A Silly Suggestion
Someone has just written on my JustGiving page, that I should eat a pie at each ground. For someone, whose father was a medical doctor, it is not good advice, as I’m a coeliac and the pies would do me untold damage.
Thanks to all those who’ve contributed so far!
The Zopa Login
Adnmittedly, I know the people at Zopa well, but is there a financial site, that has such a simple, foolproof and I think secure, login. All you need to remember is your e-mail address and password and know the answers to a set of personal questions, whose answers, most people would know about themselves.
So what would happen if you someone broke my login? They might find out how much I had invested, but they wouldn’t be able to withdraw any money without first setting up a link to their bank account and then authorising the link. Not something that is easily done without leaving a trail of evidence. I suspect too, that alarms would ring at Zopa.
Everybody, who designs a secure login could do no better, than build on the excellent work Zopa has done.
Going Off The Jubilee Line
Today it is reported that the Jubilee line is wasting electricity.
They may be, but that doesn’t explain, why I’m beginning to go off London’s newest deep tube.
Every time I seem to use it, there would appear to some delay. And when it is working well, the gaps between trains seem to be longer and vety much more crowded.
Paying For Plastic Bags
From tomorrow in Wales you will be charged 5p for every single use plastic bag you use. It may be worth it for some, but I use my Waitrose shopping bags as bin liners, which then go straight in the wheelie bin. I do have a collection of large bags for shopping, but they are a pain to carry empty, as they all seem to be incapable of folding small enough to go in my manbag.
So the system may work, but it could be a lot better.
Weekly Or Fortnightly Collections?
In Suffolk, I had fortnightly ones, with alternatively, rubbish and recycling. Here in Hackney, It’s weekly for both.
What is best?
I think it depends on the bin men. I’ve had good ones in both places and they could work either system. For me too, one collection a fortnight would work, as I don’t have much rubbish.
I’ve always felt that the best way to up recycling is to have a reward system, where perhaps bottle banks are weighed and a fund is shared out accordingly in the area on small projects.
Raising Motorway Speed Limits
There is a lot of talk and argument about raising the motorway speed limits to 80 mph. Read about it here in the Independent, where they say that the limit will rise, but with lots more 20 mph zones in towns.
No-one is raising the fact, that more and more container traffic is being taken off the roads and put on the rails. This will decrease the congestion and increase the speed of the traffic. But they do need to selectively spend some money on rail junctions and road/rail terminals.
The Elusive Genius Gluten-Free Fruit Bread
I found some at Waitrose in Eastfield last week, but despite labels on shop shelves in other Waitroses, I’ve not found any more.
Either there isn’t much of it or what there is sells well! I suspect the latter.
Remember many coeliacs are in their fifties and sixties and in many cases, fruit bread was a treat at Sunday tea. It ceertainly was for me.
Let’s hope Waitrose open up their computer system, so we can see where the bread is available. But then we’d do a raid on the shop.
Getting To Newcastle Urgently on the Cheap
In my trip around the country, I will have a lot of problems, because I often won’t know, which train, I can catch.
I was in Kings Cross this morning and looked up how much it would cost me to go today, if I bought a ticket. A Super Off Peak Single with a Senior Railcard would have cost me £72.40. But suppose I want to go tomorrow, how much will that self-same ticket cost on the web? I’ve just looked and if I want to travel tomorrow, it’ll cost me £36.20. Or half price.
So just by booking the day before, you get half price on the web. And I can travel on any train after 9:30.
Incidentally, there are no cheaper tickets.
So when I have to return after a busy day, I’ll have one in my wallet, as I can use it on most late trains home.
The Scandal of Adoption
Or should it be the scandal of non-adoption. According to this article and many others, only 60 babies were adopted in England last year.
C who was adopted and handled many such cases in her legal career, would be spitting blood at the news today. As she’s not here, I’ll do the spitting for her.
I have met many people, who were adopted. Not all are white too! But none regret what happened to them. C didn’t.
Zopa and a Transaction Tax
One of the great things about Zopa is that the only tax you pay is income tax on any money you earn.
I hope that the EU’s proposed new transaction tax, doesn’t sneak in there somewhere. After all, politicians would love to find a way to tax us more, so how about 0.01% of every transaction going through the banking system? It would be a total loser, as even at a very low amount, the man on the Dalston Omnibus would object strongly to paying a tax on every time he received or paid-out money.
I suspect it won’t happen, but the Euro was badly set up and although it is a very good idea, you can’t really expect all countries to adopt a legal approach, when they see a clever loophole.
But Zopa does mean that you avoid stamp duty on an investment, which like the Stock Market, has a degree of risk.
The Anonymous Widower 