Mungler

This all started with Russia; nothing to do with Ukraine (of no threat) or NATO (not bothered but thanks for giving Finland and Sweden a push). This is bleeding Russia hard, their choice, their invasion and their tough luck. You say follow the money, what’s their return on this little escapade? The Ukrainians know they’re up against it but still they go on - because they don’t fancy what the Russians are selling. Their choice and I’m glad they are getting support from the rest of the world. Putin made a big mistake - opened the door to the US sponsoring Ukraine and sitting safely at the side lines. I think the Americans can’t believe their luck or Putin’s stupidity.

Agreed. How many men / resources required to hold Ukraine ? The numbers are ridiculous and unsustainable.

Rocks at tanks? The HIMARS whilst in short supply are knocking out lots of expensive ammo dumps, bridges, air bases etc. Then there was that shiny new warship and all those expensive planes, and in the background the Russian state and economy is looking more like North Korea. Add in the $36 million in guided weaponry used to just flatten the Hall of Officers and more recently the home for the deaf, I don’t see where the boxes aren’t being ticked? For so long as the Ukrainians want to keep fighting and resisting the Russians, and for so long as the Russians won’t leave and for so long as the West keeps giving Ukraine enough kit to hold the Russians up, then this still looks like a bigger Russian problem to me.

Give it a rest. It will be over when it’s over and posting videos from YouTube armchair critics is meaningless - for every one that says the Russians will win this week, there’s at least one that disagrees and says otherwise. This is a David vs Goliath grind down; it could still be going on in some form by this time next year.

Me too. Nothing motivates quite like debt even if it’s artificially induced or there is actually no debt over the totality of the whole. And who doesn’t like treating themselves or spending money? 😆 .

Agree with 90% of that. I don’t see the Yanks backing out. The cost of having Ukraine fight Russia and set Russia back 40 years is peanuts in the scheme of things. Afghanistan was $2-3 trillion and look where that ended, and here it’s soft cost because all those US defence contractors get the contracts, the cash from which recirculates in the US economy - and all with no election losing loss of US life. If I was the US I would throw everything at keeping Zelensky alive and keep a plan B alive - probably the Klischkos - everyone in Ukraine loves boxing and who doesn’t love a winner?

Well, let’s hope Zelensky stays alive and continues to grind this out until the Russians work out it’s not worth it - in fairness they will have worked that out by now, they just need to be motivated do something about it….

I see the co-founder of amnesty has resigned disgusted at the bias reporting and victim blaming of the Ukraine. https://tvpworld.com/61761753/amnesty-international-cofounder-resigns-over-biased-ukraine-report Indeed, it’s always worth remembering that this all started with an invasion. Be interesting to see how many bridges get dropped this week and who gets cut off from where.

That’s classic doldrums. It happens. I talk to lots of people and the consensus is everyone needs a reason to get out of bed and once you reach a point of meeting basic needs you need to do something that scares or excites you. A mate of mine will when he’s feeling flat get a loan out / over spend (eg daft new car, move to a bigger house, home extension) so he has ‘the fear’ again, and it’s the fear that drives him to get back to work and stuck in again because now he has to 😆

It’s a funny old market place. All the builders in the south east are banged out and the price of Labour / materials is through the roof. We are seeing more properties where if you costed them for a total loss / total rebuild (think fire), you could not physically get those houses rebuilt in this market place for the value they are being sold at (and which makes the land they sit on effectively ‘free’). That’s pretty much anything under £300k inside the M25/south east. It could all level off - we are seeing loads of development being shelved for another day when it’s all calmed down and Labour / materials are cheaper, but hey, can anyone ever remember when anything ever actually got cheaper? Also you look at the world right now and the various affected supply chains, I really can’t see anything ever getting cheaper. So if nothing is going to get cheaper than right now (food, energy, stuff from China, building materials and the cost of borrowing money) what next? Well, stagflation is on the cards - reduced growth coupled with unavoidable rising prices (inflation) driven by forces external to the UK economy. Who knows? And when the governments of the world were planning their respective ‘what next’ after Brexit then there came covid, and when planning ‘what next’ there came Ukraine - it’s hardly worth making a plan really because it all goes out the window with the next / latest ‘out of nowhere global disaster 😆 As for renting, a Labour government is likely to kill it stone dead and this energy crisis will do for the Tory’s- so you need a plan for between now and the next general election. I would still urge under renting to the right family - find some grafters with kids that they want to go to the local school and if the monthly rent could be say £1700 a month, charge that family £1500. It’s worked for me so far like a treat (touch wood) and when you do the maths and take into account rental gaps, agents / professional fees, damage, getting miscreants out and so on, it’s an economic no brainer. Also that family can’t get a better house for less money and they will stay and be grateful - everyone’s a winner.

Good enough idea and low cost to set up, but if there’s cash being handed over (and not put into a coin slot) and you’re not there 24/7, then you will get someone nicking off you - that is the law of the cosmos 😆

In my town, the longest standing / serving shop is a coin operated launderette - little gold mine. It’s the washing double duvets, dog beds and service cleaned wedding dresses - constant trickle.

Depends what you have, what it’s like (schools, location and rentability) what it owes you, and what your capital gains tax position is. I refinanced 3 last year (50% equity in all) and fixed interest rates for 5 years. All tenanted with same original tenants and so I’d be mad to touch them. Also, sitting on cash in high inflation is genuinely bonkers - in high inflation money tends to head towards fixed capital assets that can’t be inflated and bricks and mortar are a good place to start. £100k in the bank with real world inflation at say 10% and banks paying 2% on savings, you’re down £8k in year 1. Whilst interest rates are going up, they are still ridiculously low when viewed historically and against current inflation rates. A brave person would rip a large mortgage out now, fix the rate (assuming nothing is looking like getting any cheaper for at least 2 years) and then look to do something sensible with that money - what I don’t know though 😆

I don’t think it’s going to affect anything under £500,000 right now and we have ever increasing demand outstripping dwindling supply. Seen a couple of houses go through work - £180k solid ex council 2-3 bed terraced house with decent sized garden. If that got bull dozed tomorrow, with current supply issues, you could not rebuild that same house for £180k.

This, save that the housing market is still going mental and caution is required. I’d look at commercial property. Also it depends on your kids tax status / the rate they pay. I’ve been saying there’s a crash coming for about 2 years now and it’s still not arrived but it is coming sure enough. Whilst kids need to think about pensions, sucking money off them at a time they need it the most is going to limit their life choices ie they will need access to money now when they are young, first and foremost. It all depends on the kids themselves but I’d have them (ie make them) read Rich Dad Poor Dad or go on a 1 day investment crash course before handing over 5 figures or above. Long story short, until they can with every significant expenditure ask and answer the question ‘does this put money in my pocket / does this take money out of my pocket’ then I would wait until they can before parting up with the readies.

We are beyond the tipping point and are now well into in for a penny in for a pound - we’ll all get by with higher energy prices but it’s going to hurt, there will be casualties, no one will like it and it will probably cost the Tory’s the next election but no one is going to make friends with Putin. It’s a total Russian disaster of their own making and at least we’ll be pushing a few more nuclear power stations through sooner rather than later. If only Putin would get out and about bit more and let someone have a pop at him - the queue of his own countrymen must be growing longer by the day.

The on selling of weapons is a nonsense and a standard pot stir - the Ukranians aren't daft enough to tell everyone what they are doing, planning or where they are stashing the gear. Unlike the Russians... Interesting to see that enough weapons are getting through and finding their way to another refuelling accident in Crimea for which the Russians hold the Ukrainians solely responsible for said "accident". Lots of ammo and planes gone poof. Margarita Simonyan a Putin pet and head of RT flipped out spectacularly - RT with a strap line of "Question more" has now instructed all Russians that the time for questions is at an end. Turns out they just can't get the population to stop asking questions and wondering *** Putin is playing at. Clearly there's no accountants with any sway in Russia - the balance sheet cost of this war to Russia is just jaw droppingly mental. Well done that very clever military campaigner Mr. Putin, and yes, his best weapon right now happens to be good old Winter.

Buy English. The end.

The fall out of the Amnesty report continues. This is a long read but it’s worthwhile https://bylinetimes.com/2022/08/08/why-did-amnesty-international-ignore-my-warnings-about-their-ukraine-investigation/?fbclid=IwAR09S9ZcjASy9tCT6WUT-N-izqWySPWa9E6HgmX-thlw7Px39mSdOWWKyZg&fs=e&s=cl Needless to say, there’s two distinct sides to that amnesty ‘story’

My understanding of the Palestinian casualties was that they fired 600 home made rockets at Israel, most didn’t make the distance and dropped into residential areas.

So, I have over recent years lost any respect for Amnesty international an organisation apparently fully and only stocked with Jeremy Corbyn carbon cut outs and who rarely get stuck into any Russian or Chinese issues / abuses. Anyways, they’ve taken a deserved bashing in all media platforms (except the pro Russian ones) for victim blaming the Ukrainians in their response to being invaded and all the while with no criticism of Russia for the invasion.

Someone on here in early June said it would be all over with a total Russian victory and inside a month. I think there were other predictions that Zelensky would be toppled etc (all straight off Russia Today). So, what’s the current prediction? 😆 I smell an agreement of sorts in the wind - whilst Russian artillery has flattened most of the East (the bit they wanted, well done them) but now the Russian pain is getting to a point it can’t be ignored. If a deal is going to happen, it has to be now whilst there’s good weather. Get into winter and this will drag out even longer with the Russians believing an energy advantage will get them a better deal (and they could be right).

“Many of the Russian strikes that Amnesty has documented in recent months were carried out with inherently indiscriminate weapons, including internationally-banned cluster munitions or other explosive weapons with wide-area effects. The Ukrainian military’s practice of locating military objectives within populated areas does not in any way justify indiscriminate Russian attacks. All parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects and take all feasible precautions - including in their choice of weapons - to minimise civilian harm. Indiscriminate attacks which kill or injure civilians or damage civilian objects are war crimes.” It’s just victim blaming. It’s like on Facey, round our way a Range Rover gets stolen off someone’s driveway every night. The comments are - didn’t you get a tracker? Didn’t you use a steering lock? Oh I bet you didn’t have a faraday pouch. Very few say ‘scumbag car thieves’ anymore. If Russia hadn’t started a war and invaded a neighbour… Indeed, given that Ukraine hadn’t planned for this and didn’t have military installations where they were needed, using existing structures may have been the only option.

Great come back 😆 PS German recession 😉

Well, we don't hear the cries of "this is all because of Brexit, this is what you voted for" when it all runs smoothly 🙂