Grimbert

I don't think it's a bad thing. If you go and visit some cathedral abroad like in Spain or Italy there'll be netting on the outside of the scaffolding with an image of the cathedral that exists below. They don't do that in York, just plain green netting for us. Bersterds. This is the same. It looks nicer having a smiley shop front rather than a shuttered grey one. If I was paying my '000's of pounds each year in business rates for the privilege of selling on that street I'd want the council to spend it on something that makes the street look nicer and get people to walk along the street. I don't see the problem.

It's because there has been too much money around. Councils will throw it at people and causes that don't need it, just because they can. I'm looking forward to austerity. We'll all enjoy bonfires, going to the park, a brass band playing in town, instead of £120 on Alton Towers, £30 on going to the cinema, etc.

So French houses are less affordable to French people than English ones are for the English? That doesn't look right.

This appears to answer your question

Yes but looking over the last 30 years we've seen the pound below $1.50 a few times. $1.60 looks about average, really, and doesn't make the USA particularly expensive. $2.10 was exceptional and made America cheap for us. Not that you aren't right. It's just that the effect of QE etc has been to make the pound fall back down to its average level. We'll see how far down it goes, but I changed all my holiday money for next summer at over $1.60.

Still £70-80k. Link These places were going for between £15,000 and £30,000 before 2000 depending on whether they have front gardens, etc. I never heard gunshots round there or had problems from neighbours - you have to go nearer the University for that. The risk of buying one of these places is that no-one else will want to buy it off you when you want to move up.

It links to HPC as well. Perhaps we'll get some new friends.

The Hryvna is doing well against Sterling - I will be taking Euros

Just so that southerners really understand that back-to-back does actually mean that - not terraced with a back yard, go to google maps and go to street view on 113 Harehills Road, Leeds. You are right in the middle of such an area. I have lived in these houses before - you have 3 next door neighbours to annoy.

My brother and I are off to Kiev later this month to go Kalashnikov shooting and to watch the rugby on telly, apparently. I'll report back on any riots, societal collapse, Russian invasion etc when i get back.

We don't meet the convergence criteria from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_convergence_criteria 2. Government finance: Annual government deficit: The ratio of the annual government deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) must not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. If not, it is at least required to reach a level close to 3%. Only exceptional and temporary excesses would be granted for exceptional cases. Government debt: The ratio of gross government debt to GDP must not exceed 60% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. Even if the target cannot be achieved due to the specific conditions, the ratio must have sufficiently diminished and must be approaching the reference value at a satisfactory pace. We should be all right though because they believe everyone coming knocking on the door.

I know you're right So why are we even talking about it?

She's turning into a right fvcking Pharisee though. It's all very well recanting your evil ways but doing it in return for a few hundred quid for a poorly written article I could have made up (like she may have done) makes it look like crocodile tears. Count: 1 metaphor, 1 simile.

They're bits of shiny purple paper. Useful to represent money. Gold also represents money. I'm not saying the monetary system shouldn't exist, but it is all a matter of faith, that the labour I do here can buy some food there without having to bother with the tiresome nature of barter. (I'll do one hour of payroll software support in return for 3 happy meals) This means, to me, that whilst 'things' are in that limbo state of 'money' - not yet converted into actual goods, they are not covered by this act.

Is there a good diet coke?

I guess money doesn't really exist, and paper money only represents that non-existent money, so this wouldn't apply. Like Stan: It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them. Reg: But ... you can't HAVE babies! Stan: Don't you oppress me!

Devaluation

Today i received 5p in pre-1992 copper coins. I have therefore immediately gained more than 3p on my initial outlay. I will be careful not to spend it all at once. (1p pre-1992 is worth c. 1.68p) Perhaps I should start up coppermoney.com.

Could this mean the beginnings of a return to gold as a currency? "while the gold serves as collateral for the credit card, which has Silver to believe it’s a “win/win/win” situation." - I had to read that 3 times before I realised Silver was the bloke's name.

I'd forgotten all that. I'm too "hard-working" to make sandwiches every morning so I have to pay 3 x £10.75 x 38 weeks/year = £1225 net, £1870 gross. Prescriptions, dentist, etc etc.

It makes going to work look like a lifestyle choice. If I didn't enjoy my job, get on with my colleagues and find idleness depressing and boring I'd have little incentive to stay.

As a nearly middle-aged single parent of three children I thought I'd work out how much benefits I'd get if I were made unemployed. At the moment because pension contributions are deducted from net income for the purposes of benefit calculation I do rather well out of the system - I can decide what income I want in order to maximise the benefits yet have enough money to live. In other words the rest of you are paying my pension. This also means it is not financially advantageous for me to provide the children with a step-mother, which I would have thought society should be encouraging. Anyway, I typed my details into the benefits calculator and I'd get the following benefits: Child Tax Credit £109.62 per week Housing Benefit £199.11 per week Council Tax Benefit £23.21 per week Child Benefit £46.40 per week Jobseeker's Allowance (Contribution based) £64.30 per week Total weekly income £442.64 per week So if we multiply that up to a monthly income it'd be 1918.11 per month, which is only about £700 a month less than my income now. If I stopped paying the pension and took one less foreign holiday per year we'd be no worse off. I'd keep the car. Grossed up, someone without children would have to earn £34,503 to take that amount of money home. edit : can't add up

Were there any questions and answers afterwards?