CrashConnoisseur

'Tory DJ' is a resident troll (allegedly paid to disrupt the forum). The poster 'Colin Macinnes' is generally reliable.

Over on Guido, a tradesman reports that two councils he's working in are buying up ex-council properties. Is this national? https://order-order.com/2025/08/14/cabinet-office-splashes-22000-on-financial-times-subscriptions/#commentID-135068356

Nearer to home, there is the Isle of Man... ‘Isle of Man Relationship with the European Union’: https://www.gov.im/media/624101/protocol3relationshipwiththeeu.pdf ‘Who needs a work permit?’: https://www.gov.im/categories/working-in-the-isle-of-man/work-permits/who-needs-a-work-permit/

It's Green all witless land.

Irish Rent Allowance has been reduced in response to falling rents (not the other way round). Different market to the UK; even at the height of the bubble 1 in 15 Irish properties were empty.

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. "[the design process] is about designing and prototyping and making. When you separate those, I think the final result suffers." - Sir Jonathan Ive.

Indeed; UK fish consumption has decreased over the last 50 years. Our waters have been plundered by foreign boats. 'Fifty years of nutrition': http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/webpage/66549/samverdict

It's risen since the launch of the iPad... 'Apple's 2009 ad budget: Half a billion' [October 2009]: http://tech.fortune....half-a-billion/ 'Apple's 2010 ad budget increases by $190 million, but still outpaced by new sales growth' [October 2010]: http://www.appleinsi...les_growth.html

Excellent article which is remarkably accurate and well balanced. One minor criticism is that forcing landlords to register would deter some people from renting empty properties out (e.g. when working away for a year). Much better to empower tenants and increase the supply.

Just a heads up for what looks like an interesting TV programme. Attribution: 'Why our food is making us fat': http://www.guardian....s-making-us-fat

It's the OP who called it a mall. Its official name is the 'Spring Gardens Shopping Centre': http://www.springgar....co.uk/about/39

'Apple's iPad plays crucial role in Greece's debt restructuring': http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/05/22/apples_ipad_plays_crucial_role_in_greeces_debt_restructuring.html

It varies with circumstances, but in general Tax Credits are more effective than tax cuts in helping people in low-paid work... 'Can tax cuts alone make people better off?': http://www.litrg.org...s/2012/tax-cuts

Each government that comes in seems to want to reformulate and rebrand. 'Working tax credit': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_tax_credit

It would be a poorly constructed study (and unworthy of publication) if it didn't at least attempt to eliminate such confounding variables. The usual methodology for such studies is to compare with a control group that are as near identical to the group under study apart from the one variable being examined.