Jolly Roger

Anyone on here taken advantage of PCP offers (deposit contributions, free servicing, breakdown cover and MOTs) and then paid early settlement or withdrawal shortly afterwards? I was in a Skoda dealer this weekend, they have an approved used event on for cars taken on finance. The salesman indicated that I could take advantage of the PCP deal with the perks, vs paying cash, then settle early in a month or two (presumably protecting his commission) with a little interest paid for a £500 deposit contribution and two free services. A quick search around Piston Heads and other forums indicate this is a common thing to do for people with the cash to buy outright. Of course, the legendary £1500 HPC bargain banger bought privately is another kettle of fish entirely.

https://metro.co.uk/2018/08/13/builder-daniel-neagu-used-digger-cause-4000000-revenge-not-paid-faces-court-7832964/ Romanian builder goes on the rampage in Hertfordshire with digger, tearing apart new build homes apparently worth 800K a piece (not that they look it). "He was allegedly laughing and taking pictures as he wreaked havoc on the homes". A handful of boomers are no doubt having to put their moving plans on hold while awaiting repairs. If I paid four fifths of a million for a detached house I'd want more than two meters separating me from my neighbours either side.

Nando's and similar places aren't really aspirational, more they have a certain branding cachet among particular demographics, such as the "hungover watching E4 on a Sunday morning in yoga pants while giggling about Jason sleeping with Maddie" student set. Cheeky Nando's and all that. The atmosphere is laid back enough to use smartphones and not need to have an actual conversation. Whether you like the food or not (I don't mind it) Nando's has a good sized niche that Jamie's and the others don't (no one ever fancies a cheeky £15 squid ink pasta).

Sales have gone flat, the business is on the rocks and minimum pricing would hit them hard for good measure.

Been to several McDonald with self service ordering screens, and don't think the wait for my order has ever been short. Before you had a person on the till actively filling your order there and then, at busier times maybe you stepped aside for a couple minutes. Now it's four or five staff hovering round the metal table where orders are placed, and they occasionally look at the orders on the screen, with half a dozen customers standing with receipts like they're in Argos. But it saves labour costs I guess.

Buy a cheap flat near the sea and you can have a race to see what runs out first - the lease or the building.

Why would the learning difficulties woman not have her parents, who are described as fully in the picture, play a big part in the mortgage application process and ensure she is not being taken advantage of? Isn't that what parents of disabled people are supposed to do?

Discounted dining lovers have been informed that there's 33% off at Prezzo... Looks like fans of underwhelming calzones might need to look for alternatives, fortunately there's still a rake of 6/10 dining chains to choose from.

So the rectangular flap is the lid of the toilet seat, not sure where your left leg is supposed to go though... At least you can brush your teeth and defecate at the same time. Presumably the loose electrical wiring is there to top yourself when you realise you live in a near quarter of a million quid property where you can't even soak your washing up because your kitchen sink has come straight from the gents in a posh health club.

Still can't work out what I'm looking at in picture 7, is that a rectangular toilet with an adjoining sink or what?

Wasn't the woman on the show a legal secretary? Of all the fields to offer geographical optionality surely that's up there, not like there's no solicitors in Kent.

How big are Hooters' assets?

Can anyone even fix the situation even with the best intentions? It's like that Adam Curtis documentary, the elites don't want to admit things are a runaway train so it's all about managing perceptions and token gestures. A tax change here, a regulatory review there. Like when Corbyn bleats at PMQs about "pensioners and OUR NHS", does he even deep down believe he can get it fixed with just another cash injection? It's all pantomime, actors playing a part. The problems are complexity and scale, it seems like we are reaching hard limits of what humans are capable of dealing with. You push a button one place, another one pops up somewhere else. All the trillions in derivatives, an economy interwoven with not just with energy prices but global finance, laws and agreements at various levels (regional, national, EU, global). You make one small change and second or third order effects spring up 10, 20, 50 years down the line, all the while everything is feeding back into everything else. A street seller does protesting food prices and it kicks off regional instability, setting off proxy wars all over the globe.

Thornton's branding and stores have all the luxury and glamour of a Clinton Cards circa 1989. A miracle that they even have physical shops. And Superdry? I did wonder when Supergroup floated how much mileage the Tokyo Urban Laundry Streetrace Doki Doki Gasoline aesthetic would have, and those jackets with nonsense luminous kanji characters on the shoulder were already dated by 2012.

What are the economics behind this? Doesn't the free market create efficiencies that lower prices of goods over time? I can understand a bad harvest or drought causing a temporary spike in ingredient costs, but is corporate greed the simple answer?