Mungler

I never really know what my day looks like and it’s tricky to plan meals. This results in a lot of grab and go. Also, 99% of the time, because of the lack of planning I only look for something to eat when I’ve left it too long and am starving. The solution is pre-prepping meals and drinking lots of water, and I mean lots. I start the day with 2 espressos, a pint of water and a bowl of porridge with 2 chopped up figs and half a banana. I am also at the age where a decent poop every morning can make or break how I feel during the rest of the day. Alas I am now at the age where I suspect that I will now be eating this breakfast forever. It’s hard because I’ve 3 young adults in the house who eat cooked breakfasts every day and turning down a bacon sandwich kills me. The problem with porridge is that by 1 pm I am so hungry I could eat my hands. I understand that is common with porridge - it does the business for 5 hours but after 5 hours it’s like a switch is flicked. As for lunch, well that’s where it gets tricky with going out and client lunches. But aim for high protein low processed. Air fryer, systema lunch box things (Amazon), chicken, rice, chick peas etc. Massive ball ache and it all gets rather unexciting. Also, watch the diet soda drinks and swerve them. Ditto booze and evening snacks which is where everyone over 40 appears to fall down. Ozempic works - it just kills the appetite which partially recovers in the evening. Fasting works too, but like all obvious depravation dieting it’s soul destroying.

The NHS was created for a different generation, in a different world, with a different demographic / population. It needs to be torn down and replaced with something fit for purpose and returning better service and value. It has to fail and fall over under a Labour government, and it will. Anyone sane will cheer rather than keep throwing money into the same leaky bucket and expecting a different outcome. Indeed, when has the government (and government) ever run anything properly or delivered any project on time or in budget. If we scrap the NHS and go for some hybrid private / state system (which works well all across the continent) then open market forces will determine doctors remuneration. If they’re worth £100k as newly qualified then they’ll get it. And it will stop the country being black mailed / held over a barrel.

Ukraine are bearing the brunt of either slowing or stopping Putin. Putin is a narcissist and he’s trying to patch the old union back together and make the history books. At least every sane person can now very clearly see that this war was never a special military operation or to curtail NATO or to chase Nazis etc. - it’s an old fashioned land grab. Anyway, the Ukrainians are losing men at an alarming rate to defend their country (as is their want / right) and the least the rest of Europe can do is bung ‘em a bit of kit. I’ve seen people claim that Trump is a Putin asset who has deliberately set about to undermine and withdraw US support from NATO, and with that the French in particular have been punting for a European army (run by the French of course). I think the yanks are getting bored of being the world’s police force (with little or no thanks) and currently the US is being drawn back into the Middle East and there remains the growing spectre of China and Taiwan. Geographically and politically, Russia is first and foremost a European problem. However, if we take a look at historic NATO subs and contributions, those countries that were considered the back bone of the European Union have been the biggest moochers - a quick Google will show that France has contributed next to zero to the Ukrainian defence effort. They don’t make the first page of the contributions table. There is only cohesion in Europe when it’s all sunshine and flowers; add a bit of stress and you see the national interests take over and fault lines appear. This is the EU I remember growing up, not the EU the holiday home owning remainers will try and shove down our throats. We are now watching the unravelling of the EU.

Needless to say my wife thinks I’m crackers. We don’t use the Kai Shun knives (circled in red). Scully if you have need of any drop me a PM. I bought them off here years ago - from a pro chef Ddanby (?). Quality knives and far too good for our household. Will take art and cash in PX 😆

I have a ridiculous quantity of knives and am still on a journey to find the perfect set. As has been mentioned above, knives are very personal and we all have our everyday favourite(s) don’t we; mine happens to be a €10 utility knife I bought in a hyper market in Menorca whilst staying in a self catering villa. My top tips: 1. Stay away from anything that won’t go in a dishwasher or take some practical / rough treatment. I do chuckle at the thought of taking the shaolin monk hand made wooden handled knife down from pride of place on the mantle piece when wanting to chop a bit of cheese and slice a tomato and to then hand wash / dry it and run it through some daft time consuming lansky system to put an edge back on it. That’s not the real world and who has the time for that sort of caper? So, get something with a metal or fibrox handle. 2. Pay the money and get to keep the edge. Conversely get cheap and easy to use / sharpen. Amongst my knives I have a gaggle of the likes of the Viktorinox fibrox knives - cheap, go in the dish washer and tactile but be ready to sharpen them often. Again sharpening isn’t a problem because they are cheap enough to quickly drag through an ‘any sharp’ type of sharpener and if you lose fractions of the blade at a time it’s no big deal on a £20 / £30 knife. Indeed it will still take you years to knock into the profile of the blade / create a heel on the knife blade. 3. If the OP’s son is looking at pro stuff that’s up to the task in all respects then he should look at the F Dicke Red range (they’re on Amazon). Indeed anything out of the F Dicke range that goes in a dishwasher will do. German knife, tough blade and goes in the dishwasher. 4. as for knife sharpening, this is where I started and often return to: https://sharpeningmadeeasy.com again and I can’t emphasise this enough; anyone who has more than one knife and who uses their knives with any regularity will not have the time or inclination to laboriously lansky / spiderco each and every time. An automated solution of sorts is required. Ditto for hand washing - it’s not the real world.

Still in progress. Will let you know this week once I get back on site.

That’s bang on and more so for the South East. If you Google the average car commute journey you get this (and which is in the EV sweet spot really).

Indeed. But I fear no one actually reads these posts or takes on board what actual EV owners and drivers are saying from their first hand and real world use of the vehicles 😆 My EV went in for its first 10,000 mile service (which it didn’t need anyway); total cost £300. No road tax, no Ulez, no congestion charge and less than £70 a month in electricity to run. Factor in massively tax efficient business leasing (and my throwing the keys back after 3 years) and it’s a total no brainer for me - the car appeals to both my inner child and my inner accountant. For people looking to keep an EV long term, IIRC the Kia EVs come with a full 7 year or 100,000 mile warranty. And don’t forget people, we are still early days into EV. What’s coming over the horizon from China (and in particular battery tech - range and longevity), EVs are going to work for more and more people. Edit Was there all this nonsense when hybrids first came in. Were people screaming that a Toyota Prius would fall apart after 40,000 miles or cost the moon to fix? 😆 Whenever I get in an Uber I always ask the driver about the car - miles and problems. 90% have a Prius with well over 100k miles and all tell me they’ve never had a bill beyond routine servicing. The remaining 10% are Ionics with similar stories. One driver said he had 250k plus miles and was gutted he had to get rid of it because of some cab licensing rule about vehicle age. He said he flogged it to a mini cabber in Manchester who after 2 years put a bundle more miles on it without a bill beyond routine servicing. This brings me onto my client who has had a Tesla for over 10 years. That car has 180k on the clock and a similar ‘no bills’ story to go with it. The client is loaded and was asked why he hadn’t got a new one - answer - why? It’s peanuts to run, he lives in london (ulez and congestion) and it’s design makes it still look modern. More real world information for everyone to ignore of course 😆

This topic has been done a thousand times. My last cars were Audi SQ5 (3 years), Audi SQ5 (3 years) (both leased), BMW 640 Cabrio (bought) and now the Jag IPace EV. My next car will be electric because it works for me and all EV cars are phenomenal to drive. They are enormous ‘fun’. Top of my list currently is the BMW M series EV - now there’s a car to make your pants twitch. I business lease (because there’s still tax efficiency in leasing an EV), I’ve got solar panels on the roof at home and pre the solar installation the EV was costing me less than £70 a month to drive (and drive it hard I do). They’re not for everyone. But I don’t know anyone with an EV who would go back to petrol / diesel or who has one for environmental reasons - it’s all about driving experience and tax as far as I can tell. There we go.

Ah I forgot about the selective licence - £1k in round numbers. Just another tax and cost to factor in.

We under rent all our properties and have kept all the original tenants because: 1. There’s my business partner and I and so any extra rent is immediately split in two 2. then lose half in tax (in round numbers) 3. then factor in zero void periods, zero agents / letting fees and dealing with the unknown (and who knows who you could next be letting through your front door) 4. we got into property following rich dad poor dad; passive income, let it wash its face and put a little in the bank and see where we are on capital values in twenty years, ten years of which have passed in the blink of an eye and in that time we have made more in notional capital growth vs rental profit. Alas the Tory’s have torpedoed capital gains tax allowances, mortgage interest relief and now there’s the spectre of no fault evictions. We’re likely to pull stumps and sell up. We’ve been edging into commercial property via a SIPP. Back to the original question, if your landlord is on the wrong side of a high mortgage interest rate and given market pressures, the rent is going to have to go up I’m afraid. That’s said, if you pay on the button and are low aggravation chances are there’s a deal in there to keep you as a long term tenant because your landlord will be reviewing everything (including 1-4 above). Lastly, everything I’ve read about capital assets in a period of inflation says to hold the properties however it’s the current government that’s killed it for landlords (and in so doing has killed it for tenants with restrictive supply and high rents), and I can’t see a Labour government going any easier or residential landlords.

If you went once, then you’re in the clear because whatever you saw or were offered you didn’t return. Those that went many times, well, that looks very very bad indeed. In the documentary about Epstein they hinted that he amassed his original fortune by blackmail and then cemented it with power and more blackmail. The hard drives to all his computers and cctv systems were missing. Someone or a group of very powerful people wanted that evidence and Epstein dead. Anyone still actually think Epstein topped himself and with the knowledge that there was at least one ex-president who might be able to pull a string or two for him.

I used to live next door to a high ranking police officer who told me this too. He said policing was about keeping the cauldron of scumbags on a constant simmer, occupied / busy within their group and away from the normals. Take drug dealing away from scumbags as a source of income, and it’s not like they’re going to pull themselves together and get on a bricklaying course the next week.

More prohibition and more policing gets you "the USA" where they have scores of (private) prisons, massive levels of incarceration and yet they still face a drugs epidemic. What did Einstein say about repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome...?

An unmitigated disaster for Wales. Same for the Crankey and Scotland. Who is those lands wouldn't turn the clock back? People careful what you wish for people; well, that and "if it ain't broke don't try and fix it".

I’m in two minds. Years ago I watched a monkey test - a table full of fruit, nuts all the way through to booze and fags. Long story short, the monkeys smashed into the booze and fags first teaching us that it is intrinsically in our DNA to want to get hammered and that’s the base line. Prohibition made gangsters wealthy; JFK’s dad was a bootlegger who ran booze from Canada to the States and that’s where the Kennedy family fortune came from. If Al Capone had wound his neck in and paid some tax no doubt one of his grandchildren would be running for President now. The war on drugs hasn’t worked and isn’t working despite all the money and kitchen sinks thrown at it from Regan onwards. The war on drugs also criminalises a lot of idiots who aren’t actually criminals sic. take peak at the population of US prisons. I have 3 young lads and in their school years / peer groups drugs are prevalent and are normal course - fortunately my lot are (currently) a mix of gym freak, sensible to too tight to go down that path, but anything can change. I have seen the damage drugs can do to a developing brain and so my bottom line on any legalisation argument (which I broadly support to take money away from criminals and increase the tax take from a sector that is unavoidable and uncontrollable) is a prohibition and the toughest penalties for supplying anyone under 25. If you’re 25 and above fill your boots - we could all be pouring vodka over our corn flakes every morning but not all of us do and you don’t have to ban vodka in the name of protecting society from Itself (and which you can’t do anyway per the monkeys). Tricky one though.

Odd though, right? Perfectly rational question. And we all know you can't dislodge the terror group that is Hamas with poetry, kind words or crystals. Moreover, negotiations were previously attempted and rejected by Hamas (sic Camp David etc) and so we know that that won't work with a terror group committed to the destruction of the state of Israel. The reason the useful idiots don't address that question however, is because we are then but perhaps two more questions and answers away from showing their true intentions and their support for the eradication of the state of Israel (which if they had any understanding of the factual history they would realize is bonkers and just boils down to old fashioned antisemitism). I've still yet to find a hard lefty who will give a jew, any jew, an even break.

And because of their history they take the threat of extermination quite seriously. Yes and Hamas didn’t get the help they thought they would from Iran, but they’ve had plenty of help from the usual suspects and useful idiots. .

Indeed, and why wouldn’t they and why shouldn’t they?

What was telling for me was when the Guardian held back the story of Hamas attacking Israeli civilians, wait for the inevitable Israeli air force response 6 hours later and just so they got to run the story of the attack on Israel but leadings with photos of Gaza up in smoke. The Palestinians (aka Hamas) were offered a 2 state solution under the Camp David accords but they rejected it in favour of continuing to try and wipe Israel off the map. The sane know which way is up in this and what happens next when you invade Israel and slaughter 1500 of their civilians. There we go.

Given that Hamas have had a tight grip on Gaza and the populace for well over a decade (controlling education, media, health services and cancelling elections etc) and are launching rockets and are dug in under those schools and hospitals etc., how are the Israelis to dislodge, fight or otherwise forcefully dissuade Hamas from future attacking Israel and murdering Israeli civilians? Indeed, the advance notice the Israelis provided to evacuate the city appeared to be fair warning of what was going to have to happen next.

Douglas Murray made a good point about the support that Hamas have from the Palestinian population and how the wider Palestinian population (brain washed from birth under a Hamas state controlled education system) behave. The naked dead body of the girl paraded through the streets of Gaza - no one person stood in disgust or shyed away in fact they all came out to kick and stab at the dead body. Barbarians.

It’s the useful idiots and it stretches back to dreamy socialist ideologies, however, we don’t have an infinite supply of land (eg housing), services (eg nhs), or money (eg tax revenue) or income (eg jobs). Aside from the indigenous population already here not unreasonably thinking they should get first crack at what’s available, the dreamy lefties think that everything but everything can be fixed with an infinite supply of other peoples’ money (and that ‘other people’ will sit by and poke up with that 😀

That’s nonsense. 5 seconds on Google and… By contrast, in the year to June 2023, detections of irregular border crossings at the external borders of Europe increased by a third, and irregular arrivals to Italy across the Mediterranean have almost doubled. I won’t paste the links, no one seems to read them 😀 So we have a massive increase into Europe as a whole (and with most European countries now rebelling on immigration; Germany, Sweden, Holland, Poland, Hungry etc.) and yet, singularly, the reason our illegal immigration stats are through the roof is because we left the EU? 😆 Brilliant. You must work in the Home Office. As an aside, the better argument to make would be in relation to authorised migration following our exit from the EU (which is through the roof as a result of deals being struck) but at least we know who those people are.

Ponzi scheme. Ask anyone who wants smaller class sizes, shorter NHS waiting lists, a same day doctor’s appointment like the old days, the M25 not looking like a car park 24/7 etc