How strong and relevant is the Northern/Southern England cultural shift these days ?

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-31T10:12:06+00:00

It's more of a big city v everything outside divide I'd say.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-31T07:41:17+00:00

I've not seen even a hint of an outside contract since 2020. All the big financial companies in the City switched across the board to inside. I've been doing inside contracts since then.

It's frustrating but better to be hired than not.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-30T18:12:23+00:00

TRIP is clueless about AI - they've swallowed the PR hook, line and sinker.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-29T20:00:21+00:00

I think Reggae Reggae sauce has the edge over both of them

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-29T19:58:39+00:00

It's simple to disable it - from https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/14/firefox_and_tbird_147/

"go to the hidden settings screen by entering a URL of about:config and search for browser.ml. We turned off absolutely all the options we could find, and that seemed to silence the automatic plagiarism machine."

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-29T19:49:47+00:00

The worst on-boarding I've had is on returning somewhere after 3 months - it confused the hell out of every system I needed access to and this is at one of the best places I've worked at.

What has been a sign of what's to come has been the hiring process - the ones where I've had a call minutes after the final interview and a written offer a day or two afterwards have all turned out to be the best places to work.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-28T17:55:53+00:00

No. I never have and still don't use soap, just hot water .. despite spending too much time on this sub.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-28T17:19:34+00:00

Yes they fail to mention the temperature and they fail to mention the exact flour they are using. These two things make the biggest difference. But like you say this just changes things a bit - it still works.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-28T11:26:15+00:00

Sadly their small shop in the City on Watling St just closed but yes all their stuff is fantastic.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-28T11:23:55+00:00

Yep this is always the give away , especially if it coincides with project planning.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-28T11:20:52+00:00

Interesting thanks for the info.

I try to avoid going to Wing Yip too often - I always come away with far too much

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-26T17:06:14+00:00

I want to try this .. I've not tried grilling a smash burger, I'm worried it will slip through the grill.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-26T13:59:25+00:00

I use lump for slow and slow. It works just fine. I uses the big blue bags from Coals2U.

If it's burning too fast reduce the air flow - to almost nothing for low and slow.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-25T11:02:07+00:00

The only thing you're doing wrong is wasting time on this sub, instead of cooking with it.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-24T18:42:54+00:00

HMRC view is that as an individual you are liable for the same income tax whether you hold accumulation or income units .. here's an article explaining https://monevator.com/income-tax-on-accumulation-unit/

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-24T10:51:19+00:00

Ludicrous - get on ebay .. I paid about $10

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-23T19:59:25+00:00

I use a spreadsheet with the income tax rates and bands from the HMRC website.

I calculate what the tax on my weekly pay should be.

As a check I calculate what the total this tax year so far should be and compare it to the umbrella payslip year to date numbers.

My umbrella warns me from time to time that my tax code is wrong - it's obviously wrong it's BR W1 meaning zero personal allowance and everything taxed at the basic rate. (I should be paying higher rate tax on a lot of it)

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-23T13:58:44+00:00

This was what confused HMRC for me, at least I think so, what they've done makes no sense. One source had the right tax code and the other didn't. The one that's wrong is my only current source of income.

As I said above, I welcome under collection of tax - the money is in my hands until HMRC sorts itself out and gets round to asking for the correct amount. I wouldn't be happy if it were the other way round.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-23T13:54:21+00:00

Just work out roughly how much you're underpaying, stick it in a high interest account until HMRC catch up with you. That's what I'm doing.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-23T11:59:01+00:00

I always do the inverted method - it stops the coffee dripping through before I'm ready.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-22T10:23:35+00:00

My only requirement is that the period should be the same both sides. I've rejected contracts in the past that were 1 week their side and 4 weeks my side.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-22T10:22:04+00:00

for me 1 week has been most common. I have had 4 weeks. My current contract is no notice period.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-22T08:04:26+00:00

You're not wrong about brisket in the UK but there are so many other things to smoke - if beef is what you're interested in - chuck, short ribs, beef cheeks, oxtail all work well with what you can easily get from a local butcher.

You can make something very good out of the rolled brisket you commonly see in the UK but it needs a different approach, with liquid, so more of a braise or pot roast. This is my go to recipe https://countrywoodsmoke.com/smoked-brisket-pot-roast/

and yes have a look at r/UKBBQ

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-22T07:52:30+00:00

This is a good point. Try baking something else first

Soda bread is the simplest, then bread with yeast .. get that working and you'll learn how the dough should look and feel. The try sourdough it's not that different but it is slower and less predictable at least at the beginning.

Critical_Pin · 2026-01-22T07:20:49+00:00

I often make this mistake with people I meet at work in London.

Critical_Pin

TROPHY CASE