TorquayFan

Hang on. The MOT fee is B300 and my tax only B2,500 DIY. GN.

Hi. Saab! xxxxxxxx More than 50 years ago I had two old Saab 96 (?), the 3 cylinder 2-stroke, one with a good body and one with a good engine. I did the swap of engines before 10.00am - so easy. Those were the days!! Take the Focus in yourself, give the missis a break and take it to the tax centre. Why do these ladies think we can't do anything for ourselves. ATB

There's many centres - pop in, ask the question and I'm sure you can go in early, maybe more than a week. Check all the bulbs and the brakes then you should sail through. My local place blacks up the faded number plates too. A Focus - nice ! In my town, after you have the 'MOT', there's a drive through service for the 'road tax'. GL

Yes it can M8. No problem. If your car is driveable, it should be OK GL

Nauseus - I'm not sure where you are coming from but this - "Funny, this court says that Trump overvalued property values but then impose impossibly overinflated fines." I'm afraid those penalties imposed are typical and standard of the crazy amounts, it's the culture in litigious USA. So Trump is not singled out in anyway in fact he has been favoured. It escapes my memory but can you tell me how many criminal charges Trump is facing? A witch hunt? Or justice at last . . . . And you support him ? Is that a good idea for you ?

Yellow . . . . ""Why should Trump be gagged? No one else is. The judge's daughter in a political operative that stands to gain financially when her father convicts Trump for the BS charge." The poor Woman he abuses is irrelevant to the case, just a target dragged in. Trump should be gagged as a totally irresponsible moron who tried to overturn the 2020 election result and recently posted a picture of the USA President bound and gagged in the back of a pick up truck - (the bullet in the head is uncertain but evident). Every time he opens his mouth the ginger whinger speaks nonsense. I'm sure you're a decent Guy but HOW can you go along with this carp ?

$175 million is an astronomic amount. When the amount was reduced from $464 million (?) and Trump was given another 10 days, it caused some comment. Of course if the appeal fails, $464 will be still be the penalty but I surmise Trump was given extra time and a lower amount because the Court know he's ready as always, to holler about being a victim and martyr ! So April 15th it is then, atm ! Should be interesting . . . .

Get it right Guys Trump hasn't put up any cash at all - he's found someone to issue the bond and he has provided surety for that somehow or other. As above : "The bond is backed by Knight Specialty Insurance, a company from California. However, the court document doesn’t say what Trump used as collateral to secure the bond." I see the NY Judge has extended the gagging order to include the Judges daughter, Court Officials and Families. Trump really is a menace and I can't see how anyone can support him. Ouvrez les yeux ! (?)

If you book a room at the Hotel Vismaya on Soi 43, King Kaew Rd, B1200, they allow you to park under canopy for B100 per night. Makes a lovely pre/post flight stay and about 5 minutes from Suvannabhumi. Haven't done it for a few years, but worth a try . . . . Left my car for 6 weeks there before !

Thailand should be very concerned. Pliable as ever to China's 'charms', they have become a dumping ground for EV's hard to sell elsewhere. Thailand needs to pay attention to the continuing prosperity of it's own motor vehicle manufacturing,

Why be mean to some taken in by this story ? To trick is what it was designed to do. It looked quite plausible. Cheer up - you should be worrying instead that Harry Kane, under an ancient German Law that rules if you play in the German league, you have to play for the German National side. It's very well done https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/01/germany-invoke-rule-stop-harry-kane-playing-england-euros/ Myself I think Harry's efforts will be much missed . . .

Eddie - re. your last - of course you do get something back but what you will get back hasn't been sitting in an Eddie bucket, it will come from the current tax take. What "you've been paying" has been paid into the current tax take.

Thanks for the reply Eddie. You are right, there's much anger amongst working taxpayers about those on benefits, the costs of immigration and the high level of taxes producing a poor level of services. You seem nearer to retirement but think how working youngsters feel as they contemplate a lifetime of work, (probably unable to buy a house), with uncertainty about what their own State pension might be later as demographic trends impact. Taking away the triple lock would be perceived as an injustice by Pensioners, but if it remains and say, RPI is 2% and wage growth 5%, workers burdened with higher ever taxes will perceive injustice if Pensioners receive a 5% hike. On balance we need to save the dosh and get working taxes down by this smidgeon and every other smidgeon that we can. It's those in work now we all depend on.

Thanks for then reply Baht. I'm not suggesting means testing everybody. HMRC know what people income is and if it's over say £50K p.a. then a State Pension sacrifice kicks in on a progressive basis. And the triple lock should be replaced by RPI index only. Gotta save a bit of dosh wherever we can !

Thanks TOG for a polite reply - I realised I was on dangerous ground LOL. Your 'negotiations' re. the 'Budget Challenge' sound a bit of old Sir Humphrey to me. Some sort of salary sacrifice for pension benefits . . MMMMmmmm I understand that NHS funding comes out of the varied tax take. Re. higher salaries for CS 'jumping ship' as you say. Of course! But generally, I think CS pay has not been lagging, given the differences. ATB

Baht. However the contributions are assembled over the years, the fact is that the OAP and PS pensions come out of our current tax takes each year. The Country has never been able to tuck it away for each of us in a bucket. It's not a private pension where broadly this stuff does happen. The wider view is that it's no good us complaining about it, had the Govt in any of these schemes tucked the money aside as we might have wished, then other taxes would have had to rise substantially.

Charlie - thanks for reply and it is easy to not get it, because the figures are mind bending. My sophisticated technique, I write the trillions etc down with requisite noughts, eliminate as many noughts in the sum as poss., then do the sum on my phone. I'm a high tech Guy LOL BTW please check the sums. ATB

No I'm not Noob. CSP are funded by the Govt. whatever the contributory structure.

Nice touch Noob but If you are under 50, you should have a lot of years to come and who knows what may arise ? I'd make the effort to get the full amount and give it away, IF I didn't need it, say for healthcare (heaven forbid) or something else. ATB

Hello TOG and thanks for the reply. Civil Service Pensions are funded, by the Govt from current tax take, broadly the same as the other state pensions. With respect - in your 3rd para you claim that CS have traditionally been paid less than the Private Sector. IMO that's a stretch of the imagination and you have to remember that most CS have a much more secure tenure than PS. To contend that the 'savings' made can justify the gold plated pension schemes because it is in the nature of a 'borrowing to be paid back', is a strange idea. Sorry to hear about pay freezes affecting CS, I remember these too as a PS worker with redundancies, closures and commercial strains to cope with too. Good for you with a 50% pension and retiring at 60, you benefited from the best of times. But at the moment, such benevolence is paid for mainly by working people's taxes, many of whom are young and burdened with Student Loans, struggling to pay rent or to be able to reach out to buy the humblest home for themselves. All good fun.

Hi Charlie. Sorry but UK Govt. debt is approaching £3 trillion equating to £44,000 approx for every man, woman and child. More than £150,000 for every 4 person family. Financed by borrowings and the printing of money.

Hi Noob. You write, "As long as the books balance, the status quo can largely continue." The point is that the books DON"T balance ! Last year 2023, the Govt spent £119 billion more than they took in tax, equating to £1,750 per person, i.e. each man, woman, child living beyond our means. But that spending does include substantial payments on Govt. debt which will reduce if interest rates fall. Re. GDP there is no growth on the horizon yet so no remedy available there. We should have listened to Mr Micawber 😉

OK thanks. Well, that's a start

Come on Denim - DO suggest, please.

Yesterday, "Years of complacency have pushed Britain into a hole from which it will be extremely expensive to escape". The cost of Public Sector pensions stands at about £49 billion p.a. which added to the costs of State OAPs, £124 billion, gives a total of £173 billion, more than is spent on the NHS annually. And let's remember, "These government pensions are not “funded”: the Government has not put any money aside for them, so all the promises have to be paid for out of current income." 'Defined benefit' schemes that were once available in the Private Sector have largely disappeared over many decades, because they were in essence, totally unaffordable. But almost 6 million workers in the Public Sector still have gold plated schemes - doctors, nurses, armed forces, police, civil servants and teachers, (some of these can retire much earlier than 67! ). UK Government borrowings last year were £119 billion or about £1,750 per person, that's living above our income, each year. Outstanding UK Govt debt approaching £3 trillion equates to £44,000 for each man, woman and child. Looking at the tax burden for Pensions alone, for each of our 33 million working population, each worker has to contribute £5,242 in taxes to pay for pensions alone. Average income stands at about £33K. Given that people are happily living longer and demographics are going top-end as birth rates fall, its frankly madness to think these costs are sustainable. Figures are boring I know but unfortunately, there is no other way of making the case. I was suggesting on another thread that the triple lock has to go but it's not the only problem with pensions. if anyone reads this, I doubt these thoughts get many admirers, which gives emphasis to the idea that it's sometimes hard to do the necessary in democracies. Worth the read IMO, even though it's the DT https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/03/28/great-pension-reckoning-coming-money-almost-run-out/