me a pm. Chris

Fished Pevensey Bay one year with my brother and both of us had our sons with us. As the afternoon tide was going out the locals left and said "you'll catch nothing now". The fact was we hadn't caught much anyway. The boys wanted to stay so we reluctantly agreed and fished the tide all the way down. Had small flatties on virtually every cast which kept the boys entertained and made a good day on the beach. Haven't got round to trying it again but glad you reminded me as we tend to get stuck in the high tide routine.

Think its a teazel - should get the classic seed heads later in the year.

Just another use of the system - perfectly legal and done by lots. No doubt the Rangie is a "farm vehicle" so didn't pay VAT. All running costs will be VAT free then after 3 years he'll sell it to himself at a rock bottom price then sell it on the open market and take the difference. I wonder if all his cartridges go down under pest control. The watch out might be that HMRC has put the "pay minimum wage and then take a dividend" out to consultation as they consider it a loophole worth stopping. Only trouble is you would lose loads of small businesses.

Let's wait and see. Anyone remember "The man in the white suit" with Alec Guinness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ri3JpPvplg&feature=related

AVB, an employee salary of somewhere close to 1/2 million can't be sneezed at :blink:. What line of work are you in? But there are schemes for you to reduce your tax bill and accountants will know about them. But with all the schemes there's a risk. It may still be that the HMRC could win a case against K2 and anyone who has used it would have to pay back the tax they owe with interest. As it stands, and like many of these schemes, they are currently described as legal based on the opinion of tax lawyers. If the ruling goes the other way, as has happened, then folks have to pay up - and it may, also as has happened, be money they've already spent. But like you, if I can pay less tax I would do.

Said it before - if you've ever asked for the "price for cash" rather than the invoiced price and used it then you are evading tax, which is illegal. But that seems to be OK. If the accountants find a tax loophole then they have to inform the HMRC. So none of the current or future schemes will be new to the Government. Curiously, these tax avoidance schemes are open to everybody but they cost a lot. So you have to be earning enough to get in to them and make it worth your while. You don't think the schemes are run for free ...

Normally a University College is one of a group of colleges that make up a university. Think of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges which make up their respective universities. What other colleges does HAU have? My lad has just come down from the RAC so I'll get him and his mates on the case.

Cows eat grass therefore, cows are made of grass! Works for me as long as my grass is served medium rare.

I think that's a moral position rather than a real life position. For example, anyone who has ever asked for and paid cash for something that should be invoiced and charged VAT is complicit in tax evasion, which is illegal. But loads of folks recount their stories of how little they paid by doing it "cash in hand", and believe it's the right thing to do. A local builder puts all of his own house fittings and internal improvements on the bill for any new development. That way he saves the VAT. Half of the folks are saying, "I wish I could do that". The other half turn a blind eye, but nobody shops him to the VAT man. I'm not saying what Car has done is right but it does appear to be within the law. Conversely, there are many more making illegal tax transaction and evading tax but as it's "just a few quid" that seems to be alright.

Just a thought - is this a battle you are likely to win? I know there is a point of principle involved and, we don't know what the rest of the site looks like, but a 9'6" water tower is likely to stand out. And, if you get to keep your tower does that mean others can have them too. I agree that you haven't been treated properly but I don't think I've ever seen an allotment site with anything higher than a normal shed. Why not bring it down in height so it would be (I presume) more in keeping with the rest of the site and make it a little less conspicuous. As I say, just a thought.

I don't bother with toms as we always seem to go away when they need watering the most However, lots of stuff seems to have failed to germinate or is slow in growing (spinach, beetroot, sweat peas, beans ....) and that's all in the tropical climes of Surrey.

It's absolutely right to keep all these things in check but you also have to watch what the press say. Typical headlines say "taking X reduces your chance of a heart attack by 25%". Fantastic, sign me up! What is not reported is that the incidence is currently 4 in 1000 and you are now down to 3 in 1000. If you are the unlucky one it's a good bet. If you're not then the side effects of a drug for the other 996 can be enough to spoil your fun. Keeping the balance is important. In my case triglycerides have always been off the bottom of the scale and always flag up as abnormal. And every doctor so far has said .... "haven't got a clue what it means". So like the chap who jumped off the sky scraper .... every floor he passed he was heard to say .... "so far, so good".

Anyone noticed the ads for CI at 9pm on Sky. Looks like the bloke cocks a rifle then shoulders a shotgun.