KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Nov 24, 2021 16:25:50 GMT
"...while they are now confident on the risk/benefit trade off for those who are pregnant"Remember they were equally confident about prescribing thalidomide. Luckily my mother declined it when carrying my second sister. Nobody can state with 100% confidence that the vaccine is safe for the unborn. There simply hasn't been enough time. To be fair, that's not an apples to apples comparison. Thalidomide was developed in the 1950s under completely different regulations to those that apply today. Additionally, medical science's understanding of physiological and pharmacological processes back then was comparatively poor. www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/how-the-thalidomide-scandal-led-to-safer-drugs#:~:text=Key%20regulatory%20reforms,potential%20side%20effects
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Nov 16, 2021 13:41:53 GMT
"It has always been the right who were in favour of slavery, the left against it". Say that to the Russians in the Gulags, or the Uyghurs in China. It is not a right/left split. It is a totalitarian/ freedom split. Neither the right nor the left have a monopoly of virtue Yes, left/right in an international context is very different to left/right in a domestic western world context. With that caveat accepted, adrianc 's position is correct.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Chat
Dune
Nov 1, 2021 12:11:44 GMT
Post by KoR_Wraith on Nov 1, 2021 12:11:44 GMT
Having seen the previous movie/TV adaptations and read the book, I thoroughly enjoyed this latest reincarnation. My critisism is that I wish it had been longer! Felt more akin to Dune The Prologue than Dune Part One
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Chat
Wet wipes
Oct 26, 2021 13:37:34 GMT
via mobile
Post by KoR_Wraith on Oct 26, 2021 13:37:34 GMT
Indeed, I believe a typical phone uses less than £2 of electricity over an entire year.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Oct 21, 2021 16:05:37 GMT
The irony being that in Scottish Parliament elections, a system designed by the last Labour government as a forerunner for UK wide electoral reform, there is a proportional top up meaning that you can actually vote for who you want. They should have gone all the way and reformed the UK system when they had the chance (and which was in their manifesto). Indeed, I should have specified that my default SNP-voting behaviour applied only to UK elections and not to Scottish parliamentary elections for that very reason! 😄
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Oct 21, 2021 14:57:33 GMT
I live in Scotland, my constituency is a two horse race between SNP and Conservatives. I vote SNP everytime despite my political views aligning more closely with the LibDems/centre-left Labour.
There are so many seats up and down the UK where you need to vote tactically or have your vote wasted.
Electoral reform is many decades overdue; the left wing of the Labour party need to get their heads out the sand and back PR.
Better to have some power in a coalition than to gamble on absolute power and lose time and time again.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Oct 19, 2021 10:00:06 GMT
Loaning to a company you manage mitigates fraud risk, but there are plenty of other risks associated to running an SME right now. If you try to apply for an interest-only unsecured loan, I think you will find it difficult to find a provider and if you do, the interest rate is likely to be around or above 20%. Absolutely agree that a 3rd party provider may offer you terms at 20%, no issue with that. My point is that such a 20% rate is reflective of an arms-length transaction, i.e. lender and borrower are independant of each other. If I lend money to my own company, that's more akin to one department of a company lending budget to another department of the same company; as you say, risk of fraud is eliminated, preferrential repayment priority is granted in event of business downturn - hugely beneficial features for the lender. The issue is that this product is most worthwhile when a director loan is charged at the maximum possible rate as to convert taxable profits (corporation tax) into tax free profits. The examples of your website make this perfectly clear. Plenty of financial products deliver on that same principle, but they key difference is that they don't have the same entity on both side of the transaction with a vested interest in setting unrealistic terms given the arms-locked nature of the transaction. Lets be honest, it's a loophole, that in my opinion, if exploited en masse would likely lead to HMRC action.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Oct 13, 2021 23:36:47 GMT
Your website suggests an unsecured business loan interest rate of ~20% to be reasonable.
But that's a completely different risk profile and thus proposition from loaning money to your own company where you have total control of repayments. Different risk profiles should return different interest rates. IMO that's the crux of the ethical argument against this product.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Ablrate (ABL) in Administration
Ablrate Loan Book
Sept 28, 2021 9:31:05 GMT
via mobile
Post by KoR_Wraith on Sept 28, 2021 9:31:05 GMT
Same issue for loan 59
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Sept 27, 2021 11:04:25 GMT
ablrateLoans 74 and 102 have resumed amortising payments but are still shown as "interest only" on ASMX and the main Ablrate website.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Sept 13, 2021 10:51:09 GMT
The asset value is stock of £826k and "no LTV has been provided". How marvellous. Is the £826k likely to retail or wholesale value? I would never profess to be an expert on high-end shoes, but I have suffered a lot of Administrations of companies that borrowed money from me. I am guestimating that if one tries to sell £826k retail value of posh shoes wholesale, they won't sell for more than, say, £400k? Pile in all the usual "vulture fees" (auction house, warehousing, Administrators, lawyers etc.) and that's another at least £100k+ gone. Therefore, at, say, £300k, the LTV on this £500k loan is way over 100%. Previous loans to the subsidiary valued stock at book cost/wholesale value, extract from #157: "The stock is valued at cost price in the balance sheet, but normal retails with a mark-up of 80%"
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Sept 1, 2021 10:46:41 GMT
Only time for a quick read, may have missed it. Initial value £350k. Ablrate loan £450k. Does it say anywhere that funds are handed over in tranches. Given purchase price is £350k and £100k is needed for renovation works on a very short time scale I'd expect the full amount to be given in a lump sum. I'm still struggling with the GDV - not a single house on that street has sold for over £400k. Presumably the hugely increased GDV is dependent on the charity bank/housing authority refinance stuff but nowhere is this explained in any detail.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Sept 1, 2021 10:38:48 GMT
£850k GDV provided in the valuation report but with next to zero information as to how this number was decided upon?
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on May 25, 2021 18:36:29 GMT
Eugh...another significant write-off for me.
I thought this one was really quite safe given the huge gap between valuation and outstanding capital.
Between this and the brewery loan I've had some very poor judgement.
|
|
KoR_Wraith
Member of DD Central
Posts: 293
Likes: 297
|
Post by KoR_Wraith on Apr 26, 2021 13:19:04 GMT
For those (like me) that thought the platform fees on this one were a bit high, the fees on today's loan (158) are eye watering. 10% upfront platform fee, plus the equivalent of 10% platform annual monitoring fee, and 14% to lenders... ouch! And still it flew off the shelves instantly; heavily influenced by the AF's borrowing record methinks. I suspect there's very few outfits with which to finance such assets, gives Ablrate a strong negotiating position in such loans.
|
|