MarkyM3

Yep I never use them nowadays in urban areas. Been on a moto-taxi a few times in BKK and used them in Samui, Kanchanaburi etc. but that was years ago. I remember meeting one youngish bar owner in Lamai who was paralysed from the waist down as a result of crashing his bike, seen loads of other walking wounded who couldn't handle a bike. No thanks. Also...most UK travel insurance policies don't cover you if you're riding overseas iirc unless properly qualified and it's stated in the policy you're covered.

I'll take over "woke" over "gammons", at least it actually has some level of meaning to people, as cliched as it may be. I'll also add that the overuse of "super" is pretty lame as well. Crept into everyday language usage like a virus 😄

Says you sitting in splendid isolation. As for the phrase "gammons", possibly the laziest slur around. No, they're just people who care about their country and the ruination of it. Unlike youself who finds it hilarious. WAC.

"You are not ready post" - what does that mean? I'm out, you don't listen. Read up on what Mutually Assured Destruction is.

Politely - you don't understand the concept of MAD. Mutual is the key word - both sides must have the equal capability to destroy each other and hence won't do it for that reason. If only one person has the ability, it isn't MAD.

Think if you look at world events like Cuban missile crisis you'll find that that's complete tripe. It's a power play. Each side knows they have the capability to obliterate each other, even if one gets a first strike in. And even if that happens, the radiation cloud and nuclear winter will get them anyway. Unfortunately pandoras box was opened and MAD and non-proliferation is the best way to deal with it. Nuclear submarines are supposed to unload if they've received no orders for a pre-determined period (though I believe UK sub commanders are allowed to make their own choice).

I remember when the-then moderate Medvedev was featured in the hi-fi press for his ultra high end vinyl system and huge record collection. Presented Deep Purple with some kind of medal when he was PM iirc, having been a huge fan of them and other Western rock bands when growing up in Soviet era. DP handed those medals back some time back, not good optics being associated with this fruitcake 😄

Been parked there for ages along with various other aircraft. The A340s took forever and a day to shift, not sure if they have all gone yet. Many airlines returned their A380s to service post-C19. Far better aircraft to fly in long distance than the crappy 777-300 which can't fly high enough and is noisy. Singapore Airlines making good use of theirs. 4 engine jet economics aren't as favourable but they have other positives so not sure why they don't work for TG, plus they are hardly renowned for tight cost control in any case 😄 TG could have looked at selling to others like Emirates, who are still heavy users and lobbied for an A380neo. Perhaps they have been parked so long they are only good for parts now, so waiting for that write-down. Probably should have gone to the desert rather than sitting in the BKK pollution for years on end.

Where's Chomper to tell us all is A-Ok with Sir Keir at the helm? 😄

Perhaps you can look into quoting stats from the the OBR - who produce official statistics for the government. Those clearly indicate that the average low skilled migrant consumes £hundreds of thousands more in transfer payments than they contribute to the UK economy over their lifetime. Not many doctors and engineers to be found in that group of high achievers. That's aside from all the social costs of uncontrolled migration such as strain on public services, population density, lack of social integration and the like. Not the narrative the BBC and Grauniad like to offer up. Companies like Dominos Pizza love these types of employees - pay them minimum wage, the rest of their incomes and benefits are propped up by the government i.e. funded by taxpayers like myself. I recall the CEO of Dominos begging the Conservative government not to increase the minimum work permit salary because it directly threatened their business model. It went ahead anyways but only seems to have partially worked - my local barber in the UK is entirely staffed by Kurds from the same village, all with families in tow, and I have to wonder how they are/were all earning enough to qualify for a work permit cutting mens hair and why there was no option of finding someone in the UK to earn the WP salary of £37k+. More like a temporary fiddle via money laundering etc. until they got ILR

Chomper has a selective memory as you've surmised. Only ever turns up on politics threads on this forum to defend the cause of socialism - highly predictable in that regard 😄 They did indeed talk about "smashing the gangs" when campaigning for election and rightly criticised the abject failure of the Conservatives in this area, while conveniently forgetting they themselves had opposed every initiative to try and stop illegal immigration including the Rwanda scheme (which they've since had a look into resurrecting via Albania and were promptly told to FO by their PM - Italy have that one sewn up). Starmer repeatedly talked about "smashing the gangs" - absolute BS as everyone knew, even the ex head of the Border Force said so in an interview. These gangs clearly have far more nous than Keir and his gang. The best they can come up with is a 50 in, 50 out per week scheme - and only on a trial basis. And the UK public is expected to see that as a win. Not really gonna fly is it when some days we are seeing nearly 1000 mostly men of fighting age, who are economic migrants from alien cultures masquerading as refugees, pitching up in the UK courtesy of the RNLI and Border Force taxi boats fully briefed on what they think they can expect from the govt. Truth is Starmer has no real plan. Expect more social unrest as time goes on.

More pro-Israeli propaganda. Problem is, most people have seen right through it now. Israel censors all the news in Gaza for a good reason - they are embarassed at what is going on there and don't want it to be seen, hence why they've banned all foreign journalists. Maybe you could offer an explanation about the letter 500 ex-senior army commanders, Mossad people etc. sent to the media begging Trump to put a stop to what is going on there, given Mr Combover and his ragbag of ultra nationalists are total loose cannons?😄 No doubt Hamas are highly culpable and need to be kicked out for good but starving people and conducting genocide can't be covered up anymore. It's also hardening what was previously lukewarm support for Hamas when they are being ground into the dust. Israel is run by ultra nationalists who want to seize a lot more than Gaza, the war it's a convenient excuse for them to grab more land elsewhere and Bibi is hoping to write his name in folklore by being right behind it. I used to have sympathy for Israel, especially after what happened in Europe in 1939-45. Now I despise their present government as much as Hamas and the Islamic mob now. The government and their supporters are hypocrites. The only use Israel has as now is a bulwark to Iran. Even Trump has had enough of it, and that's saying something.

Just to mention, I am moving most of my investments that are not in company pensions or in savings to the Interactive Investor platform. The basic fee structure is flat fee of £4.99 per month up to £50k. Portfolio any value over £50k is £11.99 a month. Trades are £3.99 but you get a free one each month on the £11.99 plan. The app is "OK" but does the job just fine. I prefer the HL one and their customer service is great but their fees I don't prefer 😄 I'm moving a fair chunk of my money off there to II. HL charge 0.45% platform fee on unit trusts, which is a joke. Where they are pretty good is for holding shares and ETFs. They are capped at a total maximum of £45 per year. If you keep those long term then HL is good, though again they have an uncompetitive fee for buying stocks (£11.99). So I'm leaving my directly held shares (currently NatWest and Lloyds) and ETF investments with HL, otherwise, I'm in the process of moving over to II. Current rough allocation of my assets is - Flat owned outright - approx 20% Pensions - about 35%, in a global mix (Global Managed, UK equity tracker, Far East/Pacific tracker, Emerging Market tracker, US equities, some bonds). Stocks - various, about 22.5% (I think your allocations sound pretty sensible, maybe add in a smallish punt on an AI stock tracker - look at the L&G fund, tech funds etc. Still think they will outperform in future.) Savings - about 22.5%, needed over the next 5-6 years. I'm comfortable with that. I am thinking to reduce the cash element some more, especially as interest rates drop, but it will go in equity income funds focussing on dividend stocks with a proven record of not going south if the market does. On that subject, I think it's fair to say some markets are fully valued now - especially the US - and unpredictable times ahead because no-one knows the real impact of the tariffs yet. Friday saw a minor panic in part because Amazon failed to heavily beat market expectations on 1/2 year results, unlike Meta and Microsoft and also off the back of more tariff curveballs. India, one market I have quite an interest in, has not struck an agreement yet. The EU has done but it hasn't brought much joy. More a short term relief. Another thing to factor in is exchange rates - I'm in US stocks (some AI/tech funds, US smaller companies, also as part of various global funds) but the expectation is the $ will weaken in future, Trump doesn't favour a strong $. I'm sticking with it because it's still one of, if not the most, innovative economy in the world but I don't expect US can deliver the same outperformance seen in the last 10 years, if you look back to the 2000s that decade was a total contrast and emerging markets took off then. Good luck to us all!

Yeah my bad 😄 Was thinking of another US company for some reason

Yet another Aussie on this forum with an unhealthy obsession with the "poms", and we get called whingers. Pull the other one😄 . FYI, UK is heavily into recycling and renewables has been for years. The air quality in UK and Europe is light years ahead of Asia, as much as I love the place. Easily noticeable when I switch between the locations. Incinerators sound good but what is being pumped into the atmosphere? Presumably can't be as bad as just burning stuff, which other posters on this thread seem to be doing. Where the UK is failing is water quality due to the privatised water companies lack of investment here. Ironically, one of the worst offenders - Thames Water - was stripped by Macqaurie, who happen to be from where....? 😄