AlexRich

Yes, it was.

Show me the child at seven, and I’ll show you the man.

I think anybody can be scammed, although this one was a bit elaborate and many people would have smelled a rat well before they sent any money. Scammers try to catch people unawares, and then scare them into acting quickly, not giving them time to think.

And you Grinder.

Yeah, I should really be on 8chan reading what Q has to say?

What’s that smell? Bird, dog, horse? No, it’s 100% bullsh*t!!

I think the most used acronym in 2025 is FAFO … and the most used phrase will be “this is what you voted for”. They’ll be interviewed on the TV vox pops lamenting “when Trump said that, I thought he meant others”.

I guess they do it because everyone around them does it. As do people in the West. An “expression of individuality” is no more than the age old “following the crowd”. My Dad had them because he was in the military, and they all did it for the reasons above. He had them before they were fashionable and got embarrassed about them in later years. I’ve never had a tattoo and never will. It’s like buying a patterned sweater and wearing it every day for the rest of your life. When I see them on women I cringe.

Says a guy who spends his life here defending and promoting serial liar Donald J Trump - who has pardoned many criminals, including his father in law, who is now up for a role in his Administration. Hypocrisy.

I'm all for it, and live by the mantra: "If it f*cks, flies or floats, rent, don't buy"

The question really is how much Sin Sod she should pay you?

I suspect you are someone who looks for "issues" when there are none? Be a little more patient with your girlfriend and try harder to understand her. From reading your post it is obvious who the problem is - it's you.

I'm an advocate of getting your retaliation in first, at the first signs that someone intends to hit you. No point in waiting to get hit before you act. Bullies are wary of kids who hit back because they are fearful of the humiliation that comes from getting beat. So they go for the line of least resistance - the kids that don't hit back. A lesson I learned in my first two years in school. Even if you lose it is still worth the effort, as a bully doesn't want to put the work in, they will avoid you. I've never been inside a jail, but I understand that the same rule applies if you are incarcerated?

I think my point was that the technology will catch up with you eventually. And it is an offence to make a false claim. They are likely to want to recover any excess payment, and impose penalties. You are right that it is not means tested but I’m seeing articles in the media more and more that suggest that a Government might eventually go down that route for what they deem “wealthy pensioners”. You can’t rule that out in the future.

In a digital world with more and more connectivity between Government institutions like customs and benefits, combined with Artificial Intelligence, it is going to be much more difficult to claim a pension in the UK whilst living in Thailand. At some point they will catch up with you. They will run a programme that searches for people who have left the UK and not returned (or have been away long enough to be non resident) and compare that to people claiming UK pension as a resident of the UK. The you will get a "nudge" letter asking you to explain yourself. Only a matter of time.