Steven P

Stay healthy and active but have a plan B (or C or D). Example - my current waste of time / fitness regime (call it what you want) is running, might be that one day the knees will finally go... plan B is to dust off the bikes - so when the knees do go I am not sat at home "Oh, woe is me"... there is a new challenge waiting to go for. Too many retired people sit down, put Richard and Judy on the TV and that is them.

Topping up oil - never have the same barrel that the garage uses so I just get a 1l pot from Halfords - the make depends how flush I am feeling from Halfords own up to Castrol or whatever. Most people do the same. If it was a problem we'd know about it I reckon. Above disclaimers apply though, highly engineered machines might need specific oils, run around Passats will take anything for example.

Do you reckon he is beginning to understand Putin a little more: Trump lashes out at Putin as Ukraine ceasefire talks stall UK.YAHOO.COM Donald Trump said he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin and threatened to ramp up sanctions on Russia as Ukraine ceasefire talks stalled.

Whoops! Forgot to come back to this... 81

Only 1 way to find out! (Small story: I made a wheel barrow hopper out of pallets - first lockdown, couldn't get into a shop - anyway, that hopper has outlasted the rest of it, admittedly the donor parts were all ready 10 years old at the time, if you don't try it will never work)

Got to look at the numbers, I reckon it would be pointless adding in if I was about to retire in a couple of years and had the spare cash - keep that cash and take less cash out the private pensions. Not sure though if I had the cash whether topping up the private pension or state pension would pay off better - would need to guess how long I'll to for, and if all the private stuff will go on till the end like the stat pension will. Tricky!!

Read it again Gareth and put your understanding head on. For charity and altruistic works we are at opposite ends of the spectrum, your 'home' that charity begins in is a lot smaller than my 'home', that is OK. That is not the point I was making. I didn't go on to the long period of peace we are enjoying... but having a strong financial interest in another country is one of the best peace making tools there is. The EU and no major conflicts within that group - strong financial interests, the US, no conflicts between states cause the finances are intertwined. To a more modern take, Trump whether he realises it or not is offering to invest heavily in The Ukraine but in doing so is offering to invest militarily to protect those assets he wants to control. Look at Israel (as a well publicised example), 4 billion in trade within the middle east, out of about 70 billion in exports - small amount of trade to their nearest neighbours... and coincidentally little incentive to hold a ceasefire. Finances rule and control the world and as above hard cash flows, yes, but the softer side, the no conflicts flows the other way

Gareth, while the sentiment is good, look out for yourself - which is the American way, unlike the European way of helping all in society. Trumps process for doing so is fundamentally flawed. There is nothing wrong with helping others. There is probably a moral duty in fact if you have a lot to help those with not a lot. The worlds tax systems intentions are this, tax the richest more and that is passed down to the poorest. The US as a nation has a lot, as do a lot of European countries. The richest in the world have been showing the way morally for the last 80 to 100 years now. The rest of the world, rightly or wrongly, have benefitted and indeed rely on this help - pretty sure you have said the same before and know all this. Bear with me though as the point is coming up next. So Trumps process of - without warning and suddenly - turning off the tap is going to lead to millions around the world suffering great hardship, driving them into poverty. It is going to stall the economic development, and democratic development that these funds have helped promote. Not just the odd one or 2 families but millions, and suddenly. In countries where there is great hardship you get great migrations as the populations move onwards to find better lives - humans do it, all the animals do it, a basic need in life to look after your young. So don't whinge here in 12 months time when there are a lot of Nigerians knocking on the door asking for help... and housing within the UK. Similarly from the US southern borders, suddenly turning off the money tap will increase pressure on border crossings. Don't whinge, it is a natural consequence of suddenly turning off that tap. But back to the top again, this sudden stop of all aid.... if it was done more slow and in a controlled manner these hardships can be mitigated to some extent. The US can use its power and knowledge to put in infrastructure to help these countries be self sufficient, to reduce their reliance. It hasn't always been done so before, and Trumps first administration was no better than any other in this respect. Sure you are going to be able to pull up headlines of odd cases, and sure you are going to ignore all the good works to make a political point, that's what political commenters do well, and why 'fact checking' websites are flourishing - we know the political commenters out to make a point are generally heavily biased - including the press and the linkedin they read. But point to take from these few words, the biggest problem is that this assistance stopping suddenly and without warning will cause great hardship. With great hardship will create great migration. Don't whinge at that.

ooh, political joke from Birmingham at Farage's expense: (high power projector from an office opposite at Refoms rally)

Do the sums on the yard, our 3 bed semi- that £200 a month yard rental would pretty much cover our entire electric bill (no gas, benefits of living out of town), and then you have the cost of the wood as well, and your time to cut, split, stack, dry, deliver to yours. Probably for that it is cheaper to buy it in. If you are not to fussy I'd look at the local tree surgeons like Mark says - get a random mix of wood depending on whether the original tree owner wants it left (trees cut up in the back garden are valuable you know, pay back the cost of the tree surgeon selling the wood....). If that doesn't work out, then talk to the tree surgeons again, I am quite happy to pay for 'petrol' (a reasonable amount) to get fresh unsplit logs delivered. Buying a some loads in during the year might be cheaper than yard rental. Not too sure about a farmers field unless you have a decent vehicle able to go off road or they have hard standing for you. Bloke round the corner has spit a couple of tonnes, the field isn't fenced off and anyone could walk off with his hard work - so make sure your logs are out of sight, especially the split ones. Might be possible to deal with the farmer in the same way as a tree surgeon, they take a cut off the logs and you get barn space which might be win-win. However do the sums,

I see today the Vance is accompanying his Mrs Vance to Greenland, only a day visit of about 10,000 miles. Better talk to Musk because I am sure there are better ways to spend the millions especially when Zoom exists.

He is slow by about 3 years but eventually his words are echoing the thoughts in the constituency that he represents. Not sure if he went over to see Trumpy whether he would come back saying the same, a feeling that he'd to the Putin lie

Your numbers, 62 days milling and stuff. 300 days not used for the business, sitting in the yard doing nothing.... or being used for a personal vehicle. Your numbers.

Get your point about statistical significance and low numbers of voters, 500 starts to become significant I think though. However, assuming they are the same voters in both, it doesn't look right that they want a blue local candidate but a red president (OK, orange for the semantics), particularly in an election where Trump was polarising the electorate the way he was. Compared to the national result, doesn't ring true either... though of course I don't know the area where this result was

However the one who is getting most narky about a bit of extra tax on his vanity van company perk is the one whose tuck is not used day in day out, but is apparently sat in a yard for 300 days of the year gathering dust.