Trip Hop

If you're a refugee or asylum seeker in the UK, you get free entry to all English Heritage sites. Wales have gone one further and you can get free bus travel there and back!

Not allowed to charge in the UK to the best of my knowledge too but once cash is completely gone, you're at the mercy of the banks and they could start charging for every transaction like they did back in the 70s/80s/90s. Hence why I was always try to keep cash alive.

Cash only here unless it's something big at a reputable store and still like my cash in the UK too. Perhaps someone can enlighten me here but I thought the Thai payment QR codes only work with for those with Thai bank accounts?

If this is from an existing structure things like this don't happen immediately and cracks would have been visible first. I'm not sure how close this is to the ongoing works but in the west when we are building anything similar near to existing structures, they are inspected regularly as well as being continually monitored for the slightest movement. A similar process here could no doubt have saved this man's life as well as others.

Employee NI is paid at certain percentages on your gross earnings over certain thresholds. Similarly income tax on your salary is paid at certain percentages on your gross earnings over your tax-free allowance. Neither is deducted before calculation of the other. Employee contributions to an employer or personal pension attract tax relief either at source or later through your tax return. Employer contributions to an employer or personal pension are paid gross and excluded from corporation tax. Tax relief on both types of pension contributions apply up to a combined maximum of £40k contributed to your pension each year. When you withdraw your private or employee pension it is treated as taxable income and taxed once it exceeds your tax free allowance.

Look I could harp on about the £35k that the government cost me over Covid that would be worth double that now if it was invested with my other money. Or the £40k that my LA cost me with their lies about 15 years ago which similarly would have now been worth 3-4x that amount. I just don’t because it’s only money and in the words of my very wise father, you won’t be the first and you certainly won’t be the last. Life is too short to be bitter, so as said, get over it!

Get over it!

Not necessarily, the term banker is commonly used for both investment bankers and those that just work in as bank. In the case of the former you might be correct but in the case of the latter definitely not unless well up the management chain.

Missed that bit and very strange how anyone can pay NI without an NI Number for which you need to have at least a spousal visa and be in the UK?

From recollection and a quick search to confirm my memory, not entirely true. Contracting out SERPS was initially brought in for members of defined benefit (DB) schemes but later expanded to anyone who was in an appropriate government approved private or employer pension. True that if the 2% reduction in NI was paid into a suitable scheme as required and invested in certain funds, it will have brought benefits. However many lost out either through their money being invested in investment funds that didn't perform well or cashed in at the wrong time such as a stock market crash resulting in a lot of class actions for wrongful information being brought against the financial institutions that persuaded them to opt out.

Not really, total taxable income of about £23k I estimate.

Don't make the mistake of back paying for any more than 35 years in total though as that is the amount for maximum state pension.

There's no pleasing you is there? 🤣

Minimum qualifying period is 10 years, so if she was paid over the secondary threshold for 12 years and has IDLR, she will be entitled to 12/35 of the full state pension. She might have to go back for a couple of months to sort it all out though and it would become frozen as soon as she left again. If you know her NI Number you can check how many qualifying years she has and an estimate of her pension entitlement on the .gov website. Just Google "check qualifying NI years UK state pension" and it should come up?

The local dole office, you can use it as a mailing address I believe?

A common misunderstanding about NI and your state pension which is actually funded from taxation receipts. They do however rely on your number of NI qualifying years to work out how much you receive. You don't actually have to work to qualify for a year though as claiming unemployment allowance or sickness benefit is classed as the same. So it's a mad world whereby if you do work a little but paid under the NI secondary threshold you don't get a qualifying year for your pension but if you don't work at all and sign sick/unemployed, you do!

I don't think that there is a set period. You just go back, inform the DSS/HMRC that you are back living in the country and give them an address. I suppose it will take a few weeks for any paperwork to be sent out and completed but as soon as that's done you can technically leave again.

The guy has made a few mistakes, there's no need to be nasty. I personally wouldn't wish any ill on yourself, even if you do come across as a right d*ck! You must have a very empty life to have nothing better to do!

Where have you been for the last 20 years or so, maximum 100ml for each individual container has been the standard since these rules were brought in worldwide? A standard Ventolin inhaler is 100ml so you could carry 10 if you so desired?

Yep, they’re trying to catch up with the rest of the world! 😁

i honestly don’t see what your point is here? Respect the underwater environment, don’t touch it and leave it as you found it is drummed into every student at the outset. Correct buoyancy appreciation and control is a skill that comes with experience and practice. A certificate stating you can take reasonable underwater photos is not really going to add anything more. When I was diving regularly I wasn’t exactly the best at taking photos, however give me a wreck to penetrate (where correct buoyancy is crucial) and it was a different matter.

I agree 100%, not just to protect the reef etc but also for their own safety. As a former DM who only occasionally dives these days, over the years I’ve had to stop quite a few runaway ascents where an inexperienced or trainee diver has had their mind anywhere else except on their buoyancy.

I agree with your first point regarding being able to have correct buoyancy control whilst your mind is elsewhere i.e. the camera and the subject. However an underwater photography course will add very little, as these are mainly concerned with preparing the camera, basic photography principles and how they are affected by the underwater environment.

Very true. I abhor the use of knives but as you say we don’t know what has gone on previously. Threats may have been made towards the assailant or his family and he just decided to settle it on his timeframe. If this is the case though, he could have done things differently.

No BS but either he has a doppelgänger or I seen him on Koh Chang earlier today.