WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

No doubt about it that local papers are struggling under the onslaught of screen-based news. Shame, they were at one time an essential part of our society.
The police now say that the April search is now a murder enquiry. They now have to find enough evidence to charge their suspect. If they can't do that by 17:00 today he must be released. I can't imagine the pressure they must be under.

[Tardis]

I thought that there was a subscriber offer of 60p per issue if you committed to buy it for so long, I didn't read the whole article.

I'd rather have the Craven Herald, & the Lancashire Telegraph appears much more relevant

I would be sad to see the loss of the local paper, but not enough to want to buy it.

[Tizer]

The next credit crunch is already brewing...
News that 35% of all British mortgages are now interest-only mortgages (i.e. they are paying off only the interest on the loan and not the capital amount) and for 75% of these the house-owner has no plan in place for how they will pay off the capital. It's being assumed that the owners will default on these mortgages. Deja vu. Think back 4 to 5 years and recall how we were told the credit crunch was due to banks lending money to people who couldn't pay it back and defaulted.

[Tardis]

The interest only mortgages are generally those on buy-to-let because it minimises tax revenue. Gordon Brown changed the tax system so that you couldn't put paying off capital within your accounts, but had to come out of profits, which is bonkers

Hence these people maximised their tax avoidance (all legal) by only having interest only mortgages.

At the end of the property life, you may still have to pay capital gains on the sale, but the mortgage would be paid off before that was taken into account.

Absolutely bonkers to build up debt through choice because otherwise you'd have to pay tax,

But "safe as houses" was the terms that the banks all used, and pushed up the prices of properties for everyone else to minimise those that could later rely on benefits if they wanted Care in later life

[Stanley]

Reports that the Saville charities are considering their position. They seem to be favouring dropping all mention of Saville and concentrating on funding measures to alleviate the damage done to abused children.
Reports of a possible ban on re-used jars for chutney and jam. Funny that, we used to re-use milk bottles every day. A glass jar is perfectly safe if cleaned and sterilised.

[PanBiker]

Reports of a possible ban on re-used jars for chutney and jam. Funny that, we used to re-use milk bottles every day. A glass jar is perfectly safe if cleaned and sterilised.

I wonder which government agency will be put in charge of policing that one!

The worlds gone mad!

[Tizer]

The interest only mortgages are generally those on buy-to-let because it minimises tax revenue.

Not so. Interest-only mortgages are 35% of the total market but buy-to-let are only 12%, therefore even if every buy-to-let mortgage was interest-only it could account for only one-third of the interest-only ones - which would still leave a minimum figure of around 3 million interest-only mortgages belonging to ordinary folk living in the mortgaged house.

[Whyperion]

Gordon Brown changed the tax system so that you couldn't put paying off capital within your accounts.

I dont think this was GB , capital charges for investment properties have not be allowable as expenditure for some considerable time.

Capital Allowances for business usage are an ever moving value or percentage which has depended on the whim of the chancellor of the time.

I think a possible problem with jam and chutney jars ( as long has one has not used them for holding brake fluid/ paint thinners ) is the cleaning of the seals on many of the commercial caps , even boiling , bleaching and using a cold milton rinse does not quite get them totally clean / odour free it seems.

[Stanley]

Ian, down to the dreaded EU again. See this LINK.
The Saville revelations seem to have opened the flood gates. Many people, especially women, are coming forward with examples of terrible abuse and bad behaviour implicating other media figures. The latest I have heard is that there are moves to strip Saville of his knighthood. Raises an interesting question, is what Fred the Shred did worse than what Saville appears to have done? Who makes that decision?

[Stanley]

I've been listening to the allegations about bad behaviour in broadcasting and I remember in the 1980s when I was spending quite a lot of time at Granada TV in Quay Street in Manchester we often finished up in what was almost the social club, the Stables Bar. I was sat there one night with a producer and commented on a table full of striking women who didn't seem to interact with anyone else in the bar. He told me that these were the 'obligatory pulchritude' used on shows. They started young and were heavily exposed but as they matured they were ousted by 'fresh meat'. The company kept them on the payroll in off-screen jobs and they were almost a sub-culture within the organisation. I can't help wondering what stories they could tell. I don't know what the ethos is now but at that time TV was an industry that exploited talent and perhaps did this in more ways than I then realised.

[EileenDavid]

On the Jimmy Saville front, why come out now when he's no longer here to defend himself against the accusations. We know what Fred the Shred did, isn't Jimmy Saville innocent until proven guilty, an easy task as there isn't a defence. I didn't particularly like the man but I do like fair play. Eileen

[Bruff]

We've just got back from visiting my in-laws in Cheltenham and took in some events at the literature festival. Went to see Kofi Annan on Friday night, the man with as the interviewer noted, the most reassuring voice in world diplomacy. So far as a man steeped in diplomacy can be, he was despairing on the Iraq debacle and the role of Mr Blair. He was also, again so far as the diplomat can, forthright in noting the UK's place in the world is not what it was in 1946 and we should be mindful of that. He noted the Russian PM some years back mentioning to him (tongue in cheek) that 6 days to do something was nothing as God made the world in that time. Kofi Annan agreed, but of course God was able to do this on his own.....

The real highlight though was Mary Robinson, the former Irish President and UN Commissioner. What a quite remarkable woman. She was born into the priest-ridden, backwater that was Ireland where the options for women were the nunnery or a couple of years useful effort whilst they found a husband. Her decision to go her own way and practice as a lawyer devastated her family whose recourse was to suggest she prayed every day for a year and then every week in an attempt to stave off the damnation that would undoubtably come. I'd never heard her speak before, only seeing her being presented to the rugby teams at Lansdown Road. She was fearsomely bright, speaking without 'errs' and 'umm's' in rapid fire sentences, perfectly formed. Can't wait to read her memoire.

Richard Broughton

[Tizer]

Re-using food packaging such as jam jars. This is the advice on the Food Standards Agency web site:

Is it safe to reuse packaging?
Often packaging is designed to be used once with one food and it might not be safe to use it with others, or for a different purpose. If containers or wrappings are used in a way they weren't designed for, chemicals could transfer from them into the food in greater amounts than would otherwise be expected.
There are a number of points you should consider if you're thinking about re-using packaging:
*always follow the manufacturer's instructions; if these don't say the container can be re-used, use something else that you know can be used safely;
*re-use containers and packaging on a like-for-like basis. For example if a container was used for cold food when you bought it, don't put hot food in it when you re-use it;
*only microwave food in containers or tubs that are clearly labelled 'microwave safe';
*only put containers into a dishwasher if they are clearly labelled 'dishwasher safe';
*do not re-use empty cans or tins to cook or store food.

I suspect all would have been well if the Church people hadn't put the FSA on the spot by asking for their opinion. It's a bit like asking your planning department if you need planning permission to put up a shed - they'll always say Yes just to err on the safe side and cover themselves.

[PanBiker]

I will repeat what I said above, the worlds gone mad. I know they are just covering their backs, but as we have said many times before on the site, it has all gone too far.
Thankfully I have not yet succumbed to bacterial Armageddon from our obviously badly managed kitchen practices. If I get belly whack from Sally's home made jam out of a reused jam jar, I will state categorically here that I will not seek recompense from any government department be it domestic or European. Best chuck all that perfectly good tucker out of the freezer that's in re-used plastics as well before the food police get me.

[Moh]

Whoopee - have finally managed to sell our tin tent, it has been for sale since March - in the local paper; on ebay, but we finally sold it on Gumtree (had never heard of that until someone told us about it, and now they advertise on tv. Good site and best of all it is free.

Poor hubby - it is his birthday today and he has had to go to the dentist to have a troublesome tooth out!!

[Stanley]

Moh, are you getting another?
Ian, go for it! I take very little notice of these 'warnings' but follow the same precautions my mother used. Boiling water, bleach and elbow grease have served me well for almost eighty years. It's like I tell my kids, it may not be the ideal bacterial climate for them but my system is used to it and it saves so much time! Have you ever looked at the dangers of living with a pet animal?
Richard, I share your admiration for Mary Robinson, she gave an interview on R4 not so long ago, was it on 'One to One'? Kofi Annan's views on Blair don't surprise me. Much to be suspicious about there.
Still following the murder of little April. I know it will be small comfort but why haven't they found her yet? Terrible, reminds one of the Moors Murders..... I simply can't imagine how her parents must feel.

[Tardis]

In the 'rubbish' meeting I went to yesterday (see Borough Council) I was told that there was no market or system available in the UK to recycle glass bottles as they are. All systems are geared up to smash them and reform them into new items. So it is hardly surprising that the powers that be encourage you to discard

[Moh]

Not a tourer - getting a bit old to be travelling all over and then having to set up etc. but we have had some lovely times. Maybe a static.

[Tizer]

Moh, I may have mentioned this before but a couple we know from near Manchester decided in their 70s to take up camping holidays on the Continent. Then in their 80s they felt they should take it a bit easier and switched to caravanning on the Continent. They both died recently in their late 90s after a very active (and mobile) life.

[Stanley]

I can't even be bothered to drive a car! I must be sinking gently into total immobility.
Jimmy Saville's family must have accepted the reports of his predilections. They are taking the headstone off his grave in case it is the target for some sort of vandalism.
How well I slept last night, late up at 05:00.....

[Tardis]

yesterday, after a brief exchange on twitter after a recommendation from a tweep, I had delivered to my home by hand some Scottish recipe Tablet (fudge) from "Chocolate Falls of Lancashire"

Excellent customer service, & I can not recommend enough. Lovely tablet too

www.chocolatefallslancs.co.uk

I believe that she lives in Barnoldswick.

[Tardis]

Today my twitter feed was mostly silent during the Cameroon's speech & then really set off when he used the "One Notion, Borrowing". Quite odd considering how busy it had been during all the other speeches over the last 3 weeks

[Stanley]

I saw an image of the headstone on Saville's grave. Black marble, enormous and well over the top (Described him as a philanthropist). Now I understand why they have trashed it.
Beevor book arrived.... goody!

[Tardis]

Reported today that Facebook UK, on revenue of around £175million has paid £238,000 tax

Only the little people pay tax

[Tizer]

Heavy rain here, fields flooded, stream running through the yard, lake forming in the orchard across the road. A neighbour has a water company's sewer running under his garden and it's burst so there have been multiple engineers' vans there day and night all week. At least the nearby bridge has now been repaired and we can get from A to B without an extra 10 miles detour.