starfished
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Post by starfished on Jul 13, 2021 21:39:24 GMT
People sometimes equate "food poverty" with "starvation". We are simply not going to see loads of images of emaciated children in the UK today (thankfully). Having said that children with irregular feeding patterns, particularly if eating junk type food when they have food available will present bigger/chubbier than those with better eating habits and quality of food (due to impact on metabolism/insulin/etc). Those kids with better feeding habits are also likely to have parents that see the value in exercise, exaggerating the effect. Kids in "old" pictures are very slim partly because of the diet (including drinks) that dominated during that period but also because they moved a hell of a lot more than we do now (parents are now terrified of what might happen to their kids if left to wander on their own). Lockdown has shown just how damaging, even a small increase in inactivity can be to waistlines. Some parents of course make bad decisions and some also try to game the system. We all have different views to what extent we want their children to suffer as a consequence of that. But in an increasingly time poor world, really bad but quick food is far too cheap and accessible... Anyway this chat reminded me of this article from last year which touches on how what "poverty" looked like and how it has changed since 1992 which some here might also find interesting: www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/14/this-photo-of-children-living-in-poverty-caused-shock-waves-in-1992-where-are-they-now
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Jul 3, 2021 20:20:37 GMT
With the rumoured cut of the lifetime allowance and pension tax relief, slightly curious for those "younger" (under 50) forumites what's your current pension strategy, contribution rather than investment (e.g. max contributions, minimum contributions and prioritise ISA, etc.) and would it change if the rumoured cuts did happen?
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Jun 28, 2021 14:01:22 GMT
Jeremy a Marxist anti Semite who IMHO hates all that is good about the UK I doubt that very much. Did I think Jeremy would be an ineffectual leader. Yes. Do I understand, even now, the palpable fear some had of him and what he represented? Especially given the checks and balances we have in place as a country? No. Were the country given a clear choice between Boris' version of Brexit or a hippy socialist who would have to learn the hard way how the world works when people don't like you (a la May). Yes. I've said this before, the country made clear what their highest priority was at the time...
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Jun 21, 2021 7:28:33 GMT
Fascinating links. Thank you.
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Jun 19, 2021 16:56:41 GMT
Logistics of a different sort... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57534918I personally find this fascinating for two reasons... (i) the religious like defence some had for the EU (and I say this as a firm remain voter) at the referendum and (ii) the comment a friend made once that the EU was sold as "just" a trade deal by UK politicians to the UK public when even right at the start it never was that, if we had been paying enough attention. This then set us all up inevitably for the subsequent shenanigans...
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Jun 18, 2021 12:32:42 GMT
Potentially should be part of the Brexit thread but curious on views.... ... proof Starmer is destroying what is left of the Labour party and is doomed or ... proof Boris is destroying moderate Tories goodwill for the Conservative party and is doomed?
Both or Neither?!
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Jun 14, 2021 11:13:33 GMT
Thanks both. I'll chase UB now. I've yet to even receive a confirmation on UBs side (the receiving party have chased regularly apparently and UB have said mine is on the list to be dealt with next and then nothing). I didn't want to push too hard, I know a lot is going on with many companies but it is now nearly two months...
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Jun 7, 2021 18:47:09 GMT
usually a couple of weeks, but my last request is now well over a month. Likewise, I have had one being processed for at least three weeks, the recipient has emailed me twice to say they have been chasing it up. How long did this take in the end? Mine has been nearly 6 weeks and nothing still and it is definitely UB end...
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on May 24, 2021 18:23:27 GMT
Curious is your MP conservative (or not)? While accurate, the tone of the response seemed slightly political... Very red. Thanks. For the avoidance of doubt, I do think there was a very strong steer from government/treasury at the time on regulation e.g. the sacking of Martin "Shoot first" Wheatley, etc.
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
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Post by starfished on May 24, 2021 16:21:17 GMT
duck well, colour me surprised! Dear RegisterMe,
Thank you for writing to me about your investment in Collateral UK Limited.
Firstly, I am alarmed to read of the situation with Collateral UK, and the 1183 investors like yourself, who have been expected to lose the majority of the £14.8 million that they put in. This raises several questions about the Financial Conduct Authority, who have failed to regulate Collateral UK and other P2P investment platforms like Lendy, who continued to conduct regulated business without permission. This also raises questions about the government, who formed the FCA and have been suspected to apply political pressure which has led the regulator to neglect it's objective to protect consumers.
Therefore, I agree that this requires an independent review, and I have written to the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Mel Stride MP, about this. I will share any response I receive with yo (sic).
Thank you once again for contacting me about this important issue.
Yours sincerely,
My Local MPI'm not sure that I mentioned Lendy, and I'm not entirely sure I agree about the government applying "political pressure" (but it was the Treasury who gave the FCA the original "light touch" regulatory remit for fintech like P2P), but I am happy enough they've contacted the Treasury Select Committee about this requesting an independent review. Yo! Curious is your MP conservative (or not)? While accurate, the tone of the response seemed slightly political...
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on May 20, 2021 18:13:42 GMT
My uninvested cash has been slowly increasing which is why it is a shame their ISA transfer out process is so slow!
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
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Post by starfished on May 17, 2021 20:21:20 GMT
Abundance into Loanpad, confirmed receipt of transfer request within 24hrs, transfer completed within a week... Unbolted into Loanpad, confirmed receipt of transfer request within 24hrs, transfer still waiting nearly a month on...
Timescales seem very dependent on the provider the funds are coming from
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on May 4, 2021 9:03:15 GMT
I have never been a big investor on FS, which was fortunate. I put some money to see how things worked. Out of five P2P platforms I invested in, FS is the only one that will make a loss.
I came to see that FS was a waste of time, in a rather roundabout. I began to have a few of the zombie loans, which had increasingly bizarre and risible updates, but nothing ever happened and the chance of ever getting any money back increasingly unlikely. I looked at the FS figures, which appeared to show relatively modest figures for bad debts. I realised that all the zombie loans were excluded from the bad debts, which were really much than stated. The zombie loans were just kept going to make the figures look better.
After this no more money in FS and I started withdrawing funds when I could two years before they went into administration. However, I still have some of the zombie loans and do not expect to get any money back from them.
Trust is a funny old thing. It wasn't a specific event but the collection of quite opaque updates meant that I stopped adding money early 2016 (albeit my investment was never very large) and stopped renewing during 2016. I do still have some zombie loans with them. Bizarrely, purely due to luck, FS is still my highest performing P2P platform...
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Apr 27, 2021 18:37:30 GMT
You see Berny, you did just go and reawaken the Kraken Don't rise to it...................you know what they say about dinosaurs and the size of their brains Don't take it personally, it's trolling on another thread. Darn... that'll teach me for ignoring my instincts. ( starfished enquired so pleasantly though, I just couldn't not answer.) Sorry! For the record I do appreciate you taking the time to respond. So thanks. I do like hearing the "other side". I accept I am very much the caricature of a liberal londoner in many respects, so you can probably guess where I stand on many things But I have to say, all this reminds me of a management training course nearly a decade back. After days and days on dry detailed technical analysis on strategy/valuation/etc the trainer choose to end the session on an anecdote, where an MD kept pushing back on an idea from his team, asking for more and more analysis etc. Until it transpired that he did not like the person who would be the counterparty to the deal. So there was very little chance he would change his position. The trainer concluded the session by saying, it really doesn't matter if you think you are "right", whatever that means and believe you have the analysis to support your position. The people/relationship/emotional stuff really matters. That stayed with me and as I get older, the more I think the bigger the decision, the more true that statement is.
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starfished
Member of DD Central
Posts: 296
Likes: 216
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Post by starfished on Apr 26, 2021 18:04:00 GMT
I never read the paper, but it's a pity some found their headlines "very funny" and failed to look below the surface. Especially their headline in Nov 2012, repeated in Jan 2013, that "56% want to quit EU", which turned out to be an astonishingly accurate prediction, three years ahead of the vote. Shame, but instead of acknowledging all the signals, it seems the EU just joined in the laughter and sent Cameron back with nothing. I trust the 44% are still finding it funny. Slightly interested about this comment? Not sure where you stand on Brexit itself but curious whether you really think the EU should have made more of an effort to keep the UK in? I guess what I am really asking is, given how much people wanted out seemingly and why (e.g. supposed self determinisation etc), would bending to Cameron then just delayed the inevitable (i.e. us out of the EU)? Interestingly, your comments suggests you think the EU was better with us in it. I do agree with you on that if so, but I also get the sense they are relieved we are now gone (and I also don't blame them for that). So my second question is do you think, the UK itself was better in the EU? We are out now and I think we will have to stay out for at least a generation for democracy to be meaningful. (Whether we re-join the EU or a different bloc, who knows.) But I do hope the United Kingdom itself survives in the meantime...
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