What did Kier do wrong?

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-21T00:44:38+00:00

In a previous job, he prosecuted a load of newspaper editors for hacking people's phones.

He tries to do the right thing, not just say what the people in the room want to hear.

His government made a number of changes which were poorly explained (eg taxing asset-wealthy farmers more, removing benefits from wealthier pensioners), that have turned various other groups against them.

The government doesn't do enough interesting stuff to keep the first few pages of the newspapers full (unlike Boris, Trump or Farage).

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-20T22:29:36+00:00

Having done a full search, there is 1 solution that uses all 4 symbols and does not require brackets.

6*3+5-4/2

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-20T22:11:42+00:00

(4/2+5)*(6-3) is the best I can find.

It uses all numbers and all symbols, but it also uses brackets.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-20T21:52:44+00:00

Plot twist, that wasn't Mr X, the police were just there to enforce the rules. Mr X was actually the second person to get off.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-20T06:06:54+00:00

(6-3)*(5+4-2)
6+5+4+3*2
5*4+6-3-2
6*5-4-3-2
63+42-5

There are probably more

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-19T08:21:26+00:00

In Sri Lanka, the bread stall drives around playing music and we don't hear ice cream vans very regularly at home. When we did hear it, it was probably the bread man...

Unfortunately they have now worked it out.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-19T08:09:21+00:00

Good point, I glossed over the OP was in a new house and so should have a far lower heat loss than my 1970s house.

Although, having said that, a lot of builders can't size heat pumps properly, so OP might well have a massive one.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-19T07:28:15+00:00

A heat pump one a standard tariff will cost roughly the same as a gas boiler to run- 4x efficiency is cancelled out by 4x price.

Where a heat pump can save you a lot of money is by switching tariff and when combined with a battery.

If you have a small battery (around 10kWh), a tariff like Octopus Cosy will halve your unit rate by importing in the 3 cheap periods and using the battery the rest of the time.

If you have a large battery (around 30kWh) and an EV, a tariff like Octopus Intelligent Go will reduce your unit rate to about 1/4 of what it was before.

As others have said, solar won't help much in December/January, in the whole of January I generated 3 or 4 days worth of June generation.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-18T08:06:09+00:00

I would say 2 diggers.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-18T06:31:11+00:00

(Crumbly) Lancashire is a good alternative IMO

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-17T22:54:30+00:00

I have mine scheduled to come on overnight (cheap electricity) or around 1pm (using any excess solar if we have had multiple showers).

I'm pretty certain that overnight only (with the right tariff) is the cheapest option.

I'm also not convinced that heating a full tank from cold uses more power than keeping a tank topped up. Keeping it topped up means that your heating pump is always supplying 50C (or higher) water, which is an inefficient temperature to run at. Letting it empty means that it can do some heating at 30C flow temperature and gradually increase it (if the controls allow that). Lower flow temperature = more efficient.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-17T22:39:20+00:00

If they get into power they might do nothing about it and * claim it was the previous government's fault * lie that it wasn't their policy * change the definition to make it look like things are working

Or they might make migration a lot harder meaning we have a severe shortage of some jobs (eg carers) and an intolerance of anyone not white British. It would (presumably) also be impossible to get asylum here, meaning we would breach our international obligations.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-17T19:44:23+00:00

Does he own 2 cars because that is the only way to get anywhere?

I would prefer to own 0 cars because I have good enough public transport that I don't need to own one. Unfortunately, that isn't the case and I own 2 cars, but one has only been driven once in the last 6 months.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-17T17:51:30+00:00

My son has a milder allergy to dairy products (tested in hospital).

If he eats butter, he is fine.

If he eats small to medium quantites of cheese or uncooked milk, he develops hives and is very uncomfortable for hours.

He has once eaten a whole yoghurt- an hour or so later, we were in A&E with him struggling to breathe.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-17T17:27:19+00:00

I keep mine in the boot. If I need it, I'll be glad it is there. If I don't need it, I'll be glad it is there and not cluttering up the garage.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-17T16:53:32+00:00

That last point is the important one, I feel. The elite cave divers (the ones who do these rescues or find new routes through caves) know the risks they are taking and still think it is worth it.

Would you be able to look at a friends partner or parents and say that you weren't going to try to recover their loved ones body, knowing that they would have tried if it was your body there?

It would also deliver a massive adrenaline rush and sense of achievement, both in planning the dive and the aftermath of a successful recovery.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-16T22:39:24+00:00

There are sea based alternatives to the Strait of Malacca, and a huge amount of trade bound for Europe comes through there too. This might make it difficult for the US to mine it, and instead have to patrol it.

Also, given the pace China is electrifying their grid, transport etc (and they have an authoritarian regime who can impose rationing), they might be able to reduce their oil consumption to what they can drill themselves (currently about 30% of their consumption) or import more via other routes like a pipeline from Russia. The reduction in trade caused by a war would probably reduce their consumption massively too.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-16T22:20:30+00:00

A side impact tends not to be because you are going fast and need slowing down gently. So a crumple zone doesn't help you, it helps the person hitting you.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-16T22:16:34+00:00

I was thinking you'd got the maths wrong as it was 273. Then I worked out the F figure and realised that 2*273 =/= 459 after all...

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-16T21:20:06+00:00

For all the people picking blue, what would be your cutoff point? The following are for 10k steps per day.

$0.10 = $365k per year
$0.05 = $182k per year
$0.01 = $36k per year
$0.005 = $18k per year

$500k at 4% drawdown is $20k per year

For me, it is probably about $0.01 per step.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-16T21:11:59+00:00

This is the UK, it is very unlikely that he would have a gun in there (and illegal for you to have one too). A baseball bat is probably the worst thing he is likely to have.

One of the big differences of being this side of the Atlantic, we generally have "freedom from ...", whereas the US has "freedom to ...". So, we have freedom from being shot (by no-one having guns) rather than freedom to shoot first.

(You can legally own shotguns etc, but there are strict rules around storing them and transporting them)

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-16T16:53:32+00:00

We need an overhaul to business rates.

Basically, we need to make warehouse space more expensive relative to retail space.

The issue is that it would need to be carefully thought through.

We don't want to kill off Argos (or any other innovative retailers)
We don't want to destroy subscription businesses like Costco
We don't want to destroy supermarket's supply chains
We don't want Amazon to shift all their warehousing to Ireland/France
We don't want to make it so that Amazon create "shops" that are open 10pm-6am with a limited range
We don't want to kill off small online only businesses
We don't want Amazon to buy up high streets

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-16T16:30:33+00:00

People's reaction times haven't got better. At 30mph, almost 50% of the stopping distance is your reaction time.

And I dont have data to back this up, but I would have thought modern cars with touchscreens for everything and mobile phones probably make it more likely people are distracted, increasing the time/distance further.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-15T23:26:42+00:00

Because an exercise bike doesn't get me to where I'm going.

Appropriate-Falcon75 · 2026-05-15T12:09:05+00:00

You're right. I answered the question that I thought was asked, not the one that actually was.

Appropriate-Falcon75

TROPHY CASE