shlomo

The decoupling is going as planned, I think both sides will lose but that is always the case in war Have you noticed how Europe is going full onto conscription as if they now think WW3 is not far away

I wonder how long that will take?

Our economy is decoupling from China and Russia All the benefits since the Clinton era will be lost

I do not understand the question The rental for this at this point in time is £2100 per month

https://therealdeal.com/sanfrancisco/2024/04/06/two-bay-area-railway-workers-charged-for-building-secret-apartments-inside-train-stations/ Two Bay Area railway workers gave new meaning to “transit oriented development” – when they allegedly built two illegal apartments inside train stations for a combined $50,000. San Mateo prosecutors allege that two former Caltrain officials built two secret office-to-apartment conversions in two Peninsula stations south of San Francisco, the San Jose Mercury News reported. Former Caltrain Deputy Director Joseph Navarro and contractor Seth Andrew Worden face felony charges for misusing public funds to build the mini apartments in the historic Burlingame and Millbrae stations. Neither facility is being used by the public. Worden, a 61-year-old resident of Oceanside in San Diego County, was arraigned March 27 and released on his own recognizance, court records show. He pleaded not guilty, according to media reports. Navarro, 66, formerly of the Bay Area and now of Newtown, Pennsylvania, is scheduled to be arraigned April 29. Transit workers found Worden’s Millbrae apartment in 2020, but didn’t discover Navarro’s secret hideaway inside the Burlingame station until an anonymous tip in 2022. Both were fired. Their alleged crimes have received some admiration in a region where developers can easily spend north of $900,000 to build one unit of affordable housing. Some on social media said that living in a historic train station like Burlingame, which was built in 1894 and designated a historic landmark in California, had its own appeal. “If this isn’t a case for building more housing next to transit then I don’t know what is,” wrote one user on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. Many were impressed that Worden and Navarro, who spent a respective $8,000 on the Millbrae unit and $42,000 on the Burlingame unit, managed to convert offices into housing on the cheap. “Hire that man to build housing,” wrote Mark Dinan, an East Palo Alto-based recruiter. “$42k for an apartment!” For a mere $42,000, Navarro allegedly installed a kitchenette, shower, plumbing and security cameras, prosecutors said. The duo are accused of trying to fly below the radar by making sure none of the invoices exceeded $3,000, which would have triggered further authorization from Caltrain and TransAmerica Services, the firm that employed Worden. New housing is notoriously expensive to build in California — beyond high construction costs, impact fees and the permitting process can cost thousands of dollars, fees that Worden and Navarro would not have paid, according to the Mercury News. The crime also highlighted the plight of super-commuters in the Bay Area. District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe told the San Francisco Standard that the apartments were a “convenience” for the two former railway workers. “They figured the Bay Area [commute] really is lousy,” he said.

The steady stream of refugees keeps house prices high, it is not as if Von Blair owns lots of houses

Rishi seems to be more human than the other candidates, that helps him a lot

The US is not in Europe well not physically

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/09/rwanda-scheme-deportation-flight-delays-homes-sold-bwiza/ Properties on a new housing estate in Rwanda earmarked for migrants deported from the UK have been sold to locals amid delays in flights to the central African nation. Some of the 163 affordable homes on the estate in the capital Kigali have been sold off as the Government has been forced to redraw its plans after the Supreme Court ruled that the scheme was unlawful as Rwanda was unsafe for migrants. The housing developer ADHI-Rwanda behind the terraced homes in the Bwiza Riverside estate was quoted by The Times as saying 70 per cent of the homes had been sold to “private people who want to live in them”. The Rwandan government disputed the figure but did not deny the sales. It said that it was just one of the housing options where migrants will live alongside Rwandans. “None of the assigned housing estates were ever meant to be only for migrants. The idea is to integrate migrants into Rwandan communities, not create migrant ghettos,” said Yolande Makolo, the chief government spokesperson The disclosure is an embarrassment for the Government as it seeks to drive its new Rwanda Bill through Parliament next week in an attempt to finally get the flights off the ground after it suffered a succession of defeats in the House of Lords. Deportation flights have been grounded since June 2022 when a single judge from the European Court of Human Rights issued a rule 39 injunction blocking their departure for Rwanda. Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, who visited the estate in Rwanda last year before she was sacked by Rishi Sunak, said she was “disappointed” by the apparent lowering of expectations from her original desire to see “large numbers” of migrants deported on a “large number of flights”. A film of Braverman’s visit to Bwiza, promoted by Rwanda’s state media, shows the home secretary plumping cushions in a furnished unit. She says: “These houses are really beautiful — great quality, really welcoming — and I really like your interior designer.” ‘Almost 70 per cent’ of estate sold Reports of good sales at Bwiza, which was built using environmentally friendly materials, have been widely shared in Rwanda with no mention that some units have been reserved for British migrants. Hassan Adan Hassan, the developer’s managing director, told reporters: “Currently we’ve sold almost 70 per cent of affordable homes. We are left with some units. Electricity is connected to the houses. Water and fibre optic are connected to the houses. The roads and street lights are done.” The 257-unit scheme, where prices range between £14,000 and £27,000, was funded as part of a public-private partnership between the Kigali government and ADHI Corporate Group, which said it had “captivated the attention of discerning homebuyers and investors alike”. The properties on the estate are being sold on the open market, with the more expensive homes offering front and back gardens, off-road parking and fibre-optic broadband. Bwiza Riverside estate was quoted as saying 70 per cent of homes on the estate had been sold to 'private people who want to live in them'

LOl

Something needs to be done to make benefits the option that people are choosing

The owner of Slug & Lettuce has raised concerns over its future as it races to refinance more than £2bn in debts. Stonegate, which is the UK’s biggest pub operator with more than 4,000 sites across the UK, warned in newly filed accounts that there was a “material uncertainty” around its ability to continue as a going concern. This stems from challenges in being able to refinance £2.2bn of debts before 2025. In its latest annual report, bosses said: “Whilst there is a plan in place for refinancing this debt, as at the date of signing the financial statements there is a risk that it exists over the completion of this exercise.” If the company is unable to do this, it said it “may be unable to realise its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business”. Stonegate is headquartered in the Cayman Islands and owned by the private equity firm TDR Capital, which also jointly owns Asda. As well as Slug & Lettuce, Stonegate runs the Be At One and Popworld bar chains and the Craft Union pub brand. Stonegate’s total debts were north of £3bn at the end of its financial year, some of which is linked to its buyout of rival pub chain Ei Group in 2019. The deal, which turned Stonegate into Britain’s largest pub operator, valued Ei at £3bn, of which £1.7bn was debt. Soaring interest rates in the wake of the pandemic have heaped pressure on businesses with large amounts of borrowings as the cost of financing debts jumped. In January, ratings agency Fitch warned it may have to downgrade Stonegate’s outlook if it cannot refinance its £2.2bn debt pile. It emerged in February that Stonegate had drafted in advisers at Evercore and Kirkland & Ellis to help assess its options. The warning over Stonegate’s debts comes after the company signed a deal in December to refinance a portfolio of around 1,000 pubs for £638m. Gary Lindsay, managing partner at TDR Capital, told the business and trade select committee in January he was “confident” Stonegate would be able to refinance its debts. Revenues at Stonegate rose by just over £100m to £1.7bn over the year to September 2023, accounts show, with the company recording a pre-tax loss of £257m. In its accounts, Stonegate said: “While the macroeconomic environment continues to have an impact on the group and the cost of living crisis has led to lower profit and operating cash flows than would otherwise have resulted had these conditions not existed, overall the group has delivered a highly respectable performance.”

I think the UK is downsizing we do not want to see any more problems our society is fracturing, my observation seems to be the middle class is sacrificing the white working class as surplus to requirements, we need to cut spending not find other areas to spend on. The white man in the UK and the US has by far the highest death rate of any cohart

I took the plane to Cluj and took the bus down to Baia Mare, which is Gypsy-ville I personally found some Romanians to be extremely racist towards the gypsies but not other groups, lots of old BMW and old Mercedes on the road my friend said these are all stolen from the UK, I said what evidence do you have he said look what side the steering wheel is on, I did not push the conversation as it is not relevent to me, with the money the gypsies were bringing from the UK the gypsies were buying up Baia Mara, one bad point about the Romanians were they were hard core alcholic not as bad as the poles but close and that depleted their money not the gypsies, the gypsies had more of a family structure

Somethings have gone up a lot

True, but then their are so many flash points all over this planet that even if the situation does not completely get resolved the area would still be the fastest growing region in the world

That did happen to the Gypsies in the UK, I ued to work with a Romanian who was a bit of a racist when talking about gypsies and he said when the gypsies from Romania started getting benefits their petty theft rate significantly decreased, (yes I know it is your taxes they getting)

Since the war in the Ukraine the Mediterranean economies are starting to do well, who would have thought having a major war on your doorstep would crash your economy

I would go for higher now, I cannot see interest rates falling maybe go up another 1% or 2%

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/property/article-13283695/Sharp-rise-rental-fraud-including-faking-payslips-tenants-seek-fight-competition.html Securing a rental property has been a competitive business for tenants in recent years as demand continues to outstrip supply. With that competition comes the need for tenants to present themselves in the best possible light to landlords if they are going to seal the deal. However, the lengths some would-be tenants are prepared to go to has taken a turn in the past year amid a sharp rise in the amount of fraud, including producing fake payslips. The amount of fraud among tenants jumped 141 per cent last year compared to 2022, according to analysis by referencing experts Goodlord. It suggests some tenants feel they have no option but take extreme steps to ensure they are in the running for a rental property. Goodlord analysed a sample of 300,000 tenancy applications from 2022 and compared it to a similar number last year. In 2022, 1.2 cases of fraud were picked up for every 1,000 applications. Last year, that rose to 2.9 cases in every 1,000, a rise of 141.6 per cent annually. The most common form of fraud detected in the data was payslip fraud. This is where tenants either boost their income or edit its source, such as changing a company name. And the methods being used to carry out this type of fraud range from basic editing through to the use of software, such as photoshop. The fraud doesn't stop at fake payslips. Other fraud picked up during the past year by the fraud fighting experts includes false passport images. Others flagged up as suspicious on an application include salary declarations not matching up with bank statements. And there may also be employer references from companies that don't exist or doctored documents where different fonts are used. Last year, Goodlord claimed that payslip fraud accounted for 58 per cent of all fraud cases detected, and that just one of these slipping through could cost the agent a lifetime landlord value of £10,000. While referencing teams can be trained to spot inconsistencies in tenant applications, fraud can also be detected with the help of Open Banking and AI tools, which can help spot repeat offenders. What do fraud experts look for? Through a combination of tech and human review, certain things can flag a tenant's application for a rental property as suspicious. These include: Salary declarations not matching up with bank statements Photos on ID documents not matching up with the 'selfie' photo confirmation that an applicant submits Irregularities flagged by Open Banking Doctored documents, such as seeing misalignments or different fonts on documents Employer references coming from companies that don't exist

The UK government has admitted its negotiating power over billions of pounds of cloud infrastructure spending has been inhibited by vendor lock-in. A document from the Cabinet Office's Central Digital & Data Office, circulated within Whitehall, seen by The Register, says the "UK government's current approach to cloud adoption and management across its departments faces several challenges" which combined result "in risk concentration and vendor lock-in that inhibit UK government's negotiating power over the cloud vendors." The paper also says that if the UK government – which has spent tens of billions on cloud services in the last decade – does not change its approach, "the existing dominance of AWS and Azure in the UK Government's cloud services is set to continue." Doing nothing would mean "leaving the government with minimal leverage over pricing and product options. "This path forecasts a future where, within a decade, the public sector could face the end of its ability to negotiate favourable terms, leading to entrenched vendor lock-in and potential regulatory scrutiny from [UK regulator] the Competition and Markets Authority." The document has been circulated under the heading "UK Public Sector Cloud Marketplace." It is authored by Chris Nesbitt-Smith, a CDDO consultant, and sponsored by CDDO principal technical architect Edward McCutcheon and David Knott, CDDO chief technical officer. The stated concerns of vendor lock-in follow a number of mega-agreements with major cloud vendors signed under Memoranda of Understanding (MoU). For example, AWS, the world's largest cloud provider with a dominant market share, signed a deal worth up to £450.3 million ($569.7 million) with the Home Office under the auspices of the One Government Value Agreement (OGVA). Other deals have been signed with tax collector HMRC and the Department for Work and Pensions, bagging AWS a total of around £900 million ($1.138 billion) under the MoU, which has since been updated to OGVA 2.0 and will run until October 2026. It has been suggested the OGVA has achieved an 18 percent base-line saving on its cloud deals. AWS collected 76 percent more direct public sector revenue from the UK government in the fiscal year 2022/23 compared with the earlier year, according to figures from public sector spending researcher Tussell. The document cites challenges with the government's current approach to cloud adoption, including the length of time it takes to adopt cloud services, as departments "typically experience a six-nine month period often costing £500k+ to activate and deploy" them. Its approach is also hampered by inconsistent cloud environments, which result in an "absence of a standardised approach" leading to "inconsistencies and reinventions of low-level cloud architecture, security, and compliance across departments, posing risks, inefficiencies and challenges of understanding equivalent controls in data sharing agreements." The paper lists four other challenges to cloud adoption in UK government. The document proposes a solution which involves a "UK Public Sector Cloud Marketplace service," in partnership with major cloud providers. It would offer "consistently secure, well-architected cloud environments that can be rapidly deployed." "This service promises to level the playing field for all departments, ensure adherence to the best security and compliance practices, and enable the government to negotiate more effectively with cloud vendors, thus leading to better deals and cost savings," the paper says. However, it remains unclear how the CDDO would execute such a strategy without the help of the Crown Commercial Service, an executive agency and trading fund that also sits within the Cabinet Office. In fact, it says there is a key risk to succeeding with the proposed approach if the CCS is "unable to create a commercial implementation that will be compliant and non obstructive for pre-approved spend." Speaking to The Register, one expert close to the arrangements said: "If the government is questioning its negotiating power, then perhaps you ought to believe them." The expert said the AWS contracts had seen the government's commitment to the cloud platform quadruple in deals any incoming government would find nearly impossible to back out of. The UK will vote in a general election before the end of next January, with the opposition Labour Party currently well ahead in the polls. https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/uk_cddo_admits_cloud_spending_lock_issues_exclusive/

Tesla’s long-delayed — and pricey — Cybertrucks are getting panned by furious owners for malfunctioning at an alarming rate just months after Elon Musk’s futuristic vehicle hit the road. Tales of the stainless steel Cybertrucks dying after traveling just 1 mile, randomly hard-breaking on a wide-open road and already beginning to corrode, among other gripes, were shared in the Tesla Owners’ Club forum. In a thread titled “Worst delivery in my life (truck died in 5 minutes),” a Southern California-based owner wrote that after taking his truck for a spin the same day it was delivered last month, the vehicle “made it 1 mile down road, started getting steering error, flashing red screen, pulled off side of highway now the truck is dead and I’m waiting for a tow truck.” The owner received the vehicle, which starts at $80,000, one month after the highly-publicized trucks went on sale last December — two years behind schedule. “Tesla really rushed these trucks out, what a nightmare,” the disappointed owner said. Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. Another user on the thread shared a photo of their Cybertruck flashing a red screen that warned, “Pull over safely. Critical steering issue detected.” “A lot of trucks are having high-voltage issues…which makes the trucks unusable,” the user added. A separate thread featured a “WTF moment” in which the owner said his Cybertruck’s auto-pilot feature seemingly malfunctioned as another truck approached in the other lane while both were driving on a highway. “My Cybertruck suddenly made a hard brake stop when we both have a clear wide enough space between us,” the user, who goes only by Andrew, wrote.

You predicted this some time ago, good call.

I do wonder about Eliteism this property also seems more sturdy, I think they bought at the wrong time, I have come across people that purchased a house and it shot up in value most people who purchased in the last 4 years will crying, and for flats i would say 10 years