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HOLA441
On 09/03/2019 at 02:50, Bluestone59 said:

I wouldn't want a biannual MOT until the holes and sunken drain covers in the roads are sorted or become much rarer than they are just now. An older car can become dangerous in weeks.

No MoTs here, and we sometimes get potholes that are literally big enough to swallow a car (and are usually found when the road collapses and they do swallow a car). Yet there's no spate of people crashing their cars because they don't get checked every year.

The MoT is just another example of the Nanny State. It may have made sense when people were driving Morris Minors, but it makes no sense with modern cars.

Besides which, those with poorly-maintained cars know which MoT centre will give them a pass for a few quid.

Edited by MarkG
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HOLA442
7 hours ago, MarkG said:

No MoTs here, and we sometimes get potholes that are literally big enough to swallow a car (and are usually found when the road collapses and they do swallow a car). Yet there's no spate of people crashing their cars because they don't get checked every year.

The MoT is just another example of the Nanny State. It may have made sense when people were driving Morris Minors, but it makes no sense with modern cars.

Besides which, those with poorly-maintained cars know which MoT centre will give them a pass for a few quid.

Am I correct you are in Canada? I think your cars are mostly much bigger than UK, maybe better at dealing with the holes? True, there's also no spate of cars crashing here that I know of due to their poor condition.

As someone who always kept an eye on things and has long experience of DIY maintenance I used to resent the MOT but in recent years I've had to change my mind.  

According to guys in the motor trade, there has been a reduction in the durability of cars' components since the early 2000s so that while still "safe" do not last as long. This has allegedly even spread to upmarket expensive makes.

When the MOT was introduced it was partly to reduce the car population and the number of accidents attributed to dangerous condition was 3%, which last I heard had not much changed. MOT must also be a handy boost to car sales due to the sheer aggro.

I don't care for state nannying either but I'm sure you and I could come up with much worse examples than this one.

The salt, sugar, five a day and alcohol "police" for a start. And the NHS asking you to send them back a t*rd in the mail to see if you're dying of anything.

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HOLA443
On 3/12/2019 at 12:45 PM, jimmy2x3 said:

i suggest you go look at the share prices of the top 6 energy suppliers in the uk. they have all crashed in price. no-one is making money out of supplying energy at the moment. any money being made is on the generation side and even that aint a great deal for the amount invested. its so bad that companies like sse are trying to offload their retail divisions and even then their recent meger with npowers retail division collapsed. 

as for the new suppliers they are taking advantage of having no historical pension liabilities or costly well paid staff. they are also offering insentives for people to switch and infact are making no profits with many being financed by new start up funds. all this is in the hope of then retaining the new customers. its a dog eat dog strategy where at least half of them are going to fail. 

the idea that utility companies are out their ripping off retail customers is a nonsense. the same situation can be found with all regulated utilities, bt has lost over 50% of its share price, vodaphone down 30%.. train franchises being handed back to the government. the problem is clear in that by opening up the monopolies to competition  all that happened was the back office expanded ten fold, you have all these companies doing exactly the same thing costing the public mass of money in paying for it all. 

i bet there is a million extra jobs created due to the opening up of the monopolies to competition, all these jobs need to be paid for with higher prices. we are no better off than we were with inefficient monopolies. 

 

Competition and opening up of the market is still beneficial to the individual customer. The generation side might need some government intervention because of the high costs and long timeframes, not the retail side.

The costs you are quoting are due to legacy costs (from when they were government owned) and poor investment decisions. If someone wants to invest in a loss making company that thinks it can make it in the energy sector is fine for the customer. The big boys will be outcompeted by companies with low overheads, as will happen in most sectors. 

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HOLA444
6 hours ago, Bluestone59 said:

Am I correct you are in Canada? I think your cars are mostly much bigger than UK, maybe better at dealing with the holes? True, there's also no spate of cars crashing here that I know of due to their poor condition.

More SUVs and trucks, but potholes are far worse than I ever saw in the UK. And a 'B-road' here is just gravel scattered across a vaguely flat piece of dirt.

The closest to an MoT is a safety check when moving a car between provinces, but that mostly seems to be a way to make some $$$$.

Edit: actually, I think Ontario may have an annual inspection, because I remember seeing people bitch about it online. But Ontario is Nanny-State Canada, which is why we're going to have to split from it before long.

Edited by MarkG
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HOLA445

Nothing to add really other than a general rant about bills in general. We just got our council tax bill for next year, which is now an absurd £2200 for band E - which is a 3 bed bungalow and not too flash. This is spite of actual cuts to services and our kids school which is facing major funding issues. Add to that energy costs in the £1500 p.a. bracket and water + sewerage of about £600 plus various phone, broadband, TV and insurance bills and the figures are getting quite alarming - that's over £6,000 p.a. before rent, food, car and all the rest. Major cutback on all non-essentials coming as soon as contracts expire (Sky and mobiles). People probably look at those figures and think we must be living it up in a mansion but I can assure you that is not the case.

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HOLA446

No-one's ever found a way to make money retailing energy and water in the private sector because physical losses in transmission are too variable to be accommodated profitably in the end price to the consumer.

Enron, the grandaddy of all privatised utility co's, went bust trying to leverage its derisory operating margins through massive bets on energy futures.

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HOLA447
4 hours ago, mattyboy1973 said:

Nothing to add really other than a general rant about bills in general. We just got our council tax bill for next year, which is now an absurd £2200 for band E - which is a 3 bed bungalow and not too flash. This is spite of actual cuts to services and our kids school which is facing major funding issues. Add to that energy costs in the £1500 p.a. bracket and water + sewerage of about £600 plus various phone, broadband, TV and insurance bills and the figures are getting quite alarming - that's over £6,000 p.a. before rent, food, car and all the rest. Major cutback on all non-essentials coming as soon as contracts expire (Sky and mobiles). People probably look at those figures and think we must be living it up in a mansion but I can assure you that is not the case.

Been thinking this for a while now. When I paid my mortgage off, and bearing in mind I earn quite a decent salary and have good savings, I thought I'd be on easy street relatively speaking I thought I might go part time, though my chosen profession (I.T.) seems awfully prejudice against that, unfortunately.

 With all the stuff you've highlighted, plus food, costs of running a car etc,  I estimate I need at least £12K a year just to survive. All whilst local services are getting less and less.

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HOLA448
10 hours ago, dpg50000 said:

Been thinking this for a while now. When I paid my mortgage off, and bearing in mind I earn quite a decent salary and have good savings, I thought I'd be on easy street relatively speaking I thought I might go part time, though my chosen profession (I.T.) seems awfully prejudice against that, unfortunately.

 With all the stuff you've highlighted, plus food, costs of running a car etc,  I estimate I need at least £12K a year just to survive. All whilst local services are getting less and less.

this is the problem. i believe they have all squeezed till they can no more. and if we had anymore they would just sqeeze a bit extra not leave us with it. a fair few people on benifits are just people that have done the figures and realised its just not worth it. 

i suggest you fiddle as much cash as you can do some cash jobs etc. cause if yoy dont it may be bad for your sanity. 

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20 hours ago, mattyboy1973 said:

Nothing to add really other than a general rant about bills in general. We just got our council tax bill for next year, which is now an absurd £2200 for band E - which is a 3 bed bungalow and not too flash. This is spite of actual cuts to services and our kids school which is facing major funding issues. Add to that energy costs in the £1500 p.a. bracket and water + sewerage of about £600 plus various phone, broadband, TV and insurance bills and the figures are getting quite alarming - that's over £6,000 p.a. before rent, food, car and all the rest. Major cutback on all non-essentials coming as soon as contracts expire (Sky and mobiles). People probably look at those figures and think we must be living it up in a mansion but I can assure you that is not the case.

 

16 hours ago, dpg50000 said:

Been thinking this for a while now. When I paid my mortgage off, and bearing in mind I earn quite a decent salary and have good savings, I thought I'd be on easy street relatively speaking I thought I might go part time, though my chosen profession (I.T.) seems awfully prejudice against that, unfortunately.

 With all the stuff you've highlighted, plus food, costs of running a car etc,  I estimate I need at least £12K a year just to survive. All whilst local services are getting less and less.

Agree with both posts. I have no mortgage but it still requires a substantial amount of money just to exist in any meaningful way. My council tax is extortionate for services provided and they even have the cheek to demand extra payment for some services that previously were included such as garden waste. Once you factor in food, energy, clothes, and running a motor it comes to a significant sum. This is all without including any sort of leisure expenses that are also going through the roof.  

How are young people supposed to build a stake in society and start a family under these conditions? 

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